Anonymous wrote:What does your contract say? Our contract said either party had to give 30 days' notice. If we gave 30 days' notice and she quit before that, she wouldn't get her last paycheck(s). You shouldn't have to pay severance, or a retention bonus to keep someone on for the length of their contract.

I see you ran that clause past a top notch employment lawyer.

Anonymous wrote:We are breaking her one year contract by leaving. We already told her we are leaving. I need her to stay until the end but can’t yet tell her when that will be.

You need to give her an end date. That is really selfish in less you give her 3-4 months severance.

I’d make her whole by guaranteeing her pay through the end of the year if she stays. Otherwise, she has very little incentive to stay once she finds another job.

Anonymous wrote:We are breaking her one year contract by leaving. We already told her we are leaving. I need her to stay until the end but can’t yet tell her when that will be.

You expect her to be there until you arbitrarily decide you no longer need her? She has a need to KNOW EXACT date so she can find another job. If you want to keep her around, I would give a retention bonus of two months.

We are breaking her one year contract by leaving. We already told her we are leaving. I need her to stay until the end but can’t yet tell her when that will be.

What does your contract say? Our contract said either party had to give 30 days' notice. If we gave 30 days' notice and she quit before that, she wouldn't get her last paycheck(s). You shouldn't have to pay severance, or a retention bonus to keep someone on for the length of their contract.

I appreciate that you want to treat your nanny fairly, but one month of severance payments is a lot. I would try instead to give her a month of notice, be flexible with her schedule if you can to allow her to go to interviews, and tell her that if she stays until the end of that month (when you move), you'll give her two weeks of pay as a retention bonus.

Depending on how long she has been with you, you should give severance because that is what is standard in this industry. What you are speaking of is a retention bonus. In order for your nanny to be completely at the whim of your needs and miss out on employment opportunities, it should be a minimum of one months salary.

Anonymous wrote:One month’s pay is typical severance and would entice her not to look fo another job until you were gone.

I'd be looking as soon as I found out. You want her to stay make it three months pay.

One month’s pay is typical severance and would entice her not to look fo another job until you were gone.

Absolutely. How much notice does your contract require?

DB just got a promotion that will take us several states away. We are not sure when it will happen but we will obviously be moving and have to let nanny go. We need to keep her until we move for several reasons. Should we entice her to stay with severance and how much?