Yes, you pay the overtime hours as if she worked. This is what is legal, without question.

If you guarantee your nanny a certain amount of hours a week, then you pay her for all of those hours. I’m guaranteed 50 hours per week, vacation is paid at 50 hours.

Overtime is based on hours worked. Not vacation, sick, etc.

If your nanny worked 33 hrs and took 8 hrs vacation in one week.

That’s 33 regular hours and 8 non working hours


The only state this differs in is California. They pay on a daily and weekly base.

OP, you only pay OT for hours actually worked per the Fair Labor Standards Act, so you go by the total hours worked--not including holidays, vacation, or sick time. You pay the first 40 hours actually worked at the regular rate and any hours worked over that at the OT rate. You pay the vacation/sick/holiday time independent of that at the regular rate.

If your workweek starts on Sunday, then you calculate Sunday through Saturday. If it starts on Monday, then it's Monday through Sunday. Depends on what you have in your contract--FLSA allows you to designated any seven consecutive 24-hour periods as the work week, as long as it's consistent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, do you work Mon-Saturday? If not, but you babysit/overnight from time to time, that shouldn’t have anything to do with you “work” schedule or leave.

Nanny is paid legally, so all time worked is under the same pay rate and is all tallied accordingly.

OP here. It seems that the consensus is to pay OT rates. I would love to hear from a few more people though. Legally, if the nanny isn’t working over 40 hours, why would the pay rate increase to an OT rate?

Does she have guaranteed hours? If yes then it doesn’t matter whether or not you has actually worked 40 hours. Stop being cheap and just pay her the OT. It’s only a couple hours anyway. Jeez.

Anonymous wrote:It’s should be specified in your contract. I think nanny should be paid her normal salary during vacation or sick day. If nanny calls out sick and no longer has PTO, then, she should be paid for actual hours worked that week. Each situation is different and the best thing to do is talk to your employer and come up with something that works for everyone.

OP here. It is not addressed in the contract and we are attempting to address the issue now, as it has come up. Nanny has vacation and sick time, that’s not the issue. If nanny is working outside of her normal working hours, which would generally be OT hours, but not actually working over 40 hours due to vacation, do you pay regular rate or OT rate?

Anonymous wrote:Also, do you work Mon-Saturday? If not, but you babysit/overnight from time to time, that shouldn’t have anything to do with you “work” schedule or leave.

Nanny is paid legally, so all time worked is under the same pay rate and is all tallied accordingly.

OP here. It seems that the consensus is to pay OT rates. I would love to hear from a few more people though. Legally, if the nanny isn’t working over 40 hours, why would the pay rate increase to an OT rate?

Also, do you work Mon-Saturday? If not, but you babysit/overnight from time to time, that shouldn’t have anything to do with you “work” schedule or leave.

Legally do you have to pay? Probably not.
Morally should you pay? Absolutely yes.

It’s should be specified in your contract. I think nanny should be paid her normal salary during vacation or sick day. If nanny calls out sick and no longer has PTO, then, she should be paid for actual hours worked that week. Each situation is different and the best thing to do is talk to your employer and come up with something that works for everyone.

Pay her the OT. Doesn’t matter if she has PTO.

I think this is something that can lead to a lot of resentment over an hour's worth of pay (the halftime from each of the two extra hours on Friday). You either need to spell out what happens in weeks with a holiday or illness in your contract, or pay the OT. That's my opinion.

If this is one of those things you didn't think about before, and you want to go with "straight time" in weeks with a holiday, vacation, or sick day, then you need to talk to your nanny about it.

I just paid the OT, because over the course of the year, it wasn't a lot of extra hours.

If your nanny typically works more than 40 hours a week, what I wouldn't do is not pay OT on those hours even in weeks with a day off, no matter what. She shouldn't lose money for having a day off. For extra OT hours, I see that as more flexible, BUT, probably not worth the hurt feelings. Just pay the OT.

OP here. I don’t think the hours or our overnight policy matters. The basic question is, “Do you count vacation and /or sick time toward hours worked when considering OT?”

Let’s say manny works 8 hours a day, so normally the extra two hours on Friday would be considered OT, but since nanny was off (paid vacation) on Monday, she didn’t actually work over 40 hours and technically she isn’t owed OT ratess on that extra 2 hours. In the second scenario, nanny will be paid hourly for working hours on Saturday, then paid her overnight fee. Technically since she is on vacation that week, those hours are not in addition to working her normal schedule and therefore not technically OT. The vacation is part of the benefits package and is paid, but would you, even though not legally required, pay those hours at OT rates?

Let me see if I’m reading this correct because you didn’t give hours.

Monday - PTO 8 hrs
Tuesday 10
Wednesday 11 hrs
Thursday 11 hrs
Friday. 10 hrs

Total 50
Reg hours 42 (40 at reg pay 2 at ot rate)
Non working 8 (8 at reg rate )

#2. Working hours count towards OT. Non working hrs, like vacation or sick, do not count towards OT.

Monday pto 8
Tuesday pto 8
Wednesday pto 8
Thursday pto 8
Friday pto 8
Saturday overnight rate.

Can’t actually do this one because I don’t know what your contract states for overnights. Is it all hours or hours while child is awake than a flat fee for all sleeping hours?

I have a question about OT and vacation working together in the same week, and how others handle similar situations. I understand that the law states (in my state) that OT must be paid past 40 hours when 40 hours are actually worked. My question is obviously how that works when vacation is used during that same week and I do understand the legal side of what is and is not required, just loooking lot see how others handle this in practice. Here are two examples.

1) Nanny uses a vacation day on Monday but works two hours late on Friday. The two hours legally does not have to be paid at OT rates because nanny did not work over 40 hours. How do you pay (or expect to be paid for) that additional 2 hours? Does it change anything if Monday was a sick day?

2) Nanny has a week of vacation, but works overnight on Saturday following the vacation week. Sunday is the start of our next week, so that is paid in OT, but Saturday will be the only hours the nanny is working that week and therefore is not legally owed OT pay on those hours worked, just standard pay. Do you pay the nanny’s standard salary for that time or do you pay OT rates?

Thank you for any contribution on the topic!