Guaranteed hours question

[Anonymous]

Nanny has guaranteed 40 hours weekly. Next week I need longer days but only 4 days of care. How do I do the 5th day? The 5th day of care that we wouldn't need once adding the 8 hours in would be over 40 hours. Do we pay overtime on those hours or only pay for 40 hours?

[Anonymous]

What does the contract say? Mine guarantees me pay for a specific time frame each day that I am reserving my time for the family? E.g., for a 40-hour week, I might be reserving my time for NF 8am-4pm Monday-Friday and I am guaranteed to be paid for those houre even if they do not need me. If one week my NF needed me 6am-4pm Monday-Thursday and did not need me on Friday, I would expect to be paid for all of my guaranteed hours (8am-4pm Monday-Friday), as well as overtime for days I worked longer than 8 hours. That is how my contract works and it is legally required to pay overtime if the employee works over 8 hours per day in many states.

[Anonymous]

My general rule of thumb is to follow the law in only paying OT for hours worked, unless you’d be dropping her normal salary to do so. So, it doesn’t apply in your case, but if OT was generally guarenteed for 5 hours, I’d pay five hours of OT even if they are just being paid as gairenteed or vacation time, not as time worked.

In your case, it seems the fairest thing to do is to pay 40 hours for her regular hours and then pay straight time for the extra daily hours. OT only if actual hours worked exceed 40. (I’m assuming your location does not mandate OT after 8 hours worked in day. If it does, then yes, youd pay those hours as OT)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My general rule of thumb is to follow the law in only paying OT for hours worked, unless you’d be dropping her normal salary to do so. So, it doesn’t apply in your case, but if OT was generally guarenteed for 5 hours, I’d pay five hours of OT even if they are just being paid as gairenteed or vacation time, not as time worked.

In your case, it seems the fairest thing to do is to pay 40 hours for her regular hours and then pay straight time for the extra daily hours. OT only if actual hours worked exceed 40. (I’m assuming your location does not mandate OT after 8 hours worked in day. If it does, then yes, youd pay those hours as OT)

You also need to take into account that your nanny could easily be expecting OT. Is the overtime on 8 hours (so 4 hours of work) worth having a nanny who is seriously questioning whether you and she have the same contract and view of that contract?

[Anonymous]

Is this going to be one time or recurring thing? If its going to be more times you need to revisit the contract. Also paying OT on hours not worked would setup expectations of same treatment in future so having a contract you both agree on will avoid any misunderstanding.

[Anonymous]

We always treated her standard hours (eg mon - Fri 9-5) as the base - whether we used them or not - and paid for whatever was beyond that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We always treated her standard hours (eg mon - Fri 9-5) as the base - whether we used them or not - and paid for whatever was beyond that.

Yes, but I think the question is:

Do you pay overtime or straight time for those extra hours if they are just shifted (not additional hours actually worked)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does the contract say? Mine guarantees me pay for a specific time frame each day that I am reserving my time for the family? E.g., for a 40-hour week, I might be reserving my time for NF 8am-4pm Monday-Friday and I am guaranteed to be paid for those houre even if they do not need me. If one week my NF needed me 6am-4pm Monday-Thursday and did not need me on Friday, I would expect to be paid for all of my guaranteed hours (8am-4pm Monday-Friday), as well as overtime for days I worked longer than 8 hours. That is how my contract works and it is legally required to pay overtime if the employee works over 8 hours per day in many states.

This is similar to my contract and I expect to be paid OT for every hour I work outside of my regular schedule, even if I have a day off that week. An easy way to breed resentment by not paying OT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the contract say? Mine guarantees me pay for a specific time frame each day that I am reserving my time for the family? E.g., for a 40-hour week, I might be reserving my time for NF 8am-4pm Monday-Friday and I am guaranteed to be paid for those houre even if they do not need me. If one week my NF needed me 6am-4pm Monday-Thursday and did not need me on Friday, I would expect to be paid for all of my guaranteed hours (8am-4pm Monday-Friday), as well as overtime for days I worked longer than 8 hours. That is how my contract works and it is legally required to pay overtime if the employee works over 8 hours per day in many states.

This is similar to my contract and I expect to be paid OT for every hour I work outside of my regular schedule, even if I have a day off that week. An easy way to breed resentment by not paying OT.

Real question, but why do you expect to be paid overtime for hours that aren’t legally considered overtime? Is that explicitly stated in your contract. I’m not trying to be argumentative, but it seems like following labor laws is the reasonable assumption for things not explicitly negotiated.

I do realize the first PP is talking about. Greater than eight hour days, which apparently do require overtime in her jurisdiction, but the second PP refers to “every hour”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does the contract say? Mine guarantees me pay for a specific time frame each day that I am reserving my time for the family? E.g., for a 40-hour week, I might be reserving my time for NF 8am-4pm Monday-Friday and I am guaranteed to be paid for those houre even if they do not need me. If one week my NF needed me 6am-4pm Monday-Thursday and did not need me on Friday, I would expect to be paid for all of my guaranteed hours (8am-4pm Monday-Friday), as well as overtime for days I worked longer than 8 hours. That is how my contract works and it is legally required to pay overtime if the employee works over 8 hours per day in many states.

This is similar to my contract and I expect to be paid OT for every hour I work outside of my regular schedule, even if I have a day off that week. An easy way to breed resentment by not paying OT.

Real question, but why do you expect to be paid overtime for hours that aren’t legally considered overtime? Is that explicitly stated in your contract. I’m not trying to be argumentative, but it seems like following labor laws is the reasonable assumption for things not explicitly negotiated.

I do realize the first PP is talking about. Greater than eight hour days, which apparently do require overtime in her jurisdiction, but the second PP refers to “every hour”

It is not in my contract, but will be in my next one. I have 45 hours per week dedicated to my job. I do not rearrange hours and honestly, I probably will not be overly interested in staying late/coming in early if I’m not receiving OT. While I do understand the laws regarding OT, if you (or I) are using a vacation day on Friday, but you want me to stay late Mon-Thurs, it just feels fair. It is not an issue that would make or break the working relationship, but I want to feel like my time is valued and if I am going out of my way to assist in your family’s needs, then I want to feel fairly compensated. My time outside of my working hours is valuable to me and if you don’t place the same value in my time off, that is fine, you can hire a sitter at whatever price you feel is fair. Additionally, it is so very rare that this situation will come up that it seems silly to nickel and dime the nanny, possibly causing minor resentment, to save yourself $100. Nannies are costly and if you are looking at every additional dollar spent then you probably shouldn’t have a nanny.

I will add that my employers treat vacation, holidays, snow days, etc. as time worked. So, if I work a holiday or snow day, I make my normal pay plus OT for the full day worked, making $50/hr instead of $20. I make more than that, but that is an easy example. But again, it is so rare that something like this happens that you should consider how the nanny will receive it and whether it’s really worth it. Additionally, the way our payroll is set up, you would have to recalculate it into OT hours because all additions hours are automatically OT.

This is just my perspective, which I do understand is not the law. But I can also choose to decline additional hours if not paid at the rate I wish to receive.