'Sickness retainer'?

[crazybutterflylady]

Posting on behalf of a friend...
She is due to employ a nanny for after-school hours and holidays for her 4yo. The nanny has just had a baby and will be bringing the baby with her to work.

A few questions please:

Have you ever heard of a sickness retainer in this situation - where the employer pays additional salary just in case the child is sick or the school is closed? The nanny is asking for this. We are not sure how it works and would appreciate some advice.

The nanny would like to be paid pro-rata to allow her a reliable monthly salary. Is this fairly commonplace?

In this situation would you expect the salary to be slightly lower because of the nanny bringing her child to work with her?

I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance.

I haven't heard of this but if the employer expects the nanny to be available at short notice if the child can't go to school, then it seems perfectly reasonable they should pay something to have this option. I don't know how much would be fair however. I guess it depends on how likely this is to happen (how often has the child been sick/school been closed historically).

An alternative would be for the nanny to be paid a higher rate on the days this does happen - for example twice normal rate, to compensate for the inconvenience of having had to change her plans. But that doesn't give the certainty that the nanny wants over pay.

Usually salaries are lower if nanny brings own child - I think somewhere from 20-30% lower is usual.

A retainer is paid if someone wants an employee or service provider to save a place/be on call

So if your friend wants to guarantee the nanny can cover holidays/sickness times & not take another job during those then yes agree to the retainer

If not then the nanny can say either yes or no if asked to work extra days/times.

Not sure what you mean about salary being paid pro rata.

It is usual for a nannys salary to be lower if she is allowed to bring her own baby to work as it effectively becomes a nanny share

Please tell your friend to agree all figured in gross. DO NOT AGREE NET SALARY!

The pro rata bit relates to the holidays when the nanny will be working a lot more hours. She has suggested spreading that cost throughout the year so that she gets an average pay each month. Is this standard? My friend is concerned that she would run the risk of having paid the nanny for more than she's worked then she could effectively leave before the holidays start? Obviously she probably won't but it's not a standard salary agreement in that sense.

It's usual for teachers to have their pay organised like that & I used to work on an annualised hours basis in a call centre but I would be wary personally of doing that for the reasons you stated.

Presumably she will be paid monthly in arrears. This will considerably reduce the likelihood of her leaving owing you money.