Snow days when our offices aren't closed?

[Anonymous]

Whenever I have spent the night at my employer's house for whatever reason, I worked late and had to start again early the next morning, weather, whatever the reason, it has never been a weird situation. I don't expect to be paid, they don't expect me to work when I'm not working. Some of you are so caught up in nickel and dimes that common sense has jumped right out of the window. If people were to treat each other with respect and not constantly try to get something out of another person, it would make for an easier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmmm. MB here - and new poster, so I'm not the one being quoted/debated above. But, our nanny often asks if she can spend the night if there is a concern about weather.

We always say of course, and are happy to have her (and happy that she would rather do that than take the day off) but it never occurred to me that I should pay her for that time, as it was at her request. When she stays we often cook dinner for her, include her if we're watching a movie or whatever, but she is officially off duty after and before her normal workday. (And we all adhere to that.)

Overall I think she and we have a good relationship and work these kinds of questions/scenarios through in a way that we're all pleased with, but I do try to make sure I'm not unwittingly doing something unfair.

So, I'd be interested in some nanny feedback on this issue (a nanny asks if she can spend the night, is payment then expected)?

Thx.

Nanny here. No, payment is completely unnecessary. I often stay the night if there's bad weather but I'm not working. I don't like driving in the snow so I'd rather stay the night. It's more convenient for both of us. I actually have my own closet space in the bathroom where I keep a change of clothes, pjs and toiletries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say the demand is "work tomorrow or don't get paid." Semantics, I suppose.

And if working tomorrow means traveling in what could have been unsafe conditions, you've not really given her a choice have you? It was spend the night at work to ensure you are here tomorrow, don't get paid, or risk your life to get here. Anyone else asked to spend the night at work would get paid.

You obviously have never met anyone who has had to pull an all-nighter at their job to make sure they met a deadline. If they are on salary, they don't get extra to stay there.

+1. Or a professional who has to fly out a day early for a work trip, without extra pay, because flights might be delayed by weather and the employee must be at an out of town meeting whether it is snowing or not. Parents who invite a nanny to spend the night due to weather are doing it as a courtesy to the nanny, to make it easier for her to do the job she was hired to do. I'm amazed by the things that some nannies think should entitle them to extra pay, and even more amazed that some parents seem to get coerced into indulging such nonsense.

Nannies, realize that very few professionals get paid for taking a bonus mental health day when it snows. Those who are not expected to work from home (because the job is not conducive to that) generally have to make up the hours at some point because the lost work day puts them behind on deadlines or productivity quotas. A true professional anticipates weather issues and other barriers to performance of the job she was hired to do and she works with her employer to eliminate those barriers (e.g., sleeping over or taking the subway or altering work hours) so she can work and EARN her pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say the demand is "work tomorrow or don't get paid." Semantics, I suppose.

And if working tomorrow means traveling in what could have been unsafe conditions, you've not really given her a choice have you? It was spend the night at work to ensure you are here tomorrow, don't get paid, or risk your life to get here. Anyone else asked to spend the night at work would get paid.

You obviously have never met anyone who has had to pull an all-nighter at their job to make sure they met a deadline. If they are on salary, they don't get extra to stay there.

You are obviously not very smart. Nannies aren't salaried workers, especially not one who wouldn't get paid for a weather day. Hence the "stay tonight, or don't get paid when you can't get here tomorrow" issue. And being hourly employees, they ought to get paid, if you've mandated their presence at work.

You're right. Being told "if you don't stay and finish this project or you will lose your job" is so much different than "stay the night, or you don't get paid when you can't get here tomorrow".

Yes am right, and your continued sarcasm is only making you look silly. Salaried workers have deliverables. They have to finish certain things before their work is "done". Hourly workers are paid to do specific often repetitive tasks for a specified period of time. That is the difference, and that is why a nanny is not a salary worker. You cannot compare the two. There are no deliverables, no projects, and no deadlines. You pay her for her presence for a specified period of time. If you have her spend the night as a condition of payment in the event of bad weather, you'd best believe you should, if not legally have to, pay her.

Thousands of people had to decide today if they should go into work. Many of them had to go, or they would have to take some type of PTO, or, for others, they won't be getting paid for today. Why should a nanny expect to be paid when many others won't be?

I'm NOT talking about being paid for the snow day, dimwit. I mean if you ask her to spend the night before, as a condition of getting paid the following day, you should also expect to pay her for that time, perhaps the same or slightly less than an overnight.

Not the poster this nanny is debating with, but clearly logic is not the nanny's strong suit. No one is making the nanny stay overnight as a condition of getting paid for the next day. They are saying that the nanny must be physically present and working as a condition of getting paid for the snow day, and they are inviting her to spend the night to make it easier for her to be physically present in the morning.

Also, before you go calling other posters "dimwits," you might want to address some major flaws in your own argument. First, you suggest that only salaried employees have "deliverables," while hourly workers get paid for doing specific tasks for a specific period of time. Guess what? Your deliverable as an hourly nanny is your performance of the agreed-upon tasks for the agreed-upon number of hours at the agreed-upon place (the employer's home).

Second, you assert that nannies are hourly employees as if that helps your position. In fact, most non-exempt workers do not get paid if they cannot work due to snow, because they aren't able to meet their deliverable, i,e., the snow has prevented them from performing the "often repetitive tasks" that constitute the non-exempt job. Nannies with guaranteed hours and PTO are effectively a hybrid class of workers: legally non-exempt but subject to some characteristics of a salaried position. This is significant because the hybrid nature of the job warrants a hybrid solution to the snow day problem.

Third, a salaried worker typically gets paid for snow days because the snow does not relieve her of the duty to meet her deliverables; it just changes the time, place, and manner in which she meets them. So, the fair solution for "hybrid" nannies is for the employer to hold her to her deliverable, but allow her to meet that deliverable in a different time, place and manner, just like most other workers with PTO. In other words, the nanny shouldn't be forced to work, but she shouldn't get paid for the missed time unless she does what most salaried workers do: use PTO or make up the missed work hours.

[Anonymous]

When the ad says you must have reliable transportation to get to and from work, I would take that to mean that you know the weather where you live, and should be able to make it to work in all but extraordinary circumstances.

[Anonymous]

based on a suggestion I found here, I put a bad weather policy in our contract since both of us have employers who do not follow the feds. Basically, we text/call if we need her and pay for a car if she feels unsafe using public transportation.

FWIW, our last nanny had an SUV and would come when the weather wasn't great. She'd just go slowly and we'd get home so that her PM commute would happen in daylight.