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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm ready to terminate our nanny for several reasons.  Our contract has specific language regarding termination for cause, which includes vague language about non-performance of duties.  I've recently posted two separate posts about her - one related to asking nanny to report on time used (she really hasn't been using kid-free time as agreed upon), and another regarding whether being on time matters in context of arriving before school pick up time.  It's become increasingly clear that she just has a bad attitude.  She's really Jekyll and Hyde in a lot of ways - warm, friendly, offer to help, and then surly, snide, eye-rolling, disrespectful and generally just rude to my kids.  I couldn't make the statement that she ALWAYS has a bad attitude or NEVER is helpful or performs well - she's just incredibly inconsistent and spends far too much time on the underperforming/surly side of the spectrum.  The last straw for me was when my spouse and I both had to leave town to go to a dying family member.  While we were gone, on the day the family member died, she texted me that our kids were crying for no reason at all, and just super missed us and have just been really out of control, and can she tell grandparents it's okay for kids to watch a movie that night?  I was so mad that I couldn't even respond; seriously, why would she ask me that when she knew that at best I was at the hospital and at worst the death has occurred?  To ask if she could recommend a movie night? To make clear my kids were being a problem for her?  The report from the grandparents was that the kids were fine when grandparents arrived, but that the nanny was acting really irritated and complained that I didn't respond to her text.  Nanny now claims she didn't mean to give my parents the impression that the kids were bad; grandparents report that she stood right in front of my preschool daughter telling grandparents how naughty my daughter was - looking right at daughter and saying "you were really naughty, weren't you?" Nanny also complained to grandparents about my son being in a foul mood after school; well, he had a 102 degree fever when my parents checked him.  (She had great references by the way.  No idea how.)

So - nothing from the above is the single, concrete, obvious "for cause" reason, but is all of this taken together sufficient to call it a "for cause" termination?  [/quote]

Well, let me approach this in pieces.

I'm a nanny.  Communication with parents is key to being able to perform well in my job.  I don't care what you are doing, unless you explicitly tell me not to text you for anything other than an emergency during X hours, if I have a question, I'm going to text.  Texting means that you can get to it when you have a moment, and it doesn't interrupt as much as a call.  With that said, if I knew you were leaving to go be with a dying family member, I would have texted the MB/DB who wasn't a blood relative.  I would have texted that the kids were crying, but my assumption was that they didn't understand what was going on and/or they missed you.  If kids are having a bad day, absolutely, I text and tell the parent if they won't be home at the end of my shift, but I also write out exactly what happened in the daily log.  Personally, I don't reward children for misbehavior, nor do I advocate that, so I would be more likely to tell the grandparents that there should not be a movie as the children were misbehaving.  If a child was out of control, yes, I bring it to the parent's attention, but it's a discussion between the child, parent and myself, it's not me denigrating the child while the child stands and listens.  The inconsistencies between both the texts and grandparents saying that the children misbehaved and the nanny saying that she didn't tell the grandparents that... that's not acceptable.

Ok, housework.  Nanny is supposed to do one load of clothes and prep lunch on the days she starts at 11.30, pick up the child(ren), do dishes and laundry during lunch, do laundry and dusting during nap.  On the days she starts at 8, she's supposed to be vacuuming, dusting, etc.  If it was clear what the expectations were when she started, and it's possible to do all of the tasks without being out of breath, neglecting the kids or feeling rushed, yes, I would say it's non-performance of duties.  If not, no.  I can do the laundry, dishes and lunch prep in the given time, but I know plenty of others who would feel too rushed.  I wouldn't agree to do your dusting, but I would be fine doing the vacuuming.  But this isn't about me, it's about what the nanny signed in the contract.

Timeliness.  It doesn't matter if the nanny is supposed to be at work at 4 am, noon, 4 pm, or midnight.  Start time is when she's supposed to be there, things put away, ready to start work.

Attitude.  Your attitude to her is a problem.  Her attitude to you is a problem.  Kids attitude is a problem.  Her attitude to the kids is a problem.  While it isn't all on her, yes, it's another reason for her to go.

OP, I wish you luck.  You need to decide exactly what you want, advertise for it, and be willing to accept what you can afford.  If you want a nanny/housekeeper, but the cheapest qualified person wants $19/hour, you'll have to pay $19/hour, look for nanny and housekeeper separately, or accept someone less qualified.[/quote]

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