PT nanny wants federal holidays off with pay. Normal?

We offered that to our FULL-TIME nanny, but I would not be inclined to offer it to a 2x a week nanny. I'd say that she could take that time as unpaid day off, or pick another day that week to work. 

I have been in this situation and always paid, also paid when I am on vacation FWIW. I personally try to take the best care possible, over and above what is normal, because I've found it makes the care for my kids the best possible. And lowers turnover risk. 

It's so hard to navigate these issues. Our principle was always trying to make pay for the nanny as consistent as possible. If she plans to work Mondays and Wednesdays for you but you don't need her on a Monday because it's a federal holiday--or she can't come because on federal holidays her own kids don't have school--she doesn't have the opportunity to earn that money that she's counting on for the week. 

This is not the norm. Only public employees get government holidays off with pay. Those holidays are often when child care is needed, and nannies are often on the job then.  

Yes, paid sick leave, vacation time, and federal holidays is the norm, whether you pay over or under the table. Paid sick leave is now a state requirement—you must provide either five days or 40 hours per year. We pro-rated vacation and holidays for part-time, though (so for a stretch when our nanny was working 80%, we provided six paid hours for each holiday and two weeks of vacation at 32 hours per week instead of 40 hours per week). It was all in the contract for our nannyshare to be sure everyone was on the same page.

[I am not a lawyer, but here is my understanding]. Even if you're not paying "legally," you are still an employer and your employee has legal rights.

Have you reviewed the California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights (mainly about overtime requirements)? https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/DomesticWorkerBillOfRights-FAQ.html

Sick time, for sure,  Here is some info on  California mandated sick time (note that some older sites will mention a minimum of three days/year; as of 2024, that is FIVE days/year, even for part time workers):

https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/paid_sick_leave.htm

For holidays, it may be a little trickier. since it's not legally mandated  I have a part time un-benefitted job with Monday as one of my scheduled days. When there is a Monday holiday, I work on Tuesday instead (is that an option - if she doesn't have other work obligations that day - so she doesn't give up pay just because you don't need her that day)?. You might also come to a partial pay agreement.  But honestly, she is probably earning a pretty meager wage as it is. If YOU are being paid for those holidays, can't you just pay her for those hours?

This is very normal. We paid our nanny under the table and paid sick time, vacation, and federal holidays. We also paid her when we went out of town; figured it was the same as how one would expect to pay for day care even when you take your kid out of town.

I’ve had a part time nanny too and it is still recommended (by Hand in Hand and Bananas) to give them these benefits. I recommend 1 hour vacation for every 20 hours and one hour sick per 30. Holidays paid. 

It's worth noting that contrary to a previous response, the vast majority of private sector workers in the United States do get paid federal holidays off. The percentage is higher in white collar jobs (95%+) than in the service sector (60%), but it's still the majority of workers in both (and about 75% of private sector workers overall). It's definitely not a benefit limited to public sector workers. OP, we just matched the holidays we offered our nanny to the holiday calendar for our own jobs, pro-rated by hours worked. So if your nanny is only working 16 hours a week, I'd give 3.2 hours of holiday pay for each federal holiday and would offer 32 hours of vacation for the year, which would be equivalent to two weeks off. You could alternatively offer full pay for holidays but only for those that fall on a work day, but I suspect whether that works out to more or less overall will vary by year.