Unemployment insurance advice for families

[Anonymous]

Hi just wanted to post my experience so others can learn. We had a pretty lousy nanny that i wanted to fire after 2 months-- but my husband was afraid to change for the kids and we kept adjusting everything until after 9 months she did some unsafe things with the kids and we let her go.
She is eligible for the full $400/week of benefits, and we have to pay 1/3rd of that for the next 6 months.
Lesson learned - if someone is not working out, do it in the first three months because that won't count towards her benefits and you won't be on the hook. Don't accommodate a difficult nanny - in the end if she's not happy she can leave and you won't be responsible for her unemployment either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi just wanted to post my experience so others can learn. We had a pretty lousy nanny that i wanted to fire after 2 months-- but my husband was afraid to change for the kids and we kept adjusting everything until after 9 months she did some unsafe things with the kids and we let her go.
She is eligible for the full $400/week of benefits, and we have to pay 1/3rd of that for the next 6 months.
Lesson learned - if someone is not working out, do it in the first three months because that won't count towards her benefits and you won't be on the hook. Don't accommodate a difficult nanny - in the end if she's not happy she can leave and you won't be responsible for her unemployment either

As you should have to. Lesson learned...hiring a nanny legally is just like hiring any other legal employee. You don't get special dispensation.

[Anonymous]

Stop complaining

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure why you would be paying 1/3 of her unemployment benefit.

My understanding was that you paid into the unemployment pool through taxes. If you have too many claims against you your tax rate can be raised, but I've never heard of an employer having to pay the employees benefit directly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why you would be paying 1/3 of her unemployment benefit.

My understanding was that you paid into the unemployment pool through taxes. If you have too many claims against you your tax rate can be raised, but I've never heard of an employer having to pay the employees benefit directly.

I've never heard of this either. I've filled for unemployment twice and both times I was the families only nanny and I stayed until they no longer needed a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Imagine trying to live on $400 a week

[Anonymous]

Unemployment is based on the first four ofthe last five quarters . OP. So, if she began working for you in January, then the only quarters you are charged for would be the first two quarters. Obviouly, you either misinformed or do not understand the system.

[Anonymous]

I assumed that our UI taxes paid for this, too. Not actually true. This is from the MD Dept. of Labor, p. 12 of their guide for employers. They seek to recover ALL benefits paid to the employee by raising your experience rating, sometimes substantially:

The total amount of the charges to your account depends on the proportion of wages you paid to the person in relation to the total amount of wages paid by you and any other employers during the base period. This percentage, times the total amount of benefits ultimately received by the claimant while unemployed, equals your benefit charges. You are notified of the exact amount of charges at the end of each calendar quarter. Benefits charged to your account will usually increase your tax rate and will result in higher tax payments that will enable the UI Trust Fund to recover the benefits paid over a three year period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assumed that our UI taxes paid for this, too. Not actually true. This is from the MD Dept. of Labor, p. 12 of their guide for employers. They seek to recover ALL benefits paid to the employee by raising your experience rating, sometimes substantially:

The total amount of the charges to your account depends on the proportion of wages you paid to the person in relation to the total amount of wages paid by you and any other employers during the base period. This percentage, times the total amount of benefits ultimately received by the claimant while unemployed, equals your benefit charges. You are notified of the exact amount of charges at the end of each calendar quarter. Benefits charged to your account will usually increase your tax rate and will result in higher tax payments that will enable the UI Trust Fund to recover the benefits paid over a three year period.

We moved away from MD, and we are still waiting to find out how much this will cost us. Our nanny is not planning to go back to work full time (she is having a baby and plans to be a SAHM), but is maintaining her eligibility for unemployment (no one wants to hire her as pregnant/sick as she is). I fully expect to be on the hook for all 26 weeks at $400, and since we only had nannies for four years, and only two of those years were full time, we have very little in our UI "bank" as compared to those benefits.

[Anonymous]

Please read MD unemployment insurance guide more carefully. You insurance premiums are maximum 7.5 percent of the first $8500 you pay to each employee per year. So if you are hit with the unemployment claim, the maximum you are out is $638 per year per nanny for the next 3-5 years as long as you employ nannies. Yes, you get statements how much they paid her, and these are called "charges to the account", but you don't pay them, just your insurance rate depends on them. However your insurance rate is kept. Please note that it is far less than $400 for 26 weeks that someone implied you might be paying.

http://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/uitrustfundpoints.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please read MD unemployment insurance guide more carefully. You insurance premiums are maximum 7.5 percent of the first $8500 you pay to each employee per year. So if you are hit with the unemployment claim, the maximum you are out is $638 per year per nanny for the next 3-5 years as long as you employ nannies. Yes, you get statements how much they paid her, and these are called "charges to the account", but you don't pay them, just your insurance rate depends on them. However your insurance rate is kept. Please note that it is far less than $400 for 26 weeks that someone implied you might be paying.

http://www.dllr.state.md.us/employment/uitrustfundpoints.shtml

Thank you! It's exactly as I explained earlier. Your tax rate can be raised, but you do not pay for the unemployment benefit received by the employee.

[Anonymous]

That's good to know! Thank you.

[Anonymous]

If a change in rate is something you cannot afford, you should not be hiring a nanny

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If a change in rate is something you cannot afford, you should not be hiring a nanny

Who said they can't afford it? I just don't want to be on the hook for over 10K in additional pay to a nanny for whom I paid my taxes legally. That would be ridiculous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If a change in rate is something you cannot afford, you should not be hiring a nanny

Who said they can't afford it? I just don't want to be on the hook for over 10K in additional pay to a nanny for whom I paid my taxes legally. That would be ridiculous!

Op doesn't have to pay the nannies unemployment . It's not like op is going to pay her directly or the govenment an extra 10k. Simply her tax rate will go up to a max of 7.5 % or 638 a year.