Do I still have to pay her?

[Anonymous]

I am so baffled by OP's post. "I gave my employee time off from work, but then I found out that she made plans on her day off!!!! Should I still pay her even though she is enjoying herself?"

Of course you pay her! If I were speaking to the nanny I would highly reccommend she look for a different position. OP sounds like she has no reapect for her employee.

[Anonymous]

I posted yesterday but I'm just back to say that I'm still baffled by OP's line of thinking here. SO ridiculous and rude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

This. This is what it says in our contract, under "guaranteed hours:" "Family agrees that Nanny will receive the guaranteed base pay 52 weeks per year, even if Family chooses not to utilize Nanny’s services for some or all of any given week such as for Family vacations and holidays. Guaranteed hours assume you are available to work, and that we have cancelled that time. The family has never had to cancel a vacation, but it could happen. In this case, the nanny’s choices would be 1) come to work, 2) use paid time off, 3) take unpaid time off."

For a nanny who had been with us for a year or more, I might even bend this policy some and still give her the days even if we had to cancel our vacation.

I'm an MB and I strongly disagree. If I tell our nanny that we don't need her on next Thursday and Friday I assume she'll enjoy those bonus days and do something fun. If my plans fall through and I'm now left w/ no coverage that sucks. I will ask the nanny if she is still available for any portion of that time. But if she is not I would not penalize her or hold it against her. It's my problem to deal with, not hers. I would treat her the same way I would want to be treated.

I'm the person with the above wording in the contract. Of course it would suck, and that is why I point out that it has never happened. However, if the nanny wants a guaranteed time to make expensive, non-refundable vacation plans, that's what her PTO is for. All of her 12 days of PTO is for her to schedule (we don't do an "our week"/"her week"), and like I said, for a long-term nanny, I might bend the policy. However, the point of guaranteed hours is that she's available to work. I could see your point if it happened every time I said we wouldn't need her, but I see it more as a courtesy to tell her in advance that we'll be away so she can make some plans, but it's not a huge perk like vacation.

13.33 here. I'm a nanny, and I make sure my contracts are worded the same way. While I appreciate the advanced notice, my plans are always for things like a dental visit or extra time at the animal rescue, things that can either be rescheduled if I'm needed at work, or the non-profit never knew that I was planning to come in for extra hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

Well since I know she is going away I can just text her and ask her to come in since something came up, she won't be able to and then I can use her vacation days =)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

Well since I know she is going away I can just text her and ask her to come in since something came up, she won't be able to and then I can use her vacation days =)

I hope you aren't the OP. If you are, you aren't just clueless, you're a truly terrible person and I feel awful for your kids. You put them in quite a predicament when you entrust their safety to someone you walk all over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IF your plans fall through, and IF you call her to work, and IF she is not available, then you can have her decide to use vacation. If not, you pay her like normal.

Well since I know she is going away I can just text her and ask her to come in since something came up, she won't be able to and then I can use her vacation days =)

13.33/20.08 again. How do you know that she can't cancel her plans? And did you actually have anything come up or are you being vindictive. I'm sorry, but I would look for another position immediately, based on what you just said (and said previously). While I'm very much in favor of expectations being clear, yours aren't, so your nanny is quite reasonable assuming that she can make plans and be guaranteed her pay whether your plans fall through or not. If you want your nanny to be on call when she's been given the day off, your contract needs to reflect that, or you need to not tell her until the night before each individual day when you won't need her.

[Anonymous]

You need to pay her.

[Anonymous]

I can't believe this is even a question!

Hey OP, my kids had Monday off school. We went out of town for a long weekend. We should have just sat around looking at the 4 walls since it was a Monday I guess. If I tell the principal will she mark my it down as unexcused absences???

[Anonymous]

My nanny has tried to do the reverse of this. She asked for some time off. I took the time off work and took the kids on a trip. She then said since we were out of town anyway, it shouldn't count as her vacation. I like a lot about her otherwise

[Anonymous]

Yes definitely pay her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nanny has tried to do the reverse of this. She asked for some time off. I took the time off work and took the kids on a trip. She then said since we were out of town anyway, it shouldn't count as her vacation. I like a lot about her otherwise

Just like the MB who can't force her nanny to use vacation when she was already given the time off (and not told she was on call), your nanny can't decide that she doesn't have to use her paid days when you took off time to accommodate her time off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nanny has tried to do the reverse of this. She asked for some time off. I took the time off work and took the kids on a trip. She then said since we were out of town anyway, it shouldn't count as her vacation. I like a lot about her otherwise

Just like the MB who can't force her nanny to use vacation when she was already given the time off (and not told she was on call), your nanny can't decide that she doesn't have to use her paid days when you took off time to accommodate her time off.

This whole thread speaks to the insanity that is annual leave policies in this country. We shouldn't have to play these stupid games, but when everyone is fighting over those 10 measly days of leave (if you're lucky), people start acting crazy. However many MBs get a lot more than those 10 days, so maybe try not to be so stingy?