Anonymous wrote:OP there is no requirement to provide PTO or paid vacation. There is no default position on vacation or PTO that requires you to pay out at the end of the year if your contract is silent on this issue.

The only requirements in your work agreement are base/OT rate, and unemployment and workers comp. Everything else in your work agreement is to provide both you and your nanny with a document to promote clear understanding of what each party agreed to during the negotiation.


1. Schedule or schedule range
2. Guaranteed hours if this is offered, full amount or minimum number
3. If you are doing the standard 2 week vacation, one week of her choosing and one of yours stipulate how much notice each party will give.
4. Inclement weather (keep at your discretion or follow federal closures)
5. List out the PTO holidays, always amused when non-fed write in federal holidays and then get surprised by odd holidays or nannies that agree to fed holidays and get surprised that the the day after Thanksgiving isn't a holiday

Did you read the link? "where the employer does not have a written policy that limits the compensation for accrued leave to a terminated employee, that employee is entitled to the cash value of whatever unused earned vacation leave was left -- provided it was otherwise usable." This means that if you are in the state of Md, and your contract is silent about unused vacation, the default IS that she is entitled to payment for accrued but unused vacation. I know its convenient to ignore laws that don't suit you, but its best not go around spouting your misinformation as though it is fact.

OP there is no requirement to provide PTO or paid vacation. There is no default position on vacation or PTO that requires you to pay out at the end of the year if your contract is silent on this issue.

The only requirements in your work agreement are base/OT rate, and unemployment and workers comp. Everything else in your work agreement is to provide both you and your nanny with a document to promote clear understanding of what each party agreed to during the negotiation.


1. Schedule or schedule range
2. Guaranteed hours if this is offered, full amount or minimum number
3. If you are doing the standard 2 week vacation, one week of her choosing and one of yours stipulate how much notice each party will give.
4. Inclement weather (keep at your discretion or follow federal closures)
5. List out the PTO holidays, always amused when non-fed write in federal holidays and then get surprised by odd holidays or nannies that agree to fed holidays and get surprised that the the day after Thanksgiving isn't a holiday

This is OP again- thank you for the link. We are in the process of preparing a new contract because both of our kids are going to be in school full time and our current nanny is moving to another family b/c she wanted full time work and we are going to a part time nanny. We have a great relationship w/ our current nanny so we always coordinated vacation. We communicated about who was taking off when months in advance in an informal way so although everyone got more than a month off per year there was never a discussion about whose vacation time it was. This informal system may not work for everyone which is why I want to make sure our new work agreement is complete.

Anonymous wrote:I do not see it as sneaky to make the contract conform with what I intended when I offered vacation. Anyway that aside...what if you grant the vacation as a lump sum upon staff of new contract years. I do not keep track per pay period if what is accruing to nanny. When the new contract starts this simply restarts the clock on the vacation bank. This is how my job handles it too so I guess that is why I set it up that way. Would that mean if she quit one month into the new contract year that I would then need to pay her out all her vacation for the year? That does not seem right.

Yes it would. Its compensation in MD, i.e.. something you have agreed to pay. Why shouldn't she get the value of it, even if she doesn't use it? I think you could fairly switch over to an accrual system without a negotiation, but if you are going to change the contract to reflect non payment of accrued vacation time, it IS changing the terms and value of her compensation like it or not, and I hope it rests heavily on your conscience if this is your plan. Be fair and give her the opportunity to negotiate. At the very least explain to her why you're changing the terms so that she is informed. She will either stick around and begin using every bit of her time (is this what you want?) or she will move on to another family who doesn't want to deny her her compensation.

I do not see it as sneaky to make the contract conform with what I intended when I offered vacation. Anyway that aside...what if you grant the vacation as a lump sum upon staff of new contract years. I do not keep track per pay period if what is accruing to nanny. When the new contract starts this simply restarts the clock on the vacation bank. This is how my job handles it too so I guess that is why I set it up that way. Would that mean if she quit one month into the new contract year that I would then need to pay her out all her vacation for the year? That does not seem right.

Anonymous wrote:OP here- we have had a nanny for ages and I stumbled on the workers comp requirement by accident so I am wondering if I am missing anything else. For example, someone on this board recently said you have to state vacation days don't accrue in your work agreement or you are liable to pay them out. This struck me as odd b/c a work agreement isn't legally enforceable like a contract, and I can no longer find the thread to see if the original poster cited the info. Any info people have would be greatly appreciated.

I believe I'm the poster you are referring to and I believe you misunderstood my post. In MD, unless otherwise stated in the agreement, you are liable to payout unused but accrued vacation time. If you dont have it set up to acrue, she is likely entitled to all of it. http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/wagepay/wpunusedvacpay.shtml

Sick time does not work the same way: http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/wagepay/wpunusedsick.shtml

Essentially, the state of MD considers vacation compensation, and therefore your nanny is entitled to what she has accrued or earned, while sick time is merely a contingency against illness, NOT compensation, as has been argued here recently.

Also don't believe the nonsense that nanny contracts aren't enforceable. They are, and there's no reason why they wouldn't be, they just usually aren't worth the trouble of enforcing, but believe that if you make your nanny/employer angry enough it may very well be worth it. If your contract doesn't specify what happens with vacation you are already liable for paying it out. If you don't want to be, this is a renegotiation of terms, don't just go behind her back and secretly change the wording simply because you might get away with it. However, since you are researching requirements, it doesn't seem like your intention is to screw her. Good luck!

OP here- we have had a nanny for ages and I stumbled on the workers comp requirement by accident so I am wondering if I am missing anything else. For example, someone on this board recently said you have to state vacation days don't accrue in your work agreement or you are liable to pay them out. This struck me as odd b/c a work agreement isn't legally enforceable like a contract, and I can no longer find the thread to see if the original poster cited the info. Any info people have would be greatly appreciated.

Yes it is

I'm not sure workers comp is required, actually.

Can anyone tell me where I can find the requirements for hiring a nanny in MD? I know we have to pay taxes, have workers comp, and pay overtime but I am wondering if I am missing anything and I can't seem to find the requirements on the web.

Thank you.