I have worked for them since July. The contract is being renegotiated because we are adding another family (nanny share) and yes I would like to continue my employment. I'm prepared to give notice today if things don't work out though.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I have knots in my stomach preparing for this conversation. I feel more justified in broaching the lunch break issue but would to find a law that says working lunch breaks have the be paid. I looked on the DOL website and the wording was clear but I wondered if there are any rules governing household employees. Thanks again

Not paying for a lunch break is not at all standard in the nanny world. Perhaps the best way to make them see that's it not really fair is to politely pose the question of who will come home to relieve you during your "unpaid lunch break". If they say no one will relieve you, then ask if the baby wakes up during your "lunch break" should you call them to handle it or will it be your responsibility? Are you sure you want to work for people who would even consider doing this to you OP? The cheapness is a screaming red flag to me. They clearly don't know what is standard when hiring a full time nanny and seem to lean cheap and self-serving when it comes to how they will treat you.

Thanks. I have knots in my stomach preparing for this conversation. I feel more justified in broaching the lunch break issue but would to find a law that says working lunch breaks have the be paid. I looked on the DOL website and the wording was clear but I wondered if there are any rules governing household employees. Thanks again

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not?

*Yes, the nanny is guaranteed a set weekly salary, which is 40 hours plus 5 hours OT (regardless of whether she actually works OT hours or is receiving paid leave).

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this?

*Nanny always receives the same amount of money each week. The only exception to this would be if she used up all of her paid leave (10 days vacation, 5 sick days) and then time off would be unpaid, but that has never happened.

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home.

*No, that's weird.

How many federal holidays are PTO.

*Nanny gets the same holidays I get - which are most federal holidays (excluding one), the day after Thanksgiving and then whatever I get off for Christmas, which changes each year.

I used a contract which I found online as a starting point and then covered other items unique to us. I agree with PPs that spelling out the actual holidays is better than just saying "all Federal holidays."

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not?

Our nanny works 50 hrs/week. We have those hours to accommodate the time I (MB) am out of the house for work. They are set hours as I'm a M-F, 9-5 worker.

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this?

Our nanny is paid 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year (unless she takes sick and vacation leave in excess of what we offer.) We give 10 paid vacation days and 5 paid sick days per year. If she wanted to take longer vacation that would be leave without pay.

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home.

Our nanny works 8-6 and she is paid for the whole time. She doesn't get to leave the house or be off-duty, even if child is sleeping, so therefore she gets paid.

How many federal holidays are PTO.

Nanny gets the same holidays I get - which is 10 days. 9 federal holidays, plus the Friday after Thanksgiving (in lieu of Veteran's Day). We also contribute to our nanny's health insurance coverage.

We have a formal contract that spells all this out. I found the contract details, rough benefit parameters, etc.. by extensive online research, talking w/ other parents, and using my own work experience.

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not? Yes, she will be paid for the whole year including 2 weeks vacation, 5 sick days, and 7 holidays. It does not seem fair for her to have weeks with no pay. Also, if we take more than 2 weeks vacation, she will get that time paid as well.

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this? Yes. It is not her choice on those days.

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home. No - we do not take time off for lunch. She is still watching the baby during her lunch.

How many federal holidays are PTO. I am not a govt employee - I get 7 Paid Holidays which the nanny also gets.

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not?
Yes. Her regular schedule is 40 hours, so I guarantee 40. Why? Because I really don't know how much vacation we'll take each year, and I think it's fair. When I had a part time nanny, I only guaranteed 20 hours a week even though she often worked more like 25. Why? Because I didn't pay for holidays with the part time nanny, so some weeks had fewer work days.

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this?
If we take a day off, we only give the nanny the day off if we have a trip to go on or some kind of family activity. Otherwise, we use the day for errands, household tasks, or a "date day." I know some nannies are annoyed if their bosses don't have to work and they do, but I don't really get that. I've hired a regular nanny so we can make our lives easier; why would I get a different sitter just because we're home? If we leave town or have a family activity that day, she still gets paid (see "guaranteed hours" above).

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home.
My nanny works 40 exactly because I don't want to pay overtime. She gets paid for all the time she's here (and, usually, even if she's late or has to leave early b/c of something with her own kids, though this perk is going to have to end).

How many federal holidays are PTO.
I do not pay for MLK day, President's Day, or Columbus Day since these are days my husband and I may have to work. I do pay for day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve as of this year (she's been with us a year), so she gets 8 holiday days. She also gets 12 days of PTO to use as sick leave or vacation, all days scheduled by her choice.

Thank you for your help

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not?

No. We're both part-time and so if I don't work a set number of hours in a week I don't get that pay. She agreed to this in her contract. I know guaranteed hours is a common perk with part-time nannies and we may consider it in the future.

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this?

Nope. Instead we both shift our hours to a mutually agreed on time (she was the first one who suggested this on a day that she wanted to take off). I know a lot of nannies don't like this arrangement, but our nanny has worked well with it. Since she started the only day that we've both just not worked has been Christmas.

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home.

Of course not! Her lunch is a working lunch, which should be compensated accordingly, same as a desk employee eating at their desk.

How many federal holidays are PTO.

None, but her schedule doesn't have her working on many federal holidays to begin with.

Anonymous wrote:I know things can turn hostile in these threads pretty quickly but I was wondering if I could politely ask in advance for this thread to stay sugary sweet I don't want to deter anyone from providing their reasoning or have anyone sidetracked by thinking they need to argue a point. Anyway I want to broach these issues with respect and not from a place of entitlement. I've been a nanny for 10+ years and my contracts have been pretty much the same so to me its a "This is just how its done" kinda thing. Obviously that isn't a professional way to address a contract issue so I'm hoping to receive a different "voice".

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not?

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this?

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home.

How many federal holidays are PTO.

Thank you for your help

1) I guarantee 40 hours. Why? Because I'm getting the promise of the availability of 40 hours, regardless of whether I use it. This is keeping my Nanny from getting another job. Only seems fair I should pay her for her available time.

2) If I take a day off, I pay my Nanny. Again, I guarantee 40 hours. The benefit is that she's available to me on the weeks I need her to work 40 (or more) hours). (when I work more than 40, I pay her overtime)

3) No, I never subtract lunch breaks. She's always at my house working. If she's eating, it's with my kids. Not sure how this is a "break."

4) I pay her for federal days off, and I don't "charge" her PTO for it. I charge PTO when she specifically asks for time off.

I appreciate the responses thus far. More information: I am involved in a share two babies under 12 months. I don't have 3-4 hours of downtime per day. They nap well but its staggered. I also do light housekeeping and make homemade baby food that requires prep and cleaning up after.

The way to ask for guaranteed hours is to bring forward the point that you need a predictable income. There are different ways to achieve this that involve compromise on both sides. We don't take more 2 weeks vacation a year so it wasn't an issue for us. I did include notice periods for both our week and our nanny's week so we could each plan to use this time. The notice period allows both parties to plan and to avoid gaming the system type situations. I know other nanny employers who guarantee a minimum number of hours that are less than the regular schedule. I know a few people who take 5 weeks of vacation in the summer and set their rates much lower because this much vacation time is a form of compensation. Approaching this from the position of I need to predict my income is far more reasonable than coming off like someone looking for loads of extra paid PTO.

On federal holidays, I would write out a list of the holidays that you want to take. It seems that too many people write in federal holidays but then later realize that their office doesn't follow the federal holiday. Nannies also tend to not realize that the day after Thanksgiving is not a federal holiday. Creating an annual contract that include the holidays and the dates they fall on is the easiest way to avoid confusion.

I've never heard of any reducing nanny pay by .5 for taking lunch. I think its reasonable for the nanny to have up to an hour of paid downtime a day but I do not agree with nannies that expect to do nothing for 3-4 hours of downtime.

Guaranteed hours/pay per week. If I take a day off, that day is still paid for her. There is no benefit in doing this - it is just what is fair. It is not that she is not showing up for work - I am telling her that I don't need her to come and doing so knowing that I am obligated to pay for it. The only time she has days without pay is if she takes more than the vacation/PTO we provide (one week vacation of her choosing and 5 paid days off for sick, etc.).

I give PTO rather than sick.

When I had a nanny, I used a local teaching contract as a model. I gave paid sick days (3), guaranteed pay, nanny was paid if I took an unexpected day off, definitely didn't subtract for lunch breaks, etc.

I know things can turn hostile in these threads pretty quickly but I was wondering if I could politely ask in advance for this thread to stay sugary sweet I don't want to deter anyone from providing their reasoning or have anyone sidetracked by thinking they need to argue a point. Anyway I want to broach these issues with respect and not from a place of entitlement. I've been a nanny for 10+ years and my contracts have been pretty much the same so to me its a "This is just how its done" kinda thing. Obviously that isn't a professional way to address a contract issue so I'm hoping to receive a different "voice".

Do you guarantee your nanny a set number of hours or weeks of pay? Why? Why not?

If you take a day off here or there is your nanny still paid. What is the benefit in doing this?

If your nanny works 8.5 hours do you subtract the .5 to account for a lunch break. The lunch break doesn't allow for nanny to leave the home.

How many federal holidays are PTO.

Thank you for your help