I nanny in Chicago and have been at my job 3 years. My commute is an hour but I leave my house an hour and 20 mins before my start time. I have never been late. I just sit in my car and read until my start time if I am early. I think it's totally ridiculous that she's late once a week.

I used to commute 45 minutes away and I would leave about an hour early (earlier if weather was bad) if traffic was bad I arrived on time if I was early I would park nearby and read

I have a clause in our contract that says I get to dock her pay if she's more than 30 minutes late. That hasn't happened, but I start getting angry when she's been repeatedly 20+ minutes late. I told her that I don't appreciate the lateness because I've been on the hook to pay her when she wasn't here, and her timeliness improved.