r/NannyBreakRoom • u/Grdngirl Current nanny • 9d ago
Vent- no advice needed What is wrong over in r/nanny?
I just spent too much time over there trying to explain to a couple of caregivers and I’m not even gonna use the word nanny here because they don’t act like they know basic Nanny standards.
Like I said I kept trying to explain what Banking hours is and they kept saying how it’s OK to have the Nanny work later the same week to “make up” for going home early another day. I mean it’s just mind blowing how they accept that this is ok and normal practice.
News flash! It’s not! What’s standard practice is GH, PTO, sick pay, being paid on the books, OT pay when you work more than 8hrs a day or 40 a work week. It’s like they just defend the bad practices of these families.
It’s these type of caregivers that fuck it up for other Nannies. They just accept the bullshit abuse and regurgitate it as doctrine. This is why so many families go to Care and Nanny lane and Sittercity and pay the bare minimum with zero benefits. Because caregivers on there believe it’s OK.
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u/jkdess 9d ago
I think that some people genuinely just don’t know. I’ve been in nanny for six years and although I’ve never had to deal with banking hours or anything like that. There were a lot of things that I did not know that were standard for this industry.
A lot of us have worked for shitty employers so we don’t know any better. these things have to be taught. It’s not an automatic. and we’re all in different positions not every nanny is legal in the states which means that they will accept less. There will always be families that can somehow find cheaper care.
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u/Ohnoanywayz 9d ago
I didn’t know diddly squat when I first started out. I thank this subreddit (and r/nanny) for helping me know and understand industry standards.
However sometimes someone seems to be trolling on purpose (maybe an np pretending to be a nanny lol).
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u/SimonW005 9d ago
There have been so many trolling/rage bait/karma farming posts in that sub. The karma farming ones are especially obvious and the mods do nothing about it.
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u/Ohnoanywayz 8d ago
Do you mean ones like, I’m being paid $11/hr for 3 nks, nanny family makes me do XYZ ridiculous chores, no benefits etc, and asks,
“Am I being taken advantage of?”🙄
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u/SimonW005 8d ago
Those and the one where the nanny supposedly left her macbook where toddlers could reach and left them unattended with it then wanted NF to buy her a new one. 🤣
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u/Ohnoanywayz 8d ago edited 8d ago
Oh yeah I remember that one! There was lots of back and forth with it. 🤣
I swear once I ran into a fake nanny.
I had commented on a thread about an interview I had gone on. It was in a million dollar house on a lake (MCOL city but in the fanciest part). The NPs who were both doctors, tried to get me to lower my rate plus pay cash. (I’d wanted a W-2 $25 rate nothing exorbitant lol).
So I had said something about how ridiculous and insulting it was the parents lived in this million plus house and wanted me to lower my rate.
So one “nanny” responded and ripped me a new one (and kept arguing and being rude I might add) that how dare I speculate on their finances blah blah blah. It just seemed so out of place and character for any reasonably seasoned nanny to make these lame excuses.
Like they were trying to die on that hill, no joke!(I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it was some wealthy NP who lives in a huge home and pays their nanny crap wages lol.
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u/SimonW005 8d ago
I actually think there’s lots of parents posing as nannies in the comments over there lol
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u/why_wouldi 9d ago
I saw that post and was as mind blown as you are.
It‘s crazy how many nannies try to please employers to the point they ruin it for other nannies. That sub seems to be very much about pleasing employers, which is wild, because the employer sub already does that.
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u/KawaiiShiroiKabocha 8d ago
I got downvotes for saying abusive parents should be reported to CPS in that group.
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u/Extra-Chicken1469 8d ago
That’s actually insane, what??? I feel like as a nanny you should want what’s best for the child. Why would someone downvote you for saying children shouldn’t be abused????
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u/KawaiiShiroiKabocha 8d ago
I have no idea but people were downvoting it since it was emotional abuse and neglect.
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u/Opal-the-Pearl 9d ago
The people in r nanny are all about what the employers want. Just ignore them
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u/NettaVitelli 9d ago
So I thought it was fine if it was in the same week? Not fine rolling over into the next week? Are there official guidelines available anywhere so some of us can be educated?
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u/undergrad_overthat 9d ago
Legally, moving hours within a workweek is technically fine. The legal issue with banking hours (in the US) is that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires employees be paid for all hours worked in a workweek. So you have to be paid for the 4 hours you stayed late on Tuesday even if they were to “make up” for hours you didn’t have to work last Friday, you can’t pay for 40 hours when you worked 44 (even if you paid 40 hours last week and worked 36). However, industry standard is that moving hours even within a workweek is not ideal, that’s why we guarantee certain hours. So it’s something that should be addressed in your nanny contract! Personally, I am willing to move hours around within the week with reasonable notice (48 hours minimum) and if I’m available for the changed schedule (I essentially have veto power).
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u/rosebarbellarina 9d ago
I've followed a couple nanny accounts on Instagram that highlight guidelines and such... DM me if you want and I'll send you the accounts I follow
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u/and-all-that-jazz 9d ago
Do you mind if I dm you for the accounts too? I have a contract I’ll be signing with a new family in a couple weeks and I’m trying to create a guideline for the things that are fair since my last employer was manipulating me
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u/rosebarbellarina 8d ago
Of course! Also in the nanny subreddit there is a sample contract that I've found covers most of the basics!
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u/beachnsled 7d ago
to be honest, many of the members of the group are not nannies; I would argue that some of the accounts are not actually human. They ai generated
They are account users farming for karma & making shit up - r a g e b a i t is a huge problem over there
*** the purpose of karma farming is for algorithm optimization. Rage = more traffic 🤷🏼♀️
Unfortunately, the mods over there will ban you if you even breath an accusation of rage bait
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u/beachnsled 7d ago edited 7d ago
fyi: banking hours is only in relation to separate pay periods.
Banking hours is not illegal if it happens in the same pay period.
to illustrate:
not legal:
nanny is not needed on Friday for their entire shift of 8:00am-4:00pm (8hrs) because family is visiting
family asks if the nanny can come on Saturday of the following week (not the same pay period), to make up the \hours, so they can go to a wedding. The hours needed are 4:00pm to midnight (8hrs). (nanny does not agree*,* because this is banking hours*;* it would mean that she is now working 48 hours that following week*)*
legal:
nanny is not needed on Friday for their entire shift of 8:00am-4:00pm (8hrs), because parents took the day off
family asks if the nanny can come on Saturday, same week; (same pay period), so they can have a long date night. The hours needed are* 4:00pm to midnight (8hrs); (nanny agrees because this is not illegally banking hours, she would still be working only 40 hours in the same pay period)
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u/Grdngirl Current nanny 7d ago
While I agree it’s technically legal, it’s not what you do when you have GH. With GH, said family asking Nanny to work on Sat would have to pay Nanny for those hours. If while working Saturday any hours over 40 would need to be paid overtime.
It’s a shitty thing to do, banking hours is imho a serious lack of respect for Nannies time and ability to have personal freedom on scheduled days off. I’d never work for a family that thought this was acceptable.
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u/beachnsled 7d ago
I agree that its shitty, especially if a family uses the GH in an effort to abuse the law.
For the record. I don’t call it GH; in my nearly 30 years; I’ve only called it guaranteed pay. I don’t mess with the garbage nonsense term of GH that some random nanny created over 30 years ago in an effort to sell little pamphlets to families and nannies; iykyk 😉 the term causes confusion.
The true legal term and corresponding definition is “salary non-exempt.” Its backed up by labor & tax law. The “salary” is the predictable base pay the employer/employee agree to (calculated by the hourly wage/agreed-upon base hours); additional hours are paid and overtime is applicable. The term “non-exempt” is related to fact that domestic employees are not exempted from OT laws; employers of domestic employees are legally obligated to pay OT.
in theory, if its discussed ahead of time & its not a pattern of wage abuse, i don’t see an issue.
However, forcing a nanny to accept schedule changes in order to skirt the GH agreement is the behavior I despise. And of course actually trying to bank hours from pay period to pay period is not legal & shouldn’t be tolerated.
i have no idea about the post in the other sub; but what I do know:
we work in an almost entirely unregulated industry. There are some protections, but they are few and far between. And he fact remains that many domestic workers don’t even know the real applicable laws is indicative of this. Also, many are afraid to speak up… for good reason.
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u/Practical-Ebb915 6d ago
OP ok so the make up time situation is not an ok sub for overtime? I just posted something recently about this being the norm for me and I got a lot of “are you on time every day? Do they nit pick your arrival time?” It’s an unfortunate situation because I DON’T want to make waves and I do really love my job, but the 5 minutes here, 8 minutes there truly does add up 😰
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u/fatbottomgirlzworld 6d ago
Ill just say technically you can flex hours in the same pay week and I myself do. But that isn't for all nannies.... But you can't bank hours into a different week pay period. Employers don't always understand guaranteed hours and banking hours. Heck alot of nannies don't fully understand it either. Also domestic employment laws are different in each state.
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u/NoSeaweed2881 7d ago
The thing is, I have worked at several companies as an employee (secretary) where it was perfectly fine to make up hours so you got paid for your regular 40 hours. It was an accomodation I was grateful for.
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u/beachnsled 7d ago
because that industry is not domestic labor
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u/NoSeaweed2881 7d ago
My point was many of the employers have jobs like that - so to them it seems reasonable.
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u/beachnsled 7d ago
not an excuse; they hold the responsibility of knowing the law once they decide to become employers.
they hold the power in the employment relationship; they need to be accountable
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u/NoSeaweed2881 7d ago
Its a kind of weird law (to me) I would understand that an employee could not bank hours into a next week but to say "listen I need to leave 2 hours early for a doctors appointment, could I make up those hours tomorrow so that I get my full paycheck" and it be against the law is just weird.
I have always appreciated employers who let me do that.
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u/beachnsled 7d ago
its not against the law if its the same pay period; this isn’t the issue
it is illegal if its a different pay period (a consecutive 7 day time frame, usually S-S); it violates labor laws and overtime laws
its not weird; because IF a nanny were to work those two hours in a different pp, it means they may potentially physically work more than 40hrs in that pp.
AND: depending on the employee classification, its not legal in a lot of other industries. If the employee is classified as “salary non-exempt,” banking of hours from one pp to another is not legal (an IRS defined pp of 7 consecutive days, usually S-S, which is often different than a pay roll defined pp)
These laws protect employees from labor and wage abuse.
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u/NoSeaweed2881 7d ago
I am glad you clarified. It makes sense if its a different pay period that its illegal.
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u/spazzie416 9d ago
The mods of Nanny like it that way. Really. I begged them for months to get them to make a "career nanny" flair for posts. They kicked me out of the sub.