This post is for the nannies out there- your work is of utmost value, yet often times your profession is seen more as "the help." This post is designed to serve as a guide for what your rights are as a professional caregiver and a household employee. Some of these topics fall under federal law, and some are simply morally just. Within each topic, I've included some examples that may fall under that topic; some of these examples are from my own personal experiences as a private caregiver, and others are real life examples from nannies I know living in the Bay Area of California.
The following topics are common areas in which nannies have commonly found themselves being taken advantage of in their line of work. Anyone seeking advice on how to navigate certain situations within the realm of nannying, please feel free to contact me!
Vacation and sick pay:
These are benefits every full time* household employee should have. The number of days is negotiable, but having them as a benefit should not be. Every full time employee should have a minimum of 3 sick days per year, and 5 paid vacation/PTO days. For part time employees, you may or may not be able to negotiate PTO depending on how many hours you work.
Example: A family is excited to have you on board, but they do not offer any sick time or paid time off. There was a time in the very beginning of my work as a nanny when I was working for a family 40-75 hours per week with their newborn and toddler, and I was not offered any paid time off whatsoever. Any time I took off was unpaid. Furthermore, this family would go on vacations or decide they didn't need me from time to time, and I would be unpaid during those times as well. More on that later!
Contracts:
Every nanny should have a contract. Some families choose to provide their own contracts, which is fine, but nannies should make sure their own terms are included within these contracts. Contracts are a solid way to be sure the family and nanny are on the same page regarding critical employment topics, and also serve as a reference when contract terms are being broken. For a ready-made, comprehensive nanny contract, please feel free to contact me!
Proper wage:
Every nanny has the legal right to at least minimum wage, even for live-in nannies. It doesn’t matter if your English is limited, you’re fresh out of high school, or you’ve never nannied before; minimum wage is federal law.
Example: You see an advertisement on Craigslist of a family looking for a live-in nanny in exchange for free housing or a laughable weekly/monthly wage which falls well below minimum wage. This is sadly extremely common in areas where the cost of living is very high (San Francisco, NYC, etc). While this is not necessarily illegal, it is immoral. If someone is offering a live-in position, your rate should only be reduced by a few dollars per hour.
For nannies with more education, training, and experience, it’s good to search out local nanny groups on Facebook to find out what general market rates are in your area. Glassdoor and other salary websites are not accurate figures for nannies because there are so many factors that play into what a nanny should be paid (experience, education, training, etc).
Overtime:
Overtime is also federally mandated. For a household employee, overtime is any hours worked over 9 hours in a day, or 40 hours per week. For example, if someone works 12 hours per day, then 3 hours of each day should be paid at an overtime rate of 1.5x their regular rate. If someone works 45 hours per week, then 5 of those hours should be paid at an overtime rate of 1.5x their regular rate. This is not something you are legally able to negotiate with families; it is the law. Even if you are being paid under the table (which is also illegal, but common in this field), you need to advocate for yourself and receive proper overtime pay for overtime hours. The laws & regulations for Au Pairs is a bit different- they are able to work up to 10 hours in a day and 45 hours per week before they qualify for overtime.
Example: A family is asking for 47 hours a week of care for their children. Because a potential candidate really likes the family and is desperate for a position, she agrees to work with the family at regular pay, up to 50 hours per week; anything over 50 hours will be paid at an overtime rate. This is inadvisable and illegal, because anything over 40 hours a week is federally mandated to be clocked in as overtime. If you really like a family and that family values you for your worth, they will pay you for that worth.
Appropriate Duties:
You are a nanny, and not a housekeeper. This is something I have to tout over and over again to nannies who accept to mop floors, deep clean an attic or basement (been there), or dust the mantles at their regular rate of pay. All of these things are fine if you agree to do them -it’s your choice- but you should be compensated much more heavily for doing those extra duties. Nannies are primarily responsible for the care of the children in the household, and may be expected to do some *light* housekeeping in relation to the children, such as: cleaning up the child’s dishes, cleaning up after the child, and doing the child’s laundry. This does not include cleaning up the entire kitchen after the family, doing the family’s laundry, or vacuuming the household. If you clean up a sink full of family dishes or a destroyed kitchen, you might be expected to do it all of the time and find yourself with a sink full of dishes each day.
Be sure to include in your contract the specific duties you are willing to perform, and if you do choose to take on more duties, be sure to have your hourly rate reflect those extra duties. If you choose to do tasks that go above and beyond the average nanny duties, consider marketing yourself as a family assistant or household manager and have your rates reflect that title.
Vacations with Families:
In short: vacations don’t pay bills. If you’ve never traveled with a family for a vacation, it may seem like a dream; who doesn’t want a free trip to Greece? But there are so many things to consider in preparation for traveling with a family.
One thing to be absolutely sure of before agreeing to the vacation, is that you will have your standard, full time weekly compensation. I once accepted to travel with a family for work, only to have that family tell me mid-vacation that they wouldn’t be paying me. This family figured that the free vacation was payment enough. This unfortunately happens often in our field. You have the right to your full week’s pay; it's their vacation, not yours.
Another thing to be sure of -if it’s important to you- is that you will have your own sleeping quarters. If you will not have your own sleeping space and will be sharing with one of the children, I recommend having an on-call overnight fee, and also clock the hours that the child is awake.
One more thing to consider is the hours you will be expected to work, and assuring you will have time on your own while away. Have this conversation long before the trip, and make it clear that you will need to have defined off-hours to spend on your own, with the ability to go out and explore.
Example: With my first full time nannying position, I agreed to travel with a family for a week overseas. They paid my flight and all expenses while on the trip, but they revealed to me halfway through the trip that I wouldn't be getting paid for the duration of the trip. I was with this family through the entire trip, and the only time I had to myself was when I would wake up at 5 am before anyone else did. I was basically on the clock 24/7, without pay.
PTO manipulation:
When it comes to PTO as a nanny, the courteous thing to do is to try to align your vacations with the family’s. This does not mean, however, that the family can fully dictate when you take your vacation days or PTO. You should come to a mutual agreement regarding vacation time.
Example: I had a nanny friend recently mention that although her vacation days for the year were already planned out and mutually agreed upon, her mom boss decided that she should actually take her vacation days when the grandmother would be in town to take care of the child. I’ll be blunt here: in no other profession is it acceptable for a boss to dictate or change when an employee will take their time off because it suits them better. The same applies here. Just because the family may not need you for a certain day/week does not mean that they can just decide you not work without pay. Full time nannies should have it in their contract that they are to be paid 52 weeks per year, regardless of whether or not their services are needed. Being a nanny is a real job, and deserves real compensation and benefits.
Breaks: AKA "my nanny sits and does nothing while my baby naps"
This is a huge one in the nanny industry.
If you’re working with a child who naps during the day, this is a critical time for you to get some rest as well. Do not feel bad for taking a break while a child naps; working with young children is hard work that requires 100% of your focus and attention. This is something I make clear with families and actually add into my contract. If I am going to be 100% present for the child when he/she wakes, I need to reset my mind, refuel my body, and relax for a minimum of 30 minutes when possible.
While it's important to take a break during the day to refresh your mind and body, it's also unrealistic and clamorous to expect to have full breaks every time a newborn/infant sleeps if that time exceeds an hour. If you have a family that is okay with you completely relaxing for that much of the day, great! But it's also acceptable of them to ask some things of you while the baby sleeps so long as you do have a decent break in the day to yourself.
Example: Your employer notices that you are consistently taking a break during the baby or toddler's afternoon nap and spending time on your phone during that time. She proposes that you can either work on things around the house such as dishes, laundry, or toy organization, or that you take a half hour/hour unpaid break. This is improper because regardless of whether you are doing tasks or not, you are required to be present in the home while the baby naps, meaning you are required to be on the clock and are on an on-call basis. My advice is to talk with the family about how it is important to have a moment of rest during the day, and negotiate how much time that should be each day.
I wish my fellow nannies the best in their ventures- remember to be confident and empower yourselves in your work! For any other recommendations or advice, please don't hesitate to reach out.
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