Anonymous wrote:What??!! This post is crazy to me! A sick day can be a mental health day as far as I am concerned! It is none of my business what my nanny is doing on her time off! I have offered her 5 sick day and 2 weeks vacation. she generally takes her vacation in week chunks so if she needs a single day off for any reason, she usually takes a sick day. I don't understand why it would be the MBs business....

This is generally my attitude about it as well. Its all compensation right? That's what we hear any time the topic of time off comes up, be it sick days, extra time the family takes off etc. If it isn't going to roll over or be paid out, best believe I'm going to use it. I also don't think many MBs understand how incredibly isolating this job can be, and how hard it is to mentally recooperate when you generally only get 5 days vacation of your choosing each year(I know that isn't the case here). I know most nannies get more total time off than that, but it all when our employers says, not when we need it per se.

Ditto 2:59. Abusing sick days by taking mental health days is simply an incentive for employers to offer less sick days and then if you do get really sick you will end up screwed.

Anonymous wrote:What??!! This post is crazy to me! A sick day can be a mental health day as far as I am concerned! It is none of my business what my nanny is doing on her time off! I have offered her 5 sick day and 2 weeks vacation. she generally takes her vacation in week chunks so if she needs a single day off for any reason, she usually takes a sick day. I don't understand why it would be the MBs business....

It is the MBs business because in most workplaces, sick days are like an insurance program rather than vacation. They are there to provide pay stability in the event of serious illness, but the expectation is that for most people in most years, a high percentage of available sick days will go unused.

Anonymous wrote:My nanny seems like she is always calling in sick- which ends up being very stressful when I have to scramble to figure out child care. She gets 5 days of sick leave- do you anyone think she would take fewer sick days if I paid them out at the end of the year?

It is very likely. Or, if you are comfortable with the overall amount of paid leave and are troubled only by the last-minute nature of her calling out sick, you could offer flexible paid time off that can be used as sick days or scheduled vacation/personal days. This creates an incentive for nanny to come to work sick in order to maximize her vacation days, but you're definitely likely to have far fewer last-minute call outs.

PP here, I also don't understand nanny employers who don't roll over time or pay out sick leave at the end of the position. Of course a nanny will take all sick days if she is going to loose them otherwise!!

What??!! This post is crazy to me! A sick day can be a mental health day as far as I am concerned! It is none of my business what my nanny is doing on her time off! I have offered her 5 sick day and 2 weeks vacation. she generally takes her vacation in week chunks so if she needs a single day off for any reason, she usually takes a sick day. I don't understand why it would be the MBs business....

I have never had sick days and vacation. I have 15 PTO Flex days that I can use for whatever I need. If I am going to take a sick day with little notice, I would be very sick! I would never call out unless very ill. That would be very disrespectful in my eyes. That said, I see no problem using a sick day as a vacation day as long as enough notice is given. If you offer that PTO then the nanny is entitled to it. If I ever worked for someone who didnt roll over, you bet I would use each hour I have paid!! My current family rolls over my PTO up to 6 weeks...

My nanny seems like she is always calling in sick- which ends up being very stressful when I have to scramble to figure out child care. She gets 5 days of sick leave- do you anyone think she would take fewer sick days if I paid them out at the end of the year?

I'm a Federal employee - Feds get separate sick and annual leave days and are definitely subjected to scrutiny regarding use of sick days only when actually sick and/or going to the doctors. Abusing sick leave leads to discipline up to removal.

I agree with the PP - I don't want my nanny coming in sick because she wants to use all her PTO days for a vacation. They are sick days for a reason - sometimes you need to stay home when you're sick.

OP, I would stick to your guns on this one, and change your contract next time around to reduce the number of paid sick days to two while making additional days deductible from other PTO or payable only at your discretion, e.g., in the event of major illness.

As for the poster who said that nannies are entitled to be treated differently from other professionals because the job is personal, that just doesn't resonate with me. In my twenty plus years in the work force, I am certain that I have taken fewer than ten sick days. And you better believe that I got questioned each time, in part because I currently work in a small office where people know each other personally and care, and in part because, in the various other offices I have worked in, it has always been unusual for anyone other than secretaries to take time off for sickness. We come to work with colds and do our best. For doctor's appointments, we schedule before work or take an hour or two off, not a full day. And no, we don't get unused sick days paid out.

Sick leave and vacation leave are not the same thing. The attitude you are seeing on this board is just another way that unprofessional individuals try to back door their way into an extraordinary amount of paid leave each year. I am sure the best nannies out there are mortified that their peers feel entitled to use up every paid sick day made available to them. Professionals in every field pride themselves on being reliable, and someone who calls in sick every time she has a cold, a hangover, or just feels entitled to a "mental health day" is not that.

Where I work, using sick leave when you are not sick is called sick leave abuse. It's grounds for termination if it's determined to be pattern.

That being said, I can totally see why an employee might assume it's interchangeable with vacation. We had this difference of opinion with our last nanny, and with our current employee we only offer general PTO.

Just to give an employer's perspective, however, when we offered sick leave, it was more in line with an "insurance policy" We wanted our nanny to know that if she got a particularly bad illness or had a serious family emergency, she had a store of paid leave she could use without having to dig into her vacation time or stress about being paid.

However, most years, that would not be the case and we fully expect that most sick will go unused.

Many of the PPs didn't read OP's complete post.

The nanny does NOT have to coordinate her vacation time with the family.
OP, this might be something to clarify during a meeting with the nanny. I don't understand how she can be so dense if there isn't at least a language barrier.

*sick HAHA

*sixk not socks ha ha

Wow!! In 7 years with the same family I've taken two socks days, and my nanny family has taken ZERO. I follow their lead, and when it comes to a cold life goes on. I can't believe how unprofessional you nannies are! You are probably the same ones who complain about low wages and no bonus. If I'm sick the kids are already sick, we just take it easy. I've only ever called in sick for food poisoning and one day when my Dad died.