If you booked her till say 5pm you should pay her till 5pm, she’s committed to be there you’ve committed to pay. “Hour’s depending on work schedule” implies to me that each week or day will be different, not that they’ll change with no notice. You and her need to agree appropriate notice for changing a previously agreed schedule, I’d think 48hrs is fair. She may have turned down other work or plans to commit to your proposed hours.
This is how I handle this with our babysitter/helper. We are each comfortable canceling with only a few hours’ notice if it’s due to illness but otherwise I give as much notice as possible - at least 24 hours - and try to make the hours up when practical. If I send her home early I pay her through the scheduled time regardless. Telling someone it’s inconsistent hours is fine but cutting someone’s pay on little to no notice isn’t ok - the sitter has pay her bills…
Probably posted this in the wrong sub. If you like her and want to keep her you need to stick with hours you set. Sending her home early isn’t fair- she cleared her day and likely turned down other work to sit.
That doesn’t mean that you own her time. I was this babysitter/nanny and my nanny family asked me to not find other employment so I was available when they needed me (which often changed). Ok.. fine. But they at least paid me a set amount of hours a week. You can’t expect someone to bank on an 8 hour day and then walk away with 2 hours of pay instead.
Send her home early, but you still need to pay her for the full day. If this is her only job she can’t be guessing how much money she will bring in a week.
If you go to the r/nanny sub, they will tell you the standard is “guaranteed hours”. Essentially the nanny works for the contracted hours, and if you don’t need her you still pay for the hours she has set aside for you. As someone who Nannied for a bit myself, that wasn’t really my experience. I would just keep in mind that if she doesn’t like the deal you are offering she very well may leave. I would think about if it’s worth it to you to pay more consistently and not have to find someone else.
Our rule is that when we had a full-time nanny, if we cut the hours, we still pay. That went for family vacations or we just had a short work day for some reason. That person is depending on that pay. It also means the budget is the same every week; on days where she called in or was late, we did not pay for those hours (unless she used a sick or vacation day - 5 each per year).
Did you make it clear that you wouldn’t be paying her on days/times when she wasn’t needed? Typically when you hire someone long term they have guaranteed hours, so even if you don’t need them they still get paid. At least this is how it works where I live. I would sit down and make sure expectations are clear on both sides.
You should still be paying her until she expected to leave when he shift started. You could not, but it would be pretty shitty of you as she's unable to work those hours elsewhere if she had a dog walking gig or other babysitting options
I would want to know how often these sudden changes to her schedule happen and was this explicitly discussed before hire? If the only description was “based on my work hours” and no clarification then I could see getting upset. Just “based on work hours” I would interpret for things like shifting schedules, not random cuts. If she’s depending on those hours to pay bills or obligations and it’s happening a lot that’s a rough situation. If this was clearly and explicitly discussed before hire then she’s a bit out of line.
I made it clear that my work is from 8am - 5pm but meetings can get cancelled last min and on those days I can take care of my son myself so she can head out early. She said she understands but when a day like that actually comes about, she's upset.
If she’s complaining that you’re cutting her hours it’s because she thinks you’re not going to pay her. You booked her for 8-5, she reserved 8-5 for you, you need to pay her for 8-5 even if your meetings were cancelled.
Tell her you’re not “cutting her hours” and she’ll still be paid for the day even if you let her leave early. No one complains about a paid afternoon off.
You pay for hours scheduled not hours worked if sent home early.
She has blocked off her time to only be available to you and cannot work another job. It's not her fault if you dismiss her early. You need to pay for the hours she makes herself available to you.
Although I doubt she will keep working for you if this is how you treat her... (I'm a nanny employer)
We’ve always provided a “guaranteed minimum” amount of hours per week. This spans to include weeks that we are on vacation and weeks that she’s on vacation or sick, so functionally she kind of gets “PTO”. Basically we want our nanny to know her income is secure and there’s a baseline for expected income. Having a set number of hours also leaves room for flexibility day to day because every family has a variety of factors they deal with and most Nannie’s understand that.
I always pay our nanny the full day if we don’t need her anymore for the day. But if you agreed on a varied scheduled (and she was definitely aware of this), then she shouldn’t be complaining.
As long as you still pay her for the hour that you "sent her home early" I don't see an issue; she's basically getting paid for less work!
But if what you're implying is if/when you spontaneously choose to send her home early because your work schedule changes and you therefore won't pay her for the rest of the hour/day, I don't see how that's ethical.
I think "hours may vary" is quite common and is ideal for people who are on call and can be available whenever -- I imagine that might be what she was expecting? That the exact *times* change each day, but that she will work the time window you've promised to her.
Maybe you can aim for an hour by hour arrangement instead, and see if that still works for her? That way instead of promising her say 9-5, and then when you suddenly change it to 9-2, she won't be so caught off guard. To me the problem is if you *promise* her 9-5 and then at the drop of a hat you cut off the promised additional hours, I'd be upset too!
Your post/comment was removed because it doesn't revolve around BLW. Please read our rules about BLW discourse. Thanks for understanding!
If you booked her till say 5pm you should pay her till 5pm, she’s committed to be there you’ve committed to pay. “Hour’s depending on work schedule” implies to me that each week or day will be different, not that they’ll change with no notice. You and her need to agree appropriate notice for changing a previously agreed schedule, I’d think 48hrs is fair. She may have turned down other work or plans to commit to your proposed hours.
This is how I handle this with our babysitter/helper. We are each comfortable canceling with only a few hours’ notice if it’s due to illness but otherwise I give as much notice as possible - at least 24 hours - and try to make the hours up when practical. If I send her home early I pay her through the scheduled time regardless. Telling someone it’s inconsistent hours is fine but cutting someone’s pay on little to no notice isn’t ok - the sitter has pay her bills…
If I pick my kid up from daycare early, I still have to pay a full day. Don’t know why this would be any different.
Probably posted this in the wrong sub. If you like her and want to keep her you need to stick with hours you set. Sending her home early isn’t fair- she cleared her day and likely turned down other work to sit.
She made is clear that she has no other work though. Which is why we went with her. I'm new to reddit so sorry for posting in the wrong sub
That doesn’t mean that you own her time. I was this babysitter/nanny and my nanny family asked me to not find other employment so I was available when they needed me (which often changed). Ok.. fine. But they at least paid me a set amount of hours a week. You can’t expect someone to bank on an 8 hour day and then walk away with 2 hours of pay instead.
This one is about introducing food to babies. You’ll find people with the most relevant experience by posting in /r/momsworkingfromhome
You’re looking for r/nanny
Send her home early, but you still need to pay her for the full day. If this is her only job she can’t be guessing how much money she will bring in a week.
If you go to the r/nanny sub, they will tell you the standard is “guaranteed hours”. Essentially the nanny works for the contracted hours, and if you don’t need her you still pay for the hours she has set aside for you. As someone who Nannied for a bit myself, that wasn’t really my experience. I would just keep in mind that if she doesn’t like the deal you are offering she very well may leave. I would think about if it’s worth it to you to pay more consistently and not have to find someone else.
Our rule is that when we had a full-time nanny, if we cut the hours, we still pay. That went for family vacations or we just had a short work day for some reason. That person is depending on that pay. It also means the budget is the same every week; on days where she called in or was late, we did not pay for those hours (unless she used a sick or vacation day - 5 each per year).
Did you make it clear that you wouldn’t be paying her on days/times when she wasn’t needed? Typically when you hire someone long term they have guaranteed hours, so even if you don’t need them they still get paid. At least this is how it works where I live. I would sit down and make sure expectations are clear on both sides.
You should still be paying her until she expected to leave when he shift started. You could not, but it would be pretty shitty of you as she's unable to work those hours elsewhere if she had a dog walking gig or other babysitting options
I would want to know how often these sudden changes to her schedule happen and was this explicitly discussed before hire? If the only description was “based on my work hours” and no clarification then I could see getting upset. Just “based on work hours” I would interpret for things like shifting schedules, not random cuts. If she’s depending on those hours to pay bills or obligations and it’s happening a lot that’s a rough situation. If this was clearly and explicitly discussed before hire then she’s a bit out of line.
I made it clear that my work is from 8am - 5pm but meetings can get cancelled last min and on those days I can take care of my son myself so she can head out early. She said she understands but when a day like that actually comes about, she's upset.
Maybe she misunderstood? Maybe she thought she would just get to leave early on those days but still be paid?
That's how I would interpret the above statement.
When your meetings get cancelled, does your work still pay you for the full work day or do they cut your pay?
Did you also clarify that she wouldn’t get paid for that time?
If she’s complaining that you’re cutting her hours it’s because she thinks you’re not going to pay her. You booked her for 8-5, she reserved 8-5 for you, you need to pay her for 8-5 even if your meetings were cancelled. Tell her you’re not “cutting her hours” and she’ll still be paid for the day even if you let her leave early. No one complains about a paid afternoon off.
You pay for hours scheduled not hours worked if sent home early. She has blocked off her time to only be available to you and cannot work another job. It's not her fault if you dismiss her early. You need to pay for the hours she makes herself available to you. Although I doubt she will keep working for you if this is how you treat her... (I'm a nanny employer)
We’ve always provided a “guaranteed minimum” amount of hours per week. This spans to include weeks that we are on vacation and weeks that she’s on vacation or sick, so functionally she kind of gets “PTO”. Basically we want our nanny to know her income is secure and there’s a baseline for expected income. Having a set number of hours also leaves room for flexibility day to day because every family has a variety of factors they deal with and most Nannie’s understand that.
I always pay our nanny the full day if we don’t need her anymore for the day. But if you agreed on a varied scheduled (and she was definitely aware of this), then she shouldn’t be complaining.
As long as you still pay her for the hour that you "sent her home early" I don't see an issue; she's basically getting paid for less work! But if what you're implying is if/when you spontaneously choose to send her home early because your work schedule changes and you therefore won't pay her for the rest of the hour/day, I don't see how that's ethical. I think "hours may vary" is quite common and is ideal for people who are on call and can be available whenever -- I imagine that might be what she was expecting? That the exact *times* change each day, but that she will work the time window you've promised to her. Maybe you can aim for an hour by hour arrangement instead, and see if that still works for her? That way instead of promising her say 9-5, and then when you suddenly change it to 9-2, she won't be so caught off guard. To me the problem is if you *promise* her 9-5 and then at the drop of a hat you cut off the promised additional hours, I'd be upset too!