nannydebsays wrote:Op, my understanding of guaranteed hours is as follows:

Employers are free to take however much vacation they choose to take. Nanny is paid full wages 52 weeks a year. Nanny remains willing to come to work when employers are on "extra" vacation time to do chores related to her job description that would be harder to accomplish when the children are with her.

Their extra vacation is not YOUR vacation. The only thing I would suggest you offer to your employers is this: "Are there chores related to Max that you would like me to do while you are gone? Here are some things I thought of: going through and organizing/ cleaning all his toys, going through his clothes and storing things that he has outgrown, etc."

My employers recently took a week vacation. I spent about 25 hours cleaning equipment their newborn will need after birth, doing 10 loads of laundry, running an emergency errand, and grocery shopping on Friday.

This is why you're a professional, nanny deb! Well said.

Anonymous wrote:

nannydebsays wrote:Op, my understanding of guaranteed hours is as follows:

Employers are free to take however much vacation they choose to take. Nanny is paid full wages 52 weeks a year. Nanny remains willing to come to work when employers are on "extra" vacation time to do chores related to her job description that would be harder to accomplish when the children are with her.

Their extra vacation is not YOUR vacation. The only thing I would suggest you offer to your employers is this: "Are there chores related to Max that you would like me to do while you are gone? Here are some things I thought of: going through and organizing/ cleaning all his toys, going through his clothes and storing things that he has outgrown, etc."

My employers recently took a week vacation. I spent about 25 hours cleaning equipment their newborn will need after birth, doing 10 loads of laundry, running an emergency errand, and grocery shopping on Friday.

How did you spend 25 hours cleaning some things for the baby? 10 loads of laundry??? Either you did REALLY tiny loads and wasted tons of water or the family is totally gross and lets 10 loads stack up. And then grocery shopping? So sounds like most of that 25 hours was waiting for laundry to run a cycle, so lots of tv watching right? Sounds exactly like a vacation for a nanny.

So you would use your vacation to run lots of laundry, sterilize baby equipment and do grocery shopping? Lovely for you. Personally, I stay home and relax during my vacation, and 25 hours of work in my employer's house during the week wouldn't be vacation, although it would be easier than trying to do the tasks while the kids are there. Oh, and 10 loads are easy when you do winter coats, stuffed animals, drapes and/or curtains in the kids' room or toy room, lingerie bags with small toys, etc. I can do 15 loads easily when my NF goes on vacation, because that's when I clean the things that don't get done every week, in addition to the normal things. Oh, and my NFs never care when I run lots of laundry, because it means that things are clean and they don't have to so it themselves...

nannydebsays wrote:Op, my understanding of guaranteed hours is as follows:

Employers are free to take however much vacation they choose to take. Nanny is paid full wages 52 weeks a year. Nanny remains willing to come to work when employers are on "extra" vacation time to do chores related to her job description that would be harder to accomplish when the children are with her.

Their extra vacation is not YOUR vacation. The only thing I would suggest you offer to your employers is this: "Are there chores related to Max that you would like me to do while you are gone? Here are some things I thought of: going through and organizing/ cleaning all his toys, going through his clothes and storing things that he has outgrown, etc."

My employers recently took a week vacation. I spent about 25 hours cleaning equipment their newborn will need after birth, doing 10 loads of laundry, running an emergency errand, and grocery shopping on Friday.

How did you spend 25 hours cleaning some things for the baby? 10 loads of laundry??? Either you did REALLY tiny loads and wasted tons of water or the family is totally gross and lets 10 loads stack up. And then grocery shopping? So sounds like most of that 25 hours was waiting for laundry to run a cycle, so lots of tv watching right? Sounds exactly like a vacation for a nanny.

nannydebsays wrote:Op, my understanding of guaranteed hours is as follows:

Employers are free to take however much vacation they choose to take. Nanny is paid full wages 52 weeks a year. Nanny remains willing to come to work when employers are on "extra" vacation time to do chores related to her job description that would be harder to accomplish when the children are with her.

Their extra vacation is not YOUR vacation. The only thing I would suggest you offer to your employers is this: "Are there chores related to Max that you would like me to do while you are gone? Here are some things I thought of: going through and organizing/ cleaning all his toys, going through his clothes and storing things that he has outgrown, etc."

My employers recently took a week vacation. I spent about 25 hours cleaning equipment their newborn will need after birth, doing 10 loads of laundry, running an emergency errand, and grocery shopping on Friday.

You sounds great. Do you have any like-minded nanny friends who are looking for a job come this september?

I am a nanny to a family that travels at LEAST 6 weeks a year...they have never hinted at me taking vacation when they do and happily approve any time I take off. I try to arrange vacations around theirs but sometimes it doesn't always work out that way. I do offer to watch their dog when they are away...they are the best and I respect them so much.

I have offered to take 50% or 75% salary for a week or two when a family traveled, but only when the family was incredible. And it was with the understanding that either I wasn't working that week (50%) or I was working less than 30 hours (75%).

I've had a NF give me ten weeks off in a year of paid vacation. They traveled a lot. Not a big deal.

*They wouldn't be too happy.

I understand your dilemma OP, you really want this job to work out and stay long-term.

I know you say this family is great, however look at just the principle here. They are basically going to try to get out of an agreed upon matter and are riding the hope that you will let them. That is not a trait of a great family. Imagine if they had to forgo two weeks of pay. They wouldn't.

If you let them get away with not paying you, you will be setting up a horrible precedent for the future. They will see that you are easy to take advantage of and will likely lose respect for you in that regard.

That being said, I would feel weird getting paid for not doing anything. That's just how I am.

So a good compromise would be to offer to house-sit for them while they are gone. Or at the very least, stop by every now and then to check on things. Perhaps you can care for pets, if any. You also can check for packages, care for and water any plants as well as collect the mail regularly.

Also since they won't be in the home, you can also offer to organize a closet, the child's toys, the pantry, etc.

That way you won't feel as if you are putting them out even though you shouldn't feel that way anyhow. But I see your side of things.

Nanny here- I actually told my nanny family they didn't have to pay me for a week this summer, because I knew their vacation week but chose to go a different week regardless. I'm using the week they're gone as an extra week of vacation and I'm happy to travel unpaid. I didn't want them to feel taken advantage of since I have guaranteed hours (and the week I chose was a few weeks after their vacation) so I offered. Usually I wouldnt, but it fr wrong to take advantage of the guaranteed hours for an extra week of paid time off.

Keep to your agreement. Otherwise, what is the purpose of having an agreement? You bend once and you will find you are expected to bend the agreement all the time.

Don't bend bc there is no reason to do so. This is the cost of having a nanny. If they used daycare, they would pay for 52 weeks of care even if they only used 48.

Op, my understanding of guaranteed hours is as follows:

Employers are free to take however much vacation they choose to take. Nanny is paid full wages 52 weeks a year. Nanny remains willing to come to work when employers are on "extra" vacation time to do chores related to her job description that would be harder to accomplish when the children are with her.

Their extra vacation is not YOUR vacation. The only thing I would suggest you offer to your employers is this: "Are there chores related to Max that you would like me to do while you are gone? Here are some things I thought of: going through and organizing/ cleaning all his toys, going through his clothes and storing things that he has outgrown, etc."

My employers recently took a week vacation. I spent about 25 hours cleaning equipment their newborn will need after birth, doing 10 loads of laundry, running an emergency errand, and grocery shopping on Friday.

OP here. Thank you for all the great replies, I read through them and gave it more thought and am sure this will be worked out satisfactorily for both sides.

And haha to the troll looking for "the truth".

"



MB here.

Honestly, in your instance, I wouldn't bend it at all. As their first nanny, you are setting the expectations about what a nanny/family relationship is. And, in my mind, guarenteed hours is a basic.

Next time it seems natural, I would let them know what you've told us. Just how much you appreciate their kindness and respect. Then, also mention how the guarenteed hours allow you to count on a regular income and make it possible to give your all to the job.

There are definitely other ways you could give some extra. You could let it slide if they come home 15 minutes late. Or throw in some extra light housework that isn't expected. You could even offer to come in during this extra paid vacation and bring in mail, get some organizing done or just check in on the house.

But two unpaid weeks - no way."

+1 except no free date night sitting offer. Bad precedent to make up the hours.