Nanny Quit - Vacation Pay Out?

[Anonymous]

Our nanny has been with us for 6 months and she just put in her two weeks notice. It is an amicable split, but we will be left in a bit of a bind until we find someone else. When she started, our verbal agreement was that she would get two weeks vacation (one that we choose and one that she chooses). We've already used our week. She just asked me if she will be paid out vacation for her week. I told her I needed to talk to my husband about it. I hadn't planned on it. Do you think we "owe" her that vacation? If she'd been here a full year, it would be a different story, but we also never told her that her vacation time was contingent on a certain length of time with us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny has been with us for 6 months and she just put in her two weeks notice. It is an amicable split, but we will be left in a bit of a bind until we find someone else. When she started, our verbal agreement was that she would get two weeks vacation (one that we choose and one that she chooses). We've already used our week. She just asked me if she will be paid out vacation for her week. I told her I needed to talk to my husband about it. I hadn't planned on it. Do you think we "owe" her that vacation? If she'd been here a full year, it would be a different story, but we also never told her that her vacation time was contingent on a certain length of time with us.

I do not think you owe it to her since she has been with you only half a year and is choosing to leave early. She received a half a year's worth of vacation time already.

[Anonymous]

No. She accrues her vacation as she works. She only accrued one week, which she got. That's it.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your comments.

[Anonymous]

You should use an accrual system for your next nanny and inform her of the policy in writing.

[Anonymous]

MB here. It would have been cleaner if you had used an accrual method for vacation, but either way I agree that you do not need to pay her for a full year's worth of vacation payout. She has worked half a year and has received a half year's worth of vacation. I think you're fine to not pay out any more.

[Anonymous]

I would pay it out. What if she had used her week at some
point in the last six months. You would of paid her for it, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would pay it out. What if she had used her week at some
point in the last six months. You would of paid her for it, right?

But she didn't and chose to leave regardless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would pay it out. What if she had used her week at some
point in the last six months. You would of paid her for it, right?

Bad advice/logic here.

Do not pay her for a week's vacation.
She should only be paid that for an entire year of work which she hasn't completed.

She already got a week for 1/2 yr.

That breaks it even for her.

[Anonymous]

You should pay her. You didn't agree to her vacation being accrued.

[Anonymous]

A verbal agreement is worth the paper it is printed on.

You are not legally obligated to pay her, and she already got half of her vacation. In fact, she would have been smarter to schedule her vacation and then quit right after. Be glad she didn't do that.

I had this happen with my first nanny. After that, I went to an accrual method (1 day per month).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. She accrues her vacation as she works. She only accrued one week, which she got. That's it.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should pay her. You didn't agree to her vacation being accrued.

She also didn't agree to pay all of the vacation 6 months in. Since there doesn't seem to be a solid agreement in place, it seems reasonable that since the nanny worked for 1/2 of the contract term, she gets 1/2 of the vacation.

[Anonymous]

OP I'd recommend not paying it out, but for a different reason. Two weeks notice is a bare minimum. It's the type of notice a nanny gives for a critical life event or for a less than amicable split. Had she offered you 8 weeks notice, which I typically give for families I work with, then you could pay out the vacation time as a reciprocal act of good will.

BTW, even when a contract spells out monthly accrual of vacation time, nannies and families will not typically follow an accrual schedule. UNLESS you also agree to pay out unused vacation days. Otherwise the nanny will be waiting until December to take time off and risk losing all the accrued time if her employment is terminated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I'd recommend not paying it out, but for a different reason. Two weeks notice is a bare minimum. It's the type of notice a nanny gives for a critical life event or for a less than amicable split. Had she offered you 8 weeks notice, which I typically give for families I work with, then you could pay out the vacation time as a reciprocal act of good will.

BTW, even when a contract spells out monthly accrual of vacation time, nannies and families will not typically follow an accrual schedule. UNLESS you also agree to pay out unused vacation days. Otherwise the nanny will be waiting until December to take time off and risk losing all the accrued time if her employment is terminated.

What on earth do you mean? We use an accrual method. Nanny gets 12 days PTO a year for vacation/sick/personal time, all hers to choose how to use. She earns 1 day a month. If she wants to take more time than she's accrued, she takes it unpaid. The only payout she would get is of already accrued days. The point is to avoid a situation where she leaves in the middle of the year, and I would be on the hook for a year's worth of vacation for two people.