Do You Pay Your Sitter While You’re on Vacation?
An interesting question popped up on the Sittercity Facebook page recently regarding whether or not you should pay your babysitter or nanny when you and your family go on vacation. The question went like this:
“Our sitter has been working with us for about a month, 3 times a week, 6 hours each day and is paid hourly. We told her we were going on a 2 week vacation. We just got back from vacation and she expects to be paid for the time she didn’t work. She says this is normal. This sounds crazy to me. Is this “normal”?”
Take a look at some of the feedback our parents, as well as our sitters had:
“I definitely wouldn’t pay her, especially since she didn’t watch your kid(s)! I am a babysitter myself and would NEVER ask that the families pay me for when I don’t babysit, especially if they’re out of town. I’ve never heard of that–definitely out of the norm for me!”
“It’s normal at daycare centers to pay half the normal rate if you are absent for vacation or sickness. I’m not sure if that translates to regular babysitters too. Boy that’s a tough position to be in. She definitely should have brought this up before you left …”
“Depending on the feedback you get from others, I would recommend the following: If you like her generally and want to keep her, I think I would tell her you’ll give her half…”
While we typically recommend compensating regular nannies and sitters if you can afford it, you may also want to consider having them perform other tasks around the house. This could be petsitting, gathering your mail or even doing light housework. This way, they’ll have an opportunity to earn some cash while you’re away, and you’ll come back to a clean house.
What are your thoughts? Have you ever paid a nanny or babysitter while you were on vacation?
As an experienced nanny who’s done it all (part-time/full-time, live-in/live-out, sitter/nanny/mother’s helper), I would like to point out that it depends upon how you are employing your sitter. The sitter should not be paid, and not expect PTO for that time, if he or she doesn’t work more than 20 hours per week. If that is the case, then even if he/she were working for a corporation, large or small, he/she would more than likely encounter that sort of policy. Less than 20 hrs of work in a week does not qualify you for paid vacation!
For this specific mother’s dilemma, even though the sitter is being employed on a weekly basis, the sitter should not expect to receive any compensation. Of course, if she does like this sitter, she can explain the predicament, then offer to pay her a fee for days not worked while the family is on vacation, or even just offer it for her this time and say that next time, she will not receive compensation for hours not actually worked.
For a part-time sitter who is approaching nanny status, which is generally around 25 hours per week, regularly, then: yes, some paid vacation can be expected.
Agree that it depends on how you’ve made the arrangement up front. With “full time” sitters in the past, we’ve included sick leave and vacation pay. For vacation, we gave them xx number of days a year and we scheduled half of those days around our schedule, and they picked the other half around theirs. Those number of days were paid at their daily rate. For someone who is only w/you a few months and working part-time with no agreement – I would say your not obligated in anyway!
It seems to me that pay during vacation times is something that should be brought up during the interview process. If the family knows they travel often, i.e. more than the obligatory 2 weeks a year, then the sitter should have a chance to figure this into her decision. Perhaps pay should be expected if the nanny is full time and is basically the employee of the family. I mistakenly never brought this up when I was hired, and found out later than short and long vacations occur about once or twice every 2 months or so. I never made an issue of it but felt the loss of income keenly. Thanks for bringing this subject to our attention.
If the sitter works on a regular basis. Same hours every week. Sitters depend on the income and a regular sitter does not sit for anyone else on those days they are reserved for that job. I think she should be paid. When I worked for 2 families one 3 days and one 2 days I was always paid if they were out of town. I have heard of families who will share the sitter when one is out of town the sitter will sit those days for the other family in addition to the regular days. Not paying them would be the same thing as the sitter saying that they can’t work one day because someone else needs them.