We have to lay off our nanny. We currently pay her a paid salary, regardless of if we need her or not or if she leaves early. We give her paid holidays and paid time off (5 days per year). We agreed that we would give her 4 weeks notice if we ever had to let her go. We have to lay her off as my husband was laid off. We told her last Friday. Today, she asked if she could stay 6 weeks (so that she could work until she was going to take 3 weeks and go overseas - which she had never told us about - doesn't matter now, but would have been a real issue if we had kept her on) and get paid out on all her vacation time that she says she never took.
My fault for not keeping good records, but I didn't keep track. I know she has taken more than her share of time off and I have never withheld pay. I was rather taken aback by her request today. First, even if she hadn't taken all of her vacation, I didn't expect to pay her out on it since we are laying her off due to the fact that we just can't afford her any more. Is it customary to pay out on this? How does everyone keep track so that I don't get caught by this again. Any advise on how to handle this situation?
You are absolutely not required to hold her on for 6 weeks instead of 4. Also if she has vacation time due I would first get out a calander and see if you can pinpoint any days she took. Any you still owe she should be required to take out of days she is going to work. And I would not pay her in advace either as she sounds like the type who might take off on you.
Do you have a written contract? Do you take taxes out of her salary? If the answers are no and no, she doesn't have a leg to stand on. There is no way I would pay someone something I hadn't planned to pay/agreed to pay after my husband was laid off! So....no to the 4 weeks becoming 6 and no to the pay out for unused vacation. Think of it as if you were a company that had to close it's doors because you no longer have any income, and she is an employee that has no written contract.
Very selfish request, on her part. Oh ....the audacity! No way in....ah heck, would I pay her.
Hmmm. I think the vacation pay issue is a bit tricky and depends upon if any specifics were discussed and how vacation has been informally handled to his point.
1) Since you agreed on 4 weeks notice, I would put it to her this way: "I'm sure you understand that our circumstances no longer allow us to spend money on a nanny, so we cannot use you for 6 weeks. We originally agreed on 4 weeks and are happy to have you stay for 4 more weeks. However, we would be grateful if you chose to leave sooner, considering our situation."
2A) If you did not agree to accrual of vacation days (nothing of the sort has ever been discussed...and you have never hinted or executed any accrual) I might consider the following: "I'm sorry for any confusion, but your employment agreement included vacation days to be offered on a monthly basis. Vacation days are not accrued and not stored-up or paid out." Then, I think you have two choices. (1) You leave it at that and don't pay her -- and expect some disagreement and resentment, or (2) tell her, "Although our circumstances really don't allow this, we want to offer you 3 additional days (or whatever) of pay.
2B) If you did have some agreement about vacation accrual, I would tell her that she is going to have to use the remaining vacation days immediately, during these last 4 weeks, and there will be no vacation days honored after the 4 weeks. You have to pay her for 4 weeks anyway, so let her take them during those 4 weeks.
Let us know how you handled this and how everything turned out. Best of luck!
If anything, I might try to prorate the vacation days and give her only the number that she would have earned up to that point of the year (if she hasn't taken them already). It is unlikely that I would give her six weeks of severance if we had agreed on four.
What part of "my husband was laid off" does she not understand? You have a financial disaster on your hands.
She sounds like a "taker." If you have no written contract, then strictly speaking you have no obligation. Whatever you do for her you do because you are a good and decent person, and if she is not willing to be good and decent to you, then don't go the extra mile.
As a nanny, here's my take:
You need to sit down with her, preferably without the distraction of the children, and discuss everything and come up with a signed agreement. You need to do this ASAP. Also, see if she has a record of her hours and days off. (honestly, if you didn't keep track of that, shame on you)
1) Did you have a written contract stating how much notice had to be given? If so, you are required to either continue having her work for that amount of time, or at the very least, pay her for that time.
2) If there was a contract stating how much vacation time she was entitled to with no stipulation as to when she would receive it, then yes, you should pay her time.
As L. as you were withholding taxes from her pay, as you legally should have been, then she can file for unemployment.
Hmmm. I think it depends on how much you feel like honoring the spirit of a verbal agreement if she has no written contract. Were you happy with the care she gave your child/children, was she honest, dependable and just generally a good employee? If you've answered yes to the above questions, I do think you have some moral obligation to honor her vacation days and give her the agreed upon four weeks - just as you would hope an employer would treat you. However if you answered no to the above questions and you have no formal contract with her, I don't know that I would necessarily even feel obligated to give her the four weeks, especially now that you've found out she was planning on bailing on you soon anyway.
Hope all goes well for you and your DH's job search.
Her oblagation is to her job if she was to take time off with out permission she would be FIRED! For not forfilling her oblagations. 2nd question Does she need to paid NO THIS IS AN OBLAGATION TO YOUR CHILD !!! So if she decided to go some where and your child was sick what would come first NO DISCISION THERE YOUR CHILD!!! 3rd question For WARN YOUR NEXT NANNY IF HE OR SHE TAKE A VACTION WITHOUT NOTICE THERE OUT OF A JOB AND BE FIRM ABOUT IT!!!
Ok thinking about this as a former nanny, It really depends on the agreement you had, What kind of nanny she was, dependable, honest, became part of the family etc.
You can offer her a compromise, like 3 week work and offer her 2 paid vacation days. during the dame time. Times are tough. You can also offer to give her a great letter of recomendations and or offer to hire her back when your husband gets a job.
She should be grateful for the 3 week notice, as the way times are you could of just fired her and let it go.
Best of luck to you!
I agree with some people that you could view this as a company shutting down so she's lucky to get 4 weeks notice. Otherwise, I do think if you'd been accruing vacation time (however informally) she's due what she earned this year. If you've been operating on a calendar year, it's only Feb so can't be many days. However, the fact that she was taking THREE weeks fairly soon without asking/notifying you negates any obligation in my opinion. We've had the same nanny for 5 years and she would let us know about a request like that well ahead of time. So you need to be fair to her (which I typically advocate) but she could have left you in the lurch like that? So I would do whatever you "want". And tell her why. Consider if you'd want to hire her back, need her for babysitting, if this is a one-time example of poor behaviour on her part but otherwise she's been like one of the family etc. But otherwise I wouldn't feel a lot of obligation.
