New Montgomery County Sick Leave Law

[Anonymous]

The new law allows workers in businesses with under 5 employees to earn up to 32 hours of paid sick leave per year (+ 24 hours unpaid). I have always given a total of 12 days PTO, to be used at the nanny's discretion, for any purpose, because it's easy to have it accrue at 1 day per month. This all rolls over to the next year, too. I also do guaranteed hours.

I can't add another 4 days of sick leave on top of this, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to restructure my nanny agreement so that we still end up with the same number of days off, but 4 of them are designated as sick leave (in practice, they will still act as PTO). Or, since she can use them for any reason already, do I need to do this?

If there's no way to restructure the agreement legally to have it basically come out the same, I'll switch to the one week her choice/one week my choice vacation method, which will basically do the same thing since it will eliminate 5 days I had to pay guaranteed hours for in the past.

[Anonymous]

BFD. may not even apply to nannies.

My nanny of 5 years has only had 1 sick day. same for many of the families with nannies on our street. reliable childcare is not congruent with taking $hitloads of PTO days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new law allows workers in businesses with under 5 employees to earn up to 32 hours of paid sick leave per year (+ 24 hours unpaid). I have always given a total of 12 days PTO, to be used at the nanny's discretion, for any purpose, because it's easy to have it accrue at 1 day per month. This all rolls over to the next year, too. I also do guaranteed hours.

I can't add another 4 days of sick leave on top of this, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to restructure my nanny agreement so that we still end up with the same number of days off, but 4 of them are designated as sick leave (in practice, they will still act as PTO). Or, since she can use them for any reason already, do I need to do this?

If there's no way to restructure the agreement legally to have it basically come out the same, I'll switch to the one week her choice/one week my choice vacation method, which will basically do the same thing since it will eliminate 5 days I had to pay guaranteed hours for in the past.

"Employers with fewer than five employees must provide leave at the same rate – one hour for every 30 hours worked – and up to 56 hours of leave per year. However, for these small employers, only 32 hours must be paid and 24 hours can be provided on an unpaid basis."

So you aren't required to pay for those extra days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new law allows workers in businesses with under 5 employees to earn up to 32 hours of paid sick leave per year (+ 24 hours unpaid). I have always given a total of 12 days PTO, to be used at the nanny's discretion, for any purpose, because it's easy to have it accrue at 1 day per month. This all rolls over to the next year, too. I also do guaranteed hours.

I can't add another 4 days of sick leave on top of this, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to restructure my nanny agreement so that we still end up with the same number of days off, but 4 of them are designated as sick leave (in practice, they will still act as PTO). Or, since she can use them for any reason already, do I need to do this?

If there's no way to restructure the agreement legally to have it basically come out the same, I'll switch to the one week her choice/one week my choice vacation method, which will basically do the same thing since it will eliminate 5 days I had to pay guaranteed hours for in the past.

"Employers with fewer than five employees must provide leave at the same rate – one hour for every 30 hours worked – and up to 56 hours of leave per year. However, for these small employers, only 32 hours must be paid and 24 hours can be provided on an unpaid basis."

So you aren't required to pay for those extra days.

I think it has to be designated as "sick leave," though, doesn't it? I can't just leave it as part of my general PTO package, can I?

Here's the scenario I'm concerned about: nanny gets 12 days PTO to use at her discretion, for any reason. She uses all 12 for vacation, and then gets sick. Can she claim that I owe her anther 32 hours of sick leave on top of the 12 days?

[Anonymous]

If I were you nanny, I'd worry more about my attitude and job performance than how to weasel in more paid time off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were you nanny, I'd worry more about my attitude and job performance than how to weasel in more paid time off.

Huh? I love my nanny. I actually don't think she would ever do this. I just like to have a very contract so that we are both clear on what I will and won't pay for before it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were you nanny, I'd worry more about my attitude and job performance than how to weasel in more paid time off.

Huh? I love my nanny. I actually don't think she would ever do this. I just like to have a very contract so that we are both clear on what I will and won't pay for before it happens.

It always boils down to how much do you hope to employ the same nanny for the long term.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were you nanny, I'd worry more about my attitude and job performance than how to weasel in more paid time off.

Huh? I love my nanny. I actually don't think she would ever do this. I just like to have a very contract so that we are both clear on what I will and won't pay for before it happens.

It always boils down to how much do you hope to employ the same nanny for the long term.

Why? She already gets more time off than most nannies, and she is happy with that. I just want to do this legally without adding another 4 days of PTO to her benefit package. I can't cover over three weeks of days off at her discretion. I think I'm going to rewrite the PTO clause to say:

PTO accrues at a rate of 1 day per month (1 day = 8), to be used at the nanny's discretion for any purpose. For the purposes of this contract, the first 32 hours (4 days) of accrued PTO will be understood to satisfy the Montgomery County requirements for sick leave, though nanny may use this time as she sees fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were you nanny, I'd worry more about my attitude and job performance than how to weasel in more paid time off.

Huh? I love my nanny. I actually don't think she would ever do this. I just like to have a very contract so that we are both clear on what I will and won't pay for before it happens.

It always boils down to how much do you hope to employ the same nanny for the long term.

Why? She already gets more time off than most nannies, and she is happy with that. I just want to do this legally without adding another 4 days of PTO to her benefit package. I can't cover over three weeks of days off at her discretion. I think I'm going to rewrite the PTO clause to say:

PTO accrues at a rate of 1 day per month (1 day = 8), to be used at the nanny's discretion for any purpose. For the purposes of this contract, the first 32 hours (4 days) of accrued PTO will be understood to satisfy the Montgomery County requirements for sick leave, though nanny may use this time as she sees fit.

THat seems like a great way to handle it OP. So much so that I'm going to steal your language if I have to do another nanny contract!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were you nanny, I'd worry more about my attitude and job performance than how to weasel in more paid time off.

Huh? I love my nanny. I actually don't think she would ever do this. I just like to have a very contract so that we are both clear on what I will and won't pay for before it happens.

It always boils down to how much do you hope to employ the same nanny for the long term.

Why? She already gets more time off than most nannies, and she is happy with that. I just want to do this legally without adding another 4 days of PTO to her benefit package. I can't cover over three weeks of days off at her discretion. I think I'm going to rewrite the PTO clause to say:

PTO accrues at a rate of 1 day per month (1 day = 8), to be used at the nanny's discretion for any purpose. For the purposes of this contract, the first 32 hours (4 days) of accrued PTO will be understood to satisfy the Montgomery County requirements for sick leave, though nanny may use this time as she sees fit.

THat seems like a great way to handle it OP. So much so that I'm going to steal your language if I have to do another nanny contract!

Agree nicely worded. You will be fine.