nanny asked for extra unpaid leave - WWYD?

[Anonymous]

Our nanny of 1.5yrs (whom we really love) recently asked to take a day off. Normally np - except she specifically asked that the day count as unpaid leave...as in, in addition to the 15 days of PTO in her contract. I don't want to go crazy over a single day...but I also don't want to set a precedent that we're ok with her taking unpaid days like this. (FYI she still has plenty of PTO days remaining for the year, and I don't know what the day is for.)

Has anyone else had this experience? If a nanny employer, what would you do? If a nanny, in what cases would you ask for unpaid leave in addition to PTO?

[Anonymous]

I would have asked her why she wants it unpaid. "Sure, Beth, you can take off January 27. You have PTO days saved up though. Can you use one of those days? It can be hard for us to arrange more than 15 days of backup care each year." And see what she says.

Maybe she has a three week vacation planned and wants to save all her PTO for that? Who knows. Ask her!

[Anonymous]

Tell her you are happy to give her the day off unpaid but that you will take the time you are home from work to start looking for her replacement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell her you are happy to give her the day off unpaid but that you will take the time you are home from work to start looking for her replacement.

Thanks, troll.

[Anonymous]

If you can't cover more than the 15 days off a year, now is the time to tell her that. I would require my nanny to use PTO before taking unpaid leave, and I would take this opportunity to explain that the leave package is not just about cost, it's about having coverage, and that time off in addition to the 15 days a year is not automatically covered.

I would also tell her that I would work with her in an emergency if she were out of PTO, but not before, and not on a regular one-day-here, one-day-there basis without explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can't cover more than the 15 days off a year, now is the time to tell her that. I would require my nanny to use PTO before taking unpaid leave, and I would take this opportunity to explain that the leave package is not just about cost, it's about having coverage, and that time off in addition to the 15 days a year is not automatically covered.

I would also tell her that I would work with her in an emergency if she were out of PTO, but not before, and not on a regular one-day-here, one-day-there basis without explanation.

This.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks all for the input!

I think we'll have a conversation with her about the difficulty of arranging backup care for more than the number of PTO days in our contract, and see how that goes. I was just very surprised to get her request, when I feel like we offer a very standard PTO package, and hadn't heard any similar stories from friends/family working with a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Nanny here. I have requested unpaid leave for days here and there where I thought it was unlikely that the parents would be able to stay home. My intention was actually to make it easier on them, so that they would not have to pay my rate and the rate of a backup sitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Nanny here. I have requested unpaid leave for days here and there where I thought it was unlikely that the parents would be able to stay home. My intention was actually to make it easier on them, so that they would not have to pay my rate and the rate of a backup sitter.

The point is that you can request it, but some families may not be able to manage it; it's not just about the cost. There's a reason people are limited to 2 weeks vacation even in corporate jobs, and requests for more time off, even unpaid, are not always granted. The whole point of FMLA was to force companies to give that time off. They weren't inclined to do so otherwise, and that is unpaid time.

[Anonymous]

How do you know the nanny is not including this unpaid day in her 15 that she gets paid ? I have done this as well. I've used up a paid day but gone unpaid because like pp mentioned we nannies feel guilty for upsetting out bosses. Maybe the nanny isn't intending on going over the 15 days at all but is just trying to be curtious .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you know the nanny is not including this unpaid day in her 15 that she gets paid ? I have done this as well. I've used up a paid day but gone unpaid because like pp mentioned we nannies feel guilty for upsetting out bosses. Maybe the nanny isn't intending on going over the 15 days at all but is just trying to be curtious .

That's why OP needs to talk to her at more length than just "yes" or "no" about this particular day.