Unreasonable Requests?

[Anonymous]

My nanny has been with us part-time for almost 4 years. We live in Loudoun County and pay her $21/hour for 11 hours per week. Our children are 12 and 9. In addition to getting them ready for school or camp, she does some light housekeeping (laundry, unloading the dishwasher). She is very reliable and efficient, but clearly prefers housekeeping to child care. I am often there at the same time and do things like pack lunches, lay out clothes, whatever they ask for.

She recently asked me for paid vacation days, holidays, and mileage reimbursement for transporting the kids to camp since she has to go to multiple locations which take her a total of 5 miles out of her way. I feel like she is paid very well considering the ages of my children. She also has another family she works for, and she works more hours for them and has cared for their kids since birth. I think she expects me to offer the same terms, but to me, it's not comparable, and I hate the feeling of being nickel and dimed, if that makes sense.

Am I being unreasonable? Thanks for any feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nanny has been with us part-time for almost 4 years. We live in Loudoun County and pay her $21/hour for 11 hours per week. Our children are 12 and 9. In addition to getting them ready for school or camp, she does some light housekeeping (laundry, unloading the dishwasher). She is very reliable and efficient, but clearly prefers housekeeping to child care. I am often there at the same time and do things like pack lunches, lay out clothes, whatever they ask for.

She recently asked me for paid vacation days, holidays, and mileage reimbursement for transporting the kids to camp since she has to go to multiple locations which take her a total of 5 miles out of her way. I feel like she is paid very well considering the ages of my children. She also has another family she works for, and she works more hours for them and has cared for their kids since birth. I think she expects me to offer the same terms, but to me, it's not comparable, and I hate the feeling of being nickel and dimed, if that makes sense.

Am I being unreasonable? Thanks for any feedback.

Mot families do not offer vacation or paid holidays ( unless it falls on a work day) in a part-time. However, if she is using he vehicle to transport your children, you need to be reimbursing for mileage by law. Why would you expect her to pay out of pocket for gas to transport your kids around? You're being unreasonable and it's illegal.

[Anonymous]

Would you prefer to get someone else cheaper, Op?

[Anonymous]

If she's using her car you need to reimburse her, but I don't think you need to offer benefits for 11 hours a week. If you wanted to be generous you could offer a couple of paid holidays (presumably she won't be scheduled to work for you on all of them).

[Anonymous]

I agree....Salary-wise she is making out like a bandit.
However she should get paid extra for mileage if she is driving her own vehicle on-the-job.

[Anonymous]

Mileage reimbursement would be nice and not that much money, but it's not a legal requirement.

[Anonymous]

It is not the law that you need to reimburse for mileage. You can either reimburse, or the person can write it off on their taxes if they itemize. It's a perk.

That said, pay the lady for the mileage. Also, if she seriously only works for you 11 hours a week, you're paying for her reliability. She may be telling you that despite the high hourly wage, she'd rather just sleep in (or get another gig with more hours or fewer days) if she can't bank on enough total income.

[Anonymous]

BTW, 5 miles out of her way x 5 days a week is like $12.00.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, 5 miles out of her way x 5 days a week is like $12.00.

I'm sure she can suck it up for what we pay her. Otherwise I guess we could lower her hourly and have her keep track of the miles so we can pay her those $12 at the end of the week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BTW, 5 miles out of her way x 5 days a week is like $12.00.

Yes, and that is almost $50 a month. Would you be happy paying that out of pocket for your job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW, 5 miles out of her way x 5 days a week is like $12.00.

I'm sure she can suck it up for what we pay her. Otherwise I guess we could lower her hourly and have her keep track of the miles so we can pay her those $12 at the end of the week.

Wow. You're incredible entitled and cheap. I would quit if I were her. You clearly don't respect her or any work that she does for you family. Would you run errands with no reimbursement for you job? i highly doubt so. Nannies are mandated by law to be reimbursed. I hope she reports you to the IRS. Then again, you likely are a scammer and don't pay taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW, 5 miles out of her way x 5 days a week is like $12.00.

I'm sure she can suck it up for what we pay her. Otherwise I guess we could lower her hourly and have her keep track of the miles so we can pay her those $12 at the end of the week.

Wow. You're incredible entitled and cheap. I would quit if I were her. You clearly don't respect her or any work that she does for you family. Would you run errands with no reimbursement for you job? i highly doubt so. Nannies are mandated by law to be reimbursed. I hope she reports you to the IRS. Then again, you likely are a scammer and don't pay taxes.

Not true on so many levels ... No one is "mandated to be reimbursed by law." There is no special carve-out for nannies, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BTW, 5 miles out of her way x 5 days a week is like $12.00.

Yes, and that is almost $50 a month. Would you be happy paying that out of pocket for your job?

That's $12 for the IRS reimbursement rate. Unless she drives a very expensive car that only uses Premium fuel, her real costs are much lower.

But when I posted the bolded part above, it was actually aimed at the MD, suggesting that she just pay it.

[Anonymous]

Benefits no but mileage yes. If you are home drive your own kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My nanny has been with us part-time for almost 4 years. We live in Loudoun County and pay her $21/hour for 11 hours per week. Our children are 12 and 9. In addition to getting them ready for school or camp, she does some light housekeeping (laundry, unloading the dishwasher). She is very reliable and efficient, but clearly prefers housekeeping to child care. I am often there at the same time and do things like pack lunches, lay out clothes, whatever they ask for.

She recently asked me for paid vacation days, holidays, and mileage reimbursement for transporting the kids to camp since she has to go to multiple locations which take her a total of 5 miles out of her way. I feel like she is paid very well considering the ages of my children. She also has another family she works for, and she works more hours for them and has cared for their kids since birth. I think she expects me to offer the same terms, but to me, it's not comparable, and I hate the feeling of being nickel and dimed, if that makes sense.

Am I being unreasonable? Thanks for any feedback.

she needs a fulltime job not a part-time job. not your problem, OP.
she is paid very well. she is likely holding down several other jobs the other 50+ hours of the week and is trying to nickle/dime everyone for food, HC, more mileage, etc. $19-21/hour of after-school care already includes mileage reimbursement. would she like that cut a different way?

help her get a full-time job, and help yourself and get a reasonable part-time nanny/housekeeper for your older kids.