Maybe she's counting because she has to meet him at a certain time?
Weird I'm with you ok.
-- nanny

Anonymous wrote:I had a young nanny with a split schedule who wanted to count her drive time home from drop off then back again for pick up.

I just said no.

I drive my employers’ vehicle, so I count all time in their vehicle.

I know of one nanny who negotiated travel time into her contract because she was commuting a longer distance than she ideally wanted to (and had other equally compelling employment options much closer to home). But unless there was a conversation to that effect, the default is always that the clock starts when you arrive at the place of employment.

I had a young nanny with a split schedule who wanted to count her drive time home from drop off then back again for pick up.

I just said no.

Maybe thoughts from nannies who have been in this situation?

Op again, thanks everyone. Does anyone see her point of view and think she may have right to this extra time? I will probably pay her for 8 to 7 like someone above suggested but I want to prepare myself for a negative reaction and feeling confident that I'm not wronging her would make it easier.

Anonymous wrote:I’d tell her to go sit in a coffee shop until her start time. If she was hired to start at 8:00, then that’s when you start paying her. It is her choice to arrive early.

But is it her choice? I would take the bus to school at 6:45 am and arrive at 7: 30 am. If I took the bus at the next pick time which was 7 am I would arrive at around 7:55 which was because of the traffic so those 15 mins really made a difference. I know metro is underground but she might be arriving early bc of the pick up times. If she took a later pick up time she prob would be arriving later

They start when she arrives at your home, and not before the scheduled start time, unless you have something specific to the contrary in your contract. It does sound like you need to be more explicit in the contract language, though--something to the effect of "x shall arrive at the home in time to begin work at 8 am and shall leave the home at 7 pm."

If she is coming in regularly on a train that gets her to your home at 7:30, though, you may want to have her switch to a later train or adjust her hours.

I’d tell her to go sit in a coffee shop until her start time. If she was hired to start at 8:00, then that’s when you start paying her. It is her choice to arrive early.

Just pay her from 8-7 and if she asks why you need to let her know that her time starts when she is given the baby

Op here again. This is probably part of the broader conversation on whether the nanny's hours start when she arrives of when you tell her to arrive. I'm just not sure what the right way to go about this is. Obviously I'd rather minimize OT hours but I also don't want her to feel like I don't value her time.

Op here. She's just sitting around. Don't get me wrong, we appreciate and like her but she's solely responsible for baby so without baby... She's not doing much. She does take public transportation and so it's great that she's early (better than late!) but again, at the OT rate it's almost like I have no more control over how many hours in paying for bc she shows up and "starts" when she decides!

You should mention that the clock starts when she arrives to your home. And I’m assuming she arrives earlier because she relies on the public transportation? So if she gets there at 7:30, is she helping out with the kids? Or is she just sitting around until 8?

I think your nanny’s hours should start when she enters the house. I also think she should be more appreciative of the fact that your husband picks her up. I would have a conversation with her about this.

Hi, everyone. Just had a conversation with my nanny that made me realize we may not be on the same page in terms of when the clock starts. I'm not sure if I should discuss this with her or let it go. We live in MD suburbs while she lives in DC so she takes the metro in. We live 3 miles from the station and there is a bus to the house but my husband goes the extra mile (literally!) to pick her up and bring her home. Before leaving today she casually mentioned that she had worked a certain number of hours and for each day she was quoting one hour more than what I had calculated. I realize she is counting starting from when she arrives at the station and I'm counting from when she enters and leaves my house. So, just to explain it more clearly, if she arrives at the station at 7 but then my husband goes to get her and she shows up at my house at 7:30, she starts counting her hours from 7. I wouldn't make such a big deal about it but because she works 40+ hours, these additional hours are paid as OT and so the difference in pay is enough to make me pause. Has anyone dealt with this? Am I wrong?

And while we're on the subject, if my nanny's hours are, say, 8 to 7 and she arrives 30 minutes early, am I obligated to pay her for that time? She's not doing childcare at that point just hanging out because I'm not ready for her until I tell her I will be (8 am!).

Thanks!