Paying a nanny for PTO, vacation, and overtime
My wife and I are looking into getting a nanny/nanny share for our 1 year old. From what I've read from recent posts, it looks like a nanny can run from anywhere between $15-30 per hour per kid. A couple of questions about pay:
1) What are the additional expenses? We want to make sure we do this right, so I'm curious what people know about PTO, vacation, OT, etc.
2) Aside from OT, does the rate change depending on hours worked. For instance, my wife and I will likely need someone from roughly 7am-4:30pm, 5x week. Any idea what the going rate for those hours might be?
[Moderator Note: see BPN's 2021 Nanny Pay Survey]
Oct 4, 2021
Parent Replies
We generally gave two weeks of vacation and 10 federal holidays, along with separate sick time. OT is set by the state and must be paid at 1.5x the hourly rate after 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week. (Daily max is CA law and weekly is federal law.) We set a schedule so we would know how much OT was needed which days. You might expect to pay extra for a late night or weekend, but your hours are pretty typical. The stretch from 3-4:30 would be at an overtime rate. Also be sure to factor in taxes, which are not insignificant. The State has a good guide for household employers that outlines what's involved, and it's pretty straightforward once you set it up. Other costs to think about are mileage/gas if you need the nanny to drive and year-end bonuses. Some families also contribute to health care costs, though that's less common. If you are hosting, check that your home insurance policy includes workers' compensation (but I think we got a notice from our insurer recently that this is now standard in CA).
We always budgeted to pay for 52 weeks a year, as a way to cover her vacation, our vacation, etc. We always tried to have at least one week of vacation overlap.
In one nanny share, we paid half rate for her vacation time. Most of the time the most conservative way to budget is to plan to pay for your hours 52 weeks a year.
In California, you are required to pay overtime after eight hours of work in one day. Many people mistakenly think the standard is OT after 40 hours per week but that is not the rule in California. Looks like you will have 1.5 hours per day of OT based on your desired schedule. OT is paid at 1.5x.
After 8 hours of work which should include 30 min. meal break, it's considered overtime (x1.5). I think after 12 hour day, it's double overtime. For people who pay cash and not run a payroll (illegal, by the way), I have seen people pay just the hourly rate without OT (again, not legal), especially if the extended hour is occasional. We always made sure that the nanny should feel free to help themselves to drinks and light snacks (fruits, usually). We always reimbursed for gas mileage for anytime the nanny took the child to a fun place. The nanny would log miles or just text the location and a picture of the kid having fun and then I calculated the miles based on google map and paid according to the IRS gas mileage reimbursement guideline for that year. We bought memberships for the nanny to take kids (fairyland, zoo, other museums, etc.). Occasionally we bought dinners for nanny. We also bought supplies and equipment / food that the nanny recommended for our child. Our nanny specifically wanted our child to have a particular brand of bedsheets, crib rail covers, cups and bowls she thought would be helpful. As the nanny is highly experienced baby whisperer and we were clueless firstime parents, almost all of those suggestion were very helpful.
We offered 2 week PTO plus 10 federal holidays. In addition, we did a cash gift for the nanny's birthday and a holiday bonus in Dec. We were in a share, so if our baby was sick, the nanny would be with the other family, but we paid the same rate. We worked together to try to align our vacations, but if we were on vacation and the nanny was not taking vacation or had already taken 2 week PTO, we would continue to pay the nanny at the same rate, as we believed that it was not fair for her to lose wages because we decided to go on vacation.
My friend is a nanny. Basically she is your employee. You pay her any overtime that she has or any time that she is scheduled and you do not need her. Also pay her sick pay.
It’s best to go through something like home pay through care.com or other pay services which actually makes it simpler on you. apparently they set up an account and are you required to do is submit the weekly hours and they take care of all the forms required for taxes.
As my nanny friend states you have to remember that they live in the bay area and it’s fairly expensive.
She makes $35 an hour plus overtime plus a monthly medical Contribution.
I would also recommend doing a contract.
good luck
Hi there, we’ve had a nanny for the last 2.5 years for our son. We do solo, so no share. We pay $20/hour 40 hours minimum per week. We do 2 weeks (1 week of her choosing, 1 week of our choosing) paid leave plus all federal holidays paid. We also pay if we take go on vacation any other times. Basically we’ve committed to paying a min of 40 hours a week 52 weeks a year, regardless of everything else.
When we were looking for nannies for a solo we saw a range of $18-28/hour.
Hope that helps.