Sure, it is within your right to do just about whatever you want. Fire her, quit the job, whatever. The only person here with no rights, is the kid.

Who?
Who's that?

I disagree that guaranteed hours are a standard perk for positions that pay under the table. It isn't as standard as everyone wants to think for above board positions but its much rarer for under the table jobs.

OP- you may want to call your nannies former reference and confirm whether she did receive guaranteed hours. Its likely that she never did but read or heard somewhere that other nannies get this benefit. If this is the case, she is lying to you and trying to renegotiate her compensation. Not good.

If her former employer did give her guaranteed hours, your still within your right to say no as you never offered it and she never asked. However, at least you would know that she was being honest in saying she received this in the past.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pay her, but make a list of things for her to do every day- re-organization, errands, etc. Then at her annual review, add guaranteed hours as a new benefit. She needs to understand that benefits and compensation are a package, and negotiated together.

She was hired as a nanny, you are def in your rights to ask her to come in and do the child related duties you agreed to in your contract, during those 40hrs- organize children's areas, their laundry, clean the nanny car. But it's not okay to ask her to do things out of her regular duties like scrub kitchen, clean mothers house, look after neighbors kids.

It would be ok in this situation. She did not negotiate guaranteed hours and is asking not to miss work, so she should be offered other work.

Yes pp - a contract is needed in ALL cases to spell stuff out. Nannies are also much more familiar with what is normal for a nanny job so they need to be aware that first time MBs may not be.

Career nanny here. I started nannying while attending school. I had set hours and days that were required of me, and in return, those hours were guaranteed to me. This is how all of my families operated. After school, I decided to stay in this line of work, not for the pay and benefits, but for the passion I have for the work. Being paid a set salary was always a given and had actually never came up during the interview process. I am now a full time nanny, and have been for many years. I have usually worked a set schedule between two families. The last family I worked for (after 15 months) did not want to pay me for the time that they did not need me, as if I can just go find other work that week. They eventually decided to pay me, though it was clear that they viewed my employment with their family more as a babysitter than a nanny. I immediately started looking for a new position. This was a learning experience for me and I set up a contract and am very happy with my current employers. It sounds as though your nanny has chosen this line of work out of passion and deserves to be treated as a professional. How would you feel if your job decided to randomly let you off with no pay? How would you feel if your nanny took random days or weeks off, with notice of course? My guess is that neither of those situations would work for you. You should treat your nanny with the same respect you wish to be treated with.

I have another family that I work for every Friday for a set timeframe. This family does not pay if they don't need me. I also do not hesitate to take off when desired. You can't have it both ways. If you can depend on your nanny, she needs to be able to depend on you.

I would recommend a contract moving forward. Standard benefits in this field are 2 weeks vacation, one of your choosing and one of hers; 1 week of sick time, though most nannies work when sick as it comes with the territory of being a fill-in mommy; and guaranteed pay 52 weeks a year. Any additional time that you take off, she is paid. Any additional time that she takes off is unpaid.

This is very standard practice, and most nannies will quit over this because thy really can't afford random days/weeks off on your whim.

Day cares and schools will also charge you for the same reason.

If you don't like your nanny, this is a great opportunity to get her to quit. Since you are paying under the table I would tread very carefully though. If she is let go he can still file unemployment and also go back and demand any unpaid OT. She most likely will owe little to nothing in income taxes, and YOU will be responsible for the full 15.3% of Medicare/ss taxes since you didn't deduct them from her pay. There will also be other expenses and fees.

This is a prime example of A: how stupid families are to pay under the table and B: how stupid nannies are to work under the table without a contract laying out hours/duties/benefits/expectations. If you are in MoCo you are legally required to have this written agreement.

Be smarter, people. Seriously.

Anonymous wrote:I would pay her, but make a list of things for her to do every day- re-organization, errands, etc. Then at her annual review, add guaranteed hours as a new benefit. She needs to understand that benefits and compensation are a package, and negotiated together.

She was hired as a nanny, you are def in your rights to ask her to come in and do the child related duties you agreed to in your contract, during those 40hrs- organize children's areas, their laundry, clean the nanny car. But it's not okay to ask her to do things out of her regular duties like scrub kitchen, clean mothers house, look after neighbors kids.

Lots of nannies get taken advantage of.

The problem is that this very common benefit was not negotiated up front. OP if you like and want to keep her I would give her guaranteed hours perhaps in lieu of a raise. But a lot of this stems from new MBs not realizing that nanny jobs in DC typically come with compensation packages very different from hourly jobs. Nannies are more likely to be aware of this so it is on them to bring it up in the interview process rather than try to get it after the fact.

I would pay her, but make a list of things for her to do every day- re-organization, errands, etc. Then at her annual review, add guaranteed hours as a new benefit. She needs to understand that benefits and compensation are a package, and negotiated together.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its manipulative and dishonest for nannies to not negotiate upfront for benefits.

The same can be said for employers who don't tell their nanny upfront they won't be paid if the family takes a vacation. This was a mistake on both sides.

+1

+2. I've been nannying for 10+ years and have always been paid my weekly salary whether the family uses me or not. This is something that you always discuss during the interview process. OP, if you don't plan to pay your nanny, prepare for looking for a new nanny.

+3

Like another PP said, if you refused to pay me I would use that week to set up interviews with other families. You employ this nanny on a FT basis, and it is appalling to think you could all of a sudden take away a week's worth of pay from her! I am compensated well, responsible with my money, and that would STILL be an enormous burden for me. If she is available to work you ought to pay her - but by all means, ask her to get stuff done. Have her sanitize the toys, do some batch cooking, clean out the closet, do a deep clean of the nursery, whatever child-related tasks you need done (as well as bringing in the mail, watering the plants, etc.), but you are very likely to lose her as an employee if you don't.

Right now, you need to sit down and talk about a contract. Guaranteed hours are not a plush benefit, they are a basic benefit that is reality based. YOUR choice to leave town, you pay nanny just like you'd pay daycare of any type.

If you don't settle these issues now with a detailed contract, you will have more issues pop up down the line.

Calling guaranteed hours a benefit is similar to saying a regular schedule is a benefit. It is certainly, but enough people offer it, that it is assumed by many to be a given, and if you aren't offering it you should be prepared to say so up front. It's the responsibility of BOTH parties. Your nanny has made her expectations clear OP. The ball is in your court. You can give it to her, you can try to reach a compromise, or you can fully expect that she will use your vacation time to interview. A good nanny can easily find a job in a week. My former bosses were flabbergasted at how quickly they were replaced.

Anonymous wrote:No, it was not the employer's responsibility to discuss a benefit that she wasn't offering. It is the employee's responsibility to ask for any compensation that is in addition to the offer put forward.

You are basically saying that ANY benefit this nanny comes up with that the employer didn't explicitly tell her she wasn't offering, is now something that the nanny should simply receive. Sorry but this is not true and very manipulative. Nannies should be honest up front and ask for what they want, not play games.

So let's say you interview on a job and receive a salary. Then in October they send out an email reminding everyone that the offices are closed for the week between Christmas and New Years and you won't be paid for that week. You would be ok with it because you should have asked if there are any times when the company shuts down? You don't think there's any responsibility of the employer to mention it?

I've been a nanny for close to 7 years (3 jobs) and I've never gone without pay when my employers didn't need me. I agree it should have been discussed before the job started but I disagree that the nanny is the only one to blame.

Anonymous wrote:No, it was not the employer's responsibility to discuss a benefit that she wasn't offering. It is the employee's responsibility to ask for any compensation that is in addition to the offer put forward.

You are basically saying that ANY benefit this nanny comes up with that the employer didn't explicitly tell her she wasn't offering, is now something that the nanny should simply receive. Sorry but this is not true and very manipulative. Nannies should be honest up front and ask for what they want, not play games.

Ok, Einstein, now OP will being hunting for a new nanny, if she doesn't pay what's fair. Who cares about the kid?