Pay Nanny OT?

[Anonymous]

Our nanny will be working about 55 hours per week, every other week. Are we required to pay OT time +half for each hour over 40? Since we’re paying on the books, I want to ensure we’re doing everything correct and fair. Thank you

[Anonymous]

Check your state laws. Yes, anything over 40 hours is due overtime and, in some states, anything over nine hours a day requires overtime.

[Anonymous]

Yes you are required to pay OT.

[Anonymous]

You can check with your payroll service but I think you do need to pay OT. Are you going to guarantee 55 hours a week? if so you may be able to negotiate a slightly lower hourly rate, but then you have to pay the OT whether you use it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny will be working about 55 hours per week, every other week. Are we required to pay OT time +half for each hour over 40? Since we’re paying on the books, I want to ensure we’re doing everything correct and fair. Thank you

Yes. You are required to pay overtime for every hour over 40 in a given week. I echo checking your state laws if the day hours go over 8 or 9 (it’s 9 hours in California so even if we have a nanny only one day a week but for ten hours in that day, we pay an hour of overtime).

[Anonymous]

Of course you do.

[Anonymous]

Yes you are.

That said, many nannies will want to work for (and negotiate based on) a weekly salary. So you need to think in terms of a base hourly rate for the first 40 hours, then 1.5 x that for the 15 additional hours and that gives you the weekly salary.

So at $15/hr the weekly salary (for 55 hours) would be $937.50, at $20/hr it would be $1,250.

In your shoes I'd figure out what you can afford weekly and back that into the hourly rate and see what your range is. Can you afford a nanny at $18/hr, 20/hr, 22/hr, etc... Then you'll have a range within which you can start your search and discuss/negotiate salary and rates w/ nannies in a completely legal way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our nanny will be working about 55 hours per week, every other week. Are we required to pay OT time +half for each hour over 40? Since we’re paying on the books, I want to ensure we’re doing everything correct and fair. Thank you

Good try! You know perfectly well you owe her OT.

[Anonymous]

Live in or live out? What state?

If live-in, then many states do not require OT.
If live-out, you need to check your state. But bet on yes, you need to pay OT. However, like most have already said, factor the OT into the overall comp.

[Anonymous]

I am sure your employer pays you OT if you are an hourly employee so please do the same.

[Anonymous]

Amazed this is even a question

[Anonymous]

If I'm reading this correctly, OP said nanny would be working only every *other* week which actually does make a difference legally, as DOL says that employer can define a workweek how they want as long as it is "seven consecutive 24-hour periods" (https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime_pay.htm). This means if your nanny is working 11 hours a day Mon-Fri one week and 0 hours the next week, and you define the workweek as starting Thursday at midnight, then she effectively works 33 hours one workweek (Mon-Wed) and 22 hours the next workweek (Thu-Fri). This is assuming you live in an area where OT is defined as >40 hours per week as opposed to >X hours per day.

Most payroll companies will have a default workweek definition of Mon-Sun or Sun-Sat, but legally, you can structure it such that you're not required to pay OT. However, it's probably not easy to find a nanny that is willing to work a schedule like this unless it pays enough to be her only job, so I wouldn't recommend it as it will breed resentment if you do this to save money in a way that impacts her financial security.

[Anonymous]

I would not get this advice on GTM. The above does not sound correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not get this advice on GTM. The above does not sound correct.

Agree about GTM.