Do we really have to pay her?

[Anonymous]

A shadow day as a nanny and a shadow day at a pre-school are two very different things, even if they are called the same thing. Yes, the MB needs to pay the nanny for her time. And, quite frankly, she should be glad the nanny recognized it wouldn't be a good fit and decided not to pursue the job. Yes, it was an inconvenience the next day, but better that than weeks or months of a poor fit.

[Anonymous]

A shadow day is just what it says it is, as vactryby stated, and a training day is a training day. Shadowing is not working and should only be paid if discussed up front. Training is working, in addition, if you're training you're a hired employee. If you consider shadowing to be a paid activity as an employee, then you should also be bound to the agreement, if applicable, that you forfit pay if you don't give enough notice.
My suggestion is, next time, make it known whether or not you're paying for shadowing, PLUS have them shadow leaving enough time to procure another if they don't accept the position. Meanwhile, pay the $80 and call it a lesson.

[Anonymous]

Call an agency, any agency and they will tell you of course a shadow day is paid. You people are nuts. Pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Good luck changing nannies every 6 months because you arent decent employers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you're really debating if you should pay this nanny who spent time working for you, I'm not surprised she saw red flags in other areas and quit.

Good luck keeping the next nanny, you should like a terrible employer.

Agreed.

You know what else I wonder about the original post? $80 for the day. The implication from the original post is that the nanny worked an entire day. So 8 hours I would assume. That comes to $10 an hour. Which is low pay for the D.C. area.

So glad the Nanny saw the writing on the wall and left after only one day with this family.

[Anonymous]

"A shadow day is just what it says it is, as vactryby stated, and a training day is a training day."

You're getting too caught up on the term. The OP clearly stated the nanny worked. She should be paid. When someone takes time out of their day for an employer, they should be paid.

BTW, you don't forfeit pay when you don't give enough notice. You might forfeit FUTURE pay, but not pay for work that has already been done. That's illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"A shadow day is just what it says it is, as vactryby stated, and a training day is a training day."

You're getting too caught up on the term. The OP clearly stated the nanny worked. She should be paid. When someone takes time out of their day for an employer, they should be paid.

BTW, you don't forfeit pay when you don't give enough notice. You might forfeit FUTURE pay, but not pay for work that has already been done. That's illegal.

Exactly. The OP stated that she left showed the nanny what to do, then left her alone with the child. She has to pay like she would pay any babysitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Call an agency, any agency and they will tell you of course a shadow day is paid. You people are nuts. Pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Good luck changing nannies every 6 months because you arent decent employers.

I like that! "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys" should be the official motto of this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Call an agency, any agency and they will tell you of course a shadow day is paid. You people are nuts. Pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Good luck changing nannies every 6 months because you arent decent employers.

I like that! "You pay peanuts, you get monkeys" should be the official motto of this board.

+1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess technically you have to pay her. But that takes balls to ask you for payment.

I am a doctor, and with my work I usually have a 1/2 day or so when I start a new job that I don't do any work at all. I just get a computer login, figure out how the system works, learn how to do my part of the billing, create note templates, maybe go a meeting, etc. I always get paid for that time. However, if I just did that, then quit later that day, I would not expect to get paid. If I did, I would consider it a pleasant surprise. I certainly wouldn't call and ask for my payment for those hours.

You aren't doing any portion of your job (seeing to patients) during those hours. A shadow day is more akin to on-the-job training, which is paid.

Well by your logic then nanny didn't do any portion of her job since her job is to take care of the children while mom goes to work, a shadow day means mom is at home training nanny so therefor nanny should not be paid, per your logic.

No, it means that the nanny was given the training the parent felt was necessary, then the nanny took over for the remainder of the day. She did her job, what the parent does and where the parent is doesn't matter.

[Anonymous]

vactryby wrote:Boy, what a tough crowd. What I get lost on is the intent of "shadowing". I didn't think that was "training". I sent my son to his private school, along with others, to "shadow" to determine if that was the right one for him. He didn't have to sit and do the school work, nor was he attributed time for his education. He was considered absent from his normal school.

Hopefully an attorney can chime in, but I believe that unless she filled out tax forms, or has a piece of paper that acknowledges her as an employee, she's not. A day of shadowing is just that. Stand in the corner and watch, taking in information to make that final decision. She shouldn't have been required to lift a finger, and if she did, it was volunteer. However, it wouldn't be worth the $80 argument, just an $80 lesson learned to make it clear for the next one. Just my two pennies....

Your son is a child, you make the decision based on what he says, but he's treated like a child.

This was a nanny, working one day to find out if it was the right fit. It wasn't, but she still needs to be paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're really debating if you should pay this nanny who spent time working for you, I'm not surprised she saw red flags in other areas and quit.

Good luck keeping the next nanny, you should like a terrible employer.

Agreed.

You know what else I wonder about the original post? $80 for the day. The implication from the original post is that the nanny worked an entire day. So 8 hours I would assume. That comes to $10 an hour. Which is low pay for the D.C. area.

So glad the Nanny saw the writing on the wall and left after only one day with this family.

I can see doing a shadow day at up to 50% discount, so $10 per hour translates to up to $20/hour if the family is a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Op here. We were paying her $18 per hour and she only worked 4.5 hours on the shadow day. We paid her the $80.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. We were paying her $18 per hour and she only worked 4.5 hours on the shadow day. We paid her the $80.

You did the right thing.

[Anonymous]

Wow. So many terrible MBs on this site. You agreed to a rate, she worked, you pay her. It really is that simple. You aren't entitled to any notice during a trial period. You want notice, you sign a contract and agree to be held by the same terms. I'm sure if YOU had decided that she wasn't the right fit, you would not have given her any notice.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you should pay.

Having said that, she cannot force you to pay unless you pays a lawyer a couple hundred minimum to sue you.

You can exercise your right to go through the law to have a judge look at your question of if you should have to pay in this situation. Payment can be held up until the case is settled.

Just like how she exercised her right to quit.

Yes, you should pay. Yes, she should have stayed. She chose to leave. You can choose to exercise the judicial system.