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[quote=Anonymous]OP, the nannies on this board are a bit more precious than the majority you'll meet in DC.  Yes, guaranteed hours are common in DC, and that means you pay your nanny when you go on vacation.  However, when employers routinely take more than the two weeks vacation that nannies typically get, it is very common for the employer and nanny to work out a compromise that feels fair to both.

I know one family that gives the nanny the standard two weeks vacation.  The family typically takes three additional vacation weeks and the nanny gets those off with pay, but she earns that excess PTO by working three weekends (Sat morn through Sun evening) over the course of the year.  I'm not sure it's legal, but they are all happy with the arrangement.

I know another family who mitigates the cost of guaranteed hours by not giving the nanny any choice in when she takes vacation.  She gets off when they take their four weeks of vacation.  They always take off the same weeks each year, so the nanny can plan her trips accordingly.  I know she doesn't love the situation, but she's been in her job for a long time regardless.

I've also heard that some families have the nanny come in when they are away to do things like water plants, feed cats, take in mail, purge kids closets, and make casseroles or pureed baby food to stock the freezer.

In my family, we give the nanny three weeks paid PTO but typically take two or three weeks beyond that.  We do pay her for these additional weeks but with two caveats.  First, we require her to travel with us for up to three weeks a year.  During these weeks, she gets her regular pay and works her regular hours but on a different schedule, so DH and I get some date nights and don't always have to miss the best part of the beach day to supervise naps.  We won't necessarily want to do this when our kids get older, but at this point, it works well.

Second, we guarantee her pay for 50 hours a week but have agreed that these hours may be scheduled any time M-F between 8 am and 9 pm, so if we take a random Friday off, she makes up some of those hours by working longer days that week.  This makes sense for us because we invariably find ourselves needing time away from the kids for errands or late work to complete tasks before taking any time off.

One other point about guaranteed hours bears mentioning.  Some people only guarantee 40 hours a week, even though the nanny is routinely required to work 45 hours a week or more.  If you do guarantee more than 40 hours a week, it is very common in DC to negotiate in terms of an average hourly rate.  In other words, if you are looking to hire a $15 per hour nanny for 50 guaranteed hours a week, you would pay $750 a week, but specify in the contract that the base rate for the first 40 hours is $13.64 and the ot rate for hours 41-50 is $20.46.  The $20.46 rate also applies to any hours over 50.  I was not familiar with this approach when I first started looking for a nanny.  It was actually an experienced career nanny who convinced me this is the norm (although she thought of it as a $15 per hour job with guaranteed hours and time and a half starting once the guaranteed hours were exceeded).

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