She also didn't say it would average out to 40 hours. OP only said she wanted a consistent salary. My guess is that the week with a Monday works out to more than 48 hours anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Structure her hours in such a way, do it bi-weekly pay like a corporate job instead of weekly, so her total hours for the whole 2 weeks remain below or at 80 and then you can avoid the overtime for the 1 week each set. That how I do it.

That is 100% illegal. Any hourly enployee must be paid overtime for any time worked over 40 hours in a 1 WEEK PERIOD. You are breaking the law and screwing your nanny.

Not if you pay every 2 weeks or bi monthly its not.

YES IT IS ILLEGAL. The word "pay period" in the law is defined IN THE LAW to be any set of 7 consecutive days. It even states specifically that the averaging of hours over two weeks is not permitted. You can write paychecks as often or as rarely as you want, but that is a different type of "pay period," and does not count for overtime. Here is the text of the law from the US Department of Labor, and a link:

The Act applies on a workweek basis. An employee's workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours — seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It need not coincide with the calendar week, but may begin on any day and at any hour of the day. Different workweeks may be established for different employees or groups of employees. Averaging of hours over two or more weeks is not permitted.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime_pay.htm

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not set your 7 day consecutive work week to start halfway through the day on Monday (eg for an 8-5 day, at noon)? Then you're looking at 40 hours every 7 days (for weeks where she's working on a Monday, 4 hours on Monday, 9 hours Tuesday-Friday, zero the following Monday...for weeks where she's not working on a Monday, zero hours on Monday, 9 hours Tuesday-Friday, 4 hours the following Monday). I think (although I'm by no means certain!) that's how the federal government justifies not paying overtime for folks on a 5-4-9 schedule...

Exactly, this is how we do it.

So her next week starts in the middle of her work day??? I'm guessing there are laws regarding that as well. Either way, it certainly wouldn't work for me.

Just wait until the nanny screws you.
"What goes around, comes around."
Good luck with that, OP.

Anonymous wrote:Why not set your 7 day consecutive work week to start halfway through the day on Monday (eg for an 8-5 day, at noon)? Then you're looking at 40 hours every 7 days (for weeks where she's working on a Monday, 4 hours on Monday, 9 hours Tuesday-Friday, zero the following Monday...for weeks where she's not working on a Monday, zero hours on Monday, 9 hours Tuesday-Friday, 4 hours the following Monday). I think (although I'm by no means certain!) that's how the federal government justifies not paying overtime for folks on a 5-4-9 schedule...

Exactly, this is how we do it.

Why not set your 7 day consecutive work week to start halfway through the day on Monday (eg for an 8-5 day, at noon)? Then you're looking at 40 hours every 7 days (for weeks where she's working on a Monday, 4 hours on Monday, 9 hours Tuesday-Friday, zero the following Monday...for weeks where she's not working on a Monday, zero hours on Monday, 9 hours Tuesday-Friday, 4 hours the following Monday). I think (although I'm by no means certain!) that's how the federal government justifies not paying overtime for folks on a 5-4-9 schedule...

You do need to structure her contract so she has an hourly base rate and OT for any hours worked > 40 in one week (7 day consecutive period). You can see if she'd be ok being paid biweekly for the sake of consistency. Some people would be ok with that, some wouldn't. Honestly, though, this shouldn't affect her total compensation at all. Neither higher because you need to pay OT nor lower because you are not using OT alternate weeks. Come to agreement on her total hours, general schedule, guaranteed minimum pay, and then the rest is just math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Structure her hours in such a way, do it bi-weekly pay like a corporate job instead of weekly, so her total hours for the whole 2 weeks remain below or at 80 and then you can avoid the overtime for the 1 week each set. That how I do it.

That is 100% illegal. Any hourly enployee must be paid overtime for any time worked over 40 hours in a 1 WEEK PERIOD. You are breaking the law and screwing your nanny.

Not if you pay every 2 weeks or bi monthly its not.

WRONG and ILLEGAL

From the Department of Labor Website:
"An employer must establish a workweek (7 consecutive 24-hour periods) and must pay overtime when hours worked exceed 40 in the workweek. The practice of paying overtime only after 80 hours in a bi-weekly pay period is illegal since each workweek must stand alone."

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs1.htm

Nannies are not exempt from overtime laws.
You are breaking the law. Period.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Structure her hours in such a way, do it bi-weekly pay like a corporate job instead of weekly, so her total hours for the whole 2 weeks remain below or at 80 and then you can avoid the overtime for the 1 week each set. That how I do it.

That is 100% illegal. Any hourly enployee must be paid overtime for any time worked over 40 hours in a 1 WEEK PERIOD. You are breaking the law and screwing your nanny.

Not if you pay every 2 weeks or bi monthly its not.

I am an hourly employee and get OT. I work shift work though and work 80 hours in a 2 week period. This is not illegal. If you pay her every 2 weeks it is legal.
I work for a government agency so I know its legit.

Anonymous wrote:Structure her hours in such a way, do it bi-weekly pay like a corporate job instead of weekly, so her total hours for the whole 2 weeks remain below or at 80 and then you can avoid the overtime for the 1 week each set. That how I do it.

That is 100% illegal. Any hourly enployee must be paid overtime for any time worked over 40 hours in a 1 WEEK PERIOD. You are breaking the law and screwing your nanny.

Structure her hours in such a way, do it bi-weekly pay like a corporate job instead of weekly, so her total hours for the whole 2 weeks remain below or at 80 and then you can avoid the overtime for the 1 week each set. That how I do it.

You have to pay hourly and pay overtime. Are you saying that some weeks will have overtime and some will not, but you were hoping to "average" the weeks?

It's really not that much harder to just do it by the actual hours, and, if your schedule suddenly changes or you need more hours, there's not extra negotiating over pay.

Just make it clear in the hiring process that the weekly pay/guaranteed hours will be Week A: 40 hours, Week B: 50 hours, rinse and repeat.

How many times must it be said, NANNIES ARE HOURLY EMPLOYEES and you MUST PAY OT. Why is it that so many of you have difficulty with understanding this concept?

We work a flex schedule with every other Monday off and would extend that day off to our nanny as well. Can we agree to a weekly salary or do we have to still do hourly and pay overtime? We would pay taxes, etc. This is our first time exploring a nanny so not sure of what is reasonable/permissible if everyone agrees. Thanks!