Give notice now. As you said, you can easily get a new job...didn't you even say in the corporate world because you have important connections? (sounds like you don't have much in the way of job experience, but whatever).

Then, take your vacation on your own time and return to your new awesome corporate job that you don't need a reference for.

Because if you take a paid vacation and quit when you return, I wouldn't blame them for firing you immediately. Either way, you are losing income.

Never assume that you won't need a reference. You never know what the future holds and not having work history or a reference for 17 months can haunt you.

That was very informative, thanks!

Anonymous wrote:Nannies are ALWAYS at will employees which means they can quit or be terminated at any time for any reason. A contract wouldn't hold up in court except maybe for hourly wages. It's really a work agreement saying you agree to do certain tasks for a certain rate and they are giving you certain compensation for certain tasks performed. It's just too clarify what your duties are.

Lawyer here. This is not accurate. Someone on this board always says that nanny contracts are not binding, but that is absolutely false. She is confusing the validity and enforceability of the contract with the available remedies.

Nannies can be term employees rather than at-will employees if a written contract clearly states that this is the case. Most contracts are not written this way and the default assumption is an at-will arrangement, but a term arrangement is entirely possible. Moreover, even in an at-will employment situation, contract language such as the requirement that each party give the other 30 days notice of termination is absolutely binding and enforceable. That said, no court would force a nanny to stay in a job or force a family to keep its children in her care because there was a term contract or a contract requiring a certain notice period that was not observed. This remedy is called "specific performance" and it is disfavored by courts. Instead, courts can award money to a wrongfully terminated nanny or a family that was injured by a nanny's failure to give proper notice or failure to finish out a fixed term of employment. Most rational people don't bother to sue because the amount of money at stake with respect to a breached nanny contract is usually modest, and the litigation process is time-consuming and usually expensive. But that doesn't mean suing isn't a viable option, especially where one party is angry enough to want to even the score, without regard to the costs of filing suit.

If a nanny contract says the term of employment is one year, subject to termination only for enumerated causes, then the nanny can still quit and the family can still fire her for any reason or no reason, but the quitting/firing party may be in breach of the contract, in which case the other party can sue for (and would likely win) monetary damages. In the nanny's case, monetary damages would be the amount she would have earned had she finished out the term of the one year contract, less any costs that she would have incurred had she finished the contract (i.e. costs of getting to work every day) and also less any money she earned from substitute employment, which she would be obligated to pursue. In the family's case, monetary damages would be the amount the family had to spend to get replacement childcare for the rest of the one year term, less what they would have paid the nanny, plus (in many cases) lost wages attributable to the parents' need to miss work as a result of the nanny's breach.

Where a nanny or her employer fails to give the amount of notice called for by the contract, monetary damages would work pretty much as in the above example, but the relevant term for calculating the cost of the breach would be the notice period.

OP here . Getting a job in the corporate world , and I have family connections so I don't need their reference. . The nanny right before me just left also . Maybe I ail tell them after I get paid on the Friday of my vacation.

Anonymous wrote:17 months and you don't feel the need for a good reference? As a MB, I would frown upon the lack of good reference.

she hasn't said why she's leaving... It's possible there's some issues that would prevent that anyway.

17 months and you don't feel the need for a good reference? As a MB, I would frown upon the lack of good reference.

Nannies are ALWAYS at will employees which means they can quit or be terminated at any time for any reason. A contract wouldn't hold up in court except maybe for hourly wages. It's really a work agreement saying you agree to do certain tasks for a certain rate and they are giving you certain compensation for certain tasks performed. It's just too clarify what your duties are.

Even with a contract they can just let me go? What is a contract for then? It states a months advance notice

Only you can decide if it's worth it to sick it out for vacation. I'd probably base it on how much I hate the job and whether I have something lined up. By law you don't have to give any notice. If they were unhappy with you, they'd let you go in a heart beat notice be damned. If the job is downright miserable, love something up and go. If it's tolerable, do whatever makes the most sense financially.

I've been in my current position seventeen months. For various reasons I have decided to quit. Our contract states a months advance notice . Before coming to the decision to quit I had put in for vacation which is in four weeks. I get paid 300/Wk . should I stick it out another two months for the vacation? its almost not worth it to me plus I think that will tick of my employers to give notice as soon as I'm back. I am in DC and could easily find another job.