Vacation Pay: Does this make sense to you?

[Anonymous]

We have in our nanny's contract that she has guaranteed hours plus 2 weeks of vacation every year. She started with us in September, and she has already used her 2 weeks of vacation this year. We have gone on vacation 2 other weeks, and will be on vacation for a third week this summer. Those two weeks were paid, and she has used them to take trips and visit friends as well.
This week coming up, she asked if she could go on a 2 week trip with her friends. She has no vacation time left, but we have a solid back-up sitter, and I told her that it was fine, but she would need to take it unpaid.
She just gave me something today with the days that she is taking no pay (first week of her trip), then saying that she expects to be paid for the week that we are on vacation (second week of her trip).
She feels like she should be paid while we are on vacation because that is part of her guaranteed salary, and if she wasn't out of town, we would be paying her anyway. But it just doesn't sit right with me. Is this typical?
We have only hired a family friend in the past, and she either took our vacations unpaid, or she did stuff around the house while we were gone.

[Anonymous]

I would pay her, but remind her that "guaranteed hours" means that she is available to work. That means that in the unlikely event your vacation gets cancelled or is cut short, she will have to take those days unpaid so that you can hire back up, or come to work.

Before nannies say that's not fair if she's made non-refundable plans, that's what you do with your vacation days. Your NF's vacation, for which you're paid guaranteed hours, is a gamble if you do that.

[Anonymous]

There is no typical with this. You can do what you want, and she can do what she wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no typical with this. You can do what you want, and she can do what she wants.

...Obviously you both may part ways.

[Anonymous]

Taking an extra week of unpaid vacation would be pretty off-putting to me after she already took 2 weeks of her choosing, got another 2 weeks of our choosing, and had another week coming up.

It sounds like she is at the 1-year mark, so I would consider putting into her next agreement that additional unpaid time off is only for emergency or medical reasons. Otherwise, it sounds like she thinks it's a free-for-all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would pay her, but remind her that "guaranteed hours" means that she is available to work. That means that in the unlikely event your vacation gets cancelled or is cut short, she will have to take those days unpaid so that you can hire back up, or come to work.

Before nannies say that's not fair if she's made non-refundable plans, that's what you do with your vacation days. Your NF's vacation, for which you're paid guaranteed hours, is a gamble if you do that.

This. +1

I totally agree w/this answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pay her, but remind her that "guaranteed hours" means that she is available to work. That means that in the unlikely event your vacation gets cancelled or is cut short, she will have to take those days unpaid so that you can hire back up, or come to work.

Before nannies say that's not fair if she's made non-refundable plans, that's what you do with your vacation days. Your NF's vacation, for which you're paid guaranteed hours, is a gamble if you do that.

This. +1

I totally agree w/this answer.

+2 with the caveat that your vacation time was known to her when she made these plans. If you decided on the last week of vacation based on the fact she was off, I don't think she should be paid. If she's just tacking on an extra week of unpaid vacation, then I would pay for the second week. Also agree that unpaid time off should be for emergencies only. To my thinking, that's part of the implicit contract with guaranteed hours. I won't cancel payment on you, and you won't cancel time (beyond contracted vacation) on me.

[Anonymous]

My boss did that to me last year: didn't pay me when she went away since I was going away as well. So this year I made plans for when she went away and didn't tell her: I got paid.

Sucks to be dishonest but really what's the difference paying me sit in my house or sit on the beach in Hawaii? I didn't ask to have those 2 weeks off. If you cancel your trip of course I'd cancel mine. I thought it was messed up they didn't pay me last year, so this year I lied. Don't feel bad at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boss did that to me last year: didn't pay me when she went away since I was going away as well. So this year I made plans for when she went away and didn't tell her: I got paid.

Sucks to be dishonest but really what's the difference paying me sit in my house or sit on the beach in Hawaii? I didn't ask to have those 2 weeks off. If you cancel your trip of course I'd cancel mine. I thought it was messed up they didn't pay me last year, so this year I lied. Don't feel bad at all.

Unfortunate that you had to do that, but no doubt your employer would do exactly the same thing in your position.

Nannies need to get smart like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have in our nanny's contract that she has guaranteed hours plus 2 weeks of vacation every year. She started with us in September, and she has already used her 2 weeks of vacation this year. We have gone on vacation 2 other weeks, and will be on vacation for a third week this summer. Those two weeks were paid, and she has used them to take trips and visit friends as well.
This week coming up, she asked if she could go on a 2 week trip with her friends. She has no vacation time left, but we have a solid back-up sitter, and I told her that it was fine, but she would need to take it unpaid.
She just gave me something today with the days that she is taking no pay (first week of her trip), then saying that she expects to be paid for the week that we are on vacation (second week of her trip).
She feels like she should be paid while we are on vacation because that is part of her guaranteed salary, and if she wasn't out of town, we would be paying her anyway. But it just doesn't sit right with me. Is this typical?
We have only hired a family friend in the past, and she either took our vacations unpaid, or she did stuff around the house while we were gone.

To play devil's advocate: we are only hearing a small part of information. Perhaps she accepted lower hourly pay from you because it was agreed that she would typically get extra vacation time when you're gone. This might not be the case, and I'm not trying to start an argument, but it's a thought. If she's worked for you since September, it's not strange that she's used up her two weeks of vacation already -- September is only a month and a half away! She might have taken her vacation earlier because it would be an inconvenience to you if she took vacation close to the start of school. Why does it matter which of the two weeks she will be taking unpaid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boss did that to me last year: didn't pay me when she went away since I was going away as well. So this year I made plans for when she went away and didn't tell her: I got paid.

Sucks to be dishonest but really what's the difference paying me sit in my house or sit on the beach in Hawaii? I didn't ask to have those 2 weeks off. If you cancel your trip of course I'd cancel mine. I thought it was messed up they didn't pay me last year, so this year I lied. Don't feel bad at all.

Exactly that what happened with my sick days but this year I am going to use all my sick days whether I am sick or not because I realized being honest doesn't work these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have in our nanny's contract that she has guaranteed hours plus 2 weeks of vacation every year. She started with us in September, and she has already used her 2 weeks of vacation this year. We have gone on vacation 2 other weeks, and will be on vacation for a third week this summer. Those two weeks were paid, and she has used them to take trips and visit friends as well.
This week coming up, she asked if she could go on a 2 week trip with her friends. She has no vacation time left, but we have a solid back-up sitter, and I told her that it was fine, but she would need to take it unpaid.
She just gave me something today with the days that she is taking no pay (first week of her trip), then saying that she expects to be paid for the week that we are on vacation (second week of her trip).
She feels like she should be paid while we are on vacation because that is part of her guaranteed salary, and if she wasn't out of town, we would be paying her anyway. But it just doesn't sit right with me. Is this typical?
We have only hired a family friend in the past, and she either took our vacations unpaid, or she did stuff around the house while we were gone.

To play devil's advocate: we are only hearing a small part of information. Perhaps she accepted lower hourly pay from you because it was agreed that she would typically get extra vacation time when you're gone. This might not be the case, and I'm not trying to start an argument, but it's a thought. If she's worked for you since September, it's not strange that she's used up her two weeks of vacation already -- September is only a month and a half away! She might have taken her vacation earlier because it would be an inconvenience to you if she took vacation close to the start of school. Why does it matter which of the two weeks she will be taking unpaid?

OP here. She did not accept a low hourly rate from me. It is the same rate I am paying for back-up care.
She is taking unpaid time off now because this is when her friends are going on a trip. I am annoyed that she is asking to be paid for part of her trip just because we also happen to be on vacation during that time. I feel like she is trying to take advantage of me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pay her, but remind her that "guaranteed hours" means that she is available to work. That means that in the unlikely event your vacation gets cancelled or is cut short, she will have to take those days unpaid so that you can hire back up, or come to work.

Before nannies say that's not fair if she's made non-refundable plans, that's what you do with your vacation days. Your NF's vacation, for which you're paid guaranteed hours, is a gamble if you do that.

This. +1

I totally agree w/this answer.

+2 with the caveat that your vacation time was known to her when she made these plans. If you decided on the last week of vacation based on the fact she was off, I don't think she should be paid. If she's just tacking on an extra week of unpaid vacation, then I would pay for the second week. Also agree that unpaid time off should be for emergencies only. To my thinking, that's part of the implicit contract with guaranteed hours. I won't cancel payment on you, and you won't cancel time (beyond contracted vacation) on me.

OP here. Yes. She knew when we were taking vacation. And I do think that she chose this particular trip with these particular friends because we were going to be gone for part of it.

Thank you. I am feeling better about this. And I will talk to her about taking unpaid vacation only in emergencies.
I think that it was the way she put it....gave me a calendar with dates listed as unpaid, then suddenly "paid" because we were leaving for our own vacation that day.

[Anonymous]

We do guaranteed hours and I would pay her for the week that you're away. We pay her for the time we're away. If she then chooses to take a trip or whatever I don't feel taken advantage of. We have also written in our contract that we offer 2 weeks vacation and 1 week of sick time that can be used as vacation. I would so much rather have someone tell me in advance they'll be out than have to scramble at the last minute.

[Anonymous]

Of course you pay her when you're away. That's what you agreed on in your contract.

If my boss tells me that my work is closed on X week, but we'll be paid (something that happens in my field), and I schedule my vacation for that week, that's being responsible and sensible, not something that should be punished with docked pay.