Overnight childcare on top of job

[TheRedEngine]

Hello

Person has a job as a live-in tutor to a small child, it’s well paid and is 9-5.30, five days per week. Parents also expect overnight babysitting. Even on Saturday nights.

The contract allows for it “twice a week at least”, and also allows time off in lieu. Though it is silent as to how many hours would be offered, and it’s quite possible the parents don’t know it’s in there.

Equally parents say that the tutor can always pay for somebody else to do the work, but for a 14-hour shift that would take most of a day’s wages.

On one level it doesn’t seem like much to ask for, after all the child is asleep the entire time. On the other hand, who wants to be on duty 24/7?

Working Time Directive doesn’t apply to ‘domestic staff’ but there is no guidance as to whether a tutor would be regarded as domestic staff.

What feels reasonable?

How old is the child? I know 8 yos who don't sleep through...

That doesn't sound like a UK based situation. Answers could vary greatly depending on where it is.

This person needs to have a conversation with their employer, tell them what they want to do, with reference to their contract.

@kitchenhelprequired really? It doesn’t sound unusual to me. And WTD isn’t applicable the world over.

Assuming you’re in the UK OP…

If the contract stipulates overnight babysitting then abide by the contract. I would assume additional hours would need to be agreed in advance (not just “I’m going out tonight, bye”).

Working Time Regulations differ though. You’re entitled to a 24 hour rest period a week or 48 hours a fortnight, so you couldn’t do every Saturday night. And you’re entitled to 11 hours between shifts. So you can’t do an over night on say Thursday and then work all day on Friday as a regular occurrence. I used to opt out of WTD in a previous role but the 11 hours was strictly abided to.

The whole job feels unrealistic. Are you a tutor or a glorified nanny? The child is home schooled?

This. The contract is poorly worded. The "at least" should be "no more than" otherwise the employee could be asked to work 24/7.

@PurBal if you remove the reference to WTD it could well be a job in somewhere like Saudi. There can't be many full time tutor roles in the UK with babysitting built into the contract.

It’s UK, hence the reference to UK law.

There will indeed need to be a conversation with the parents, at this stage I wondered what was felt to be reasonable. Other people here must be in this situation.

The child has just turned 3, and being home schooled. It is bright, indulged, and can spell words like ‘cat’.

I do have friends (lawyers) with two small children, and they have a team of three nannies. This feels like too much for one person.

A 3 yo could well be up/unsettled at night.

Your posts would be a lot clearer in active tense rather than passive tense. I hope you're not teaching the child to write about themselves in the third person.

As for your problem, it doesn't really matter if other people think it's a lot or unreasonable for them and their lives, what you need to decide is whether you feel like doing it or not and whether you want to renegotiate the contract or find a different employer who knows the difference between a tutor and a nanny.

Generally speaking, at 3 you are a nanny not a tutor. If you work overnight you can't be expected to work the next day regularly. A sleep in rate does exist, but would be more sensible to get it off in lieu - I'd recommend taking the hours in lieu fairly regularly because I can see them not paying them. Generally this sort of set up would need 2 Nannie's, at least one full time and one part time

I don’t think you understand the difference between active and passive voices.

N.B., voice, not tense.

Present tense, active voice: “I hit the ball.”
Present tense, passive voice: “The ball is hit by me”
Future tense, active voice: “I will hit the ball.”
Future tense, passive voice: “The ball will be hit by me.”

As for the use of the third person, it’s about somebody else!

It sounds like too much for one person and the thin end of a very big wedge! Why does a three-year-old need a 9 to 5.30 tutor? Hopefully he or she is not being tutored all day and this person is actually more of a nanny, and the child is spending most of their time Playing, doing crafts or in the park rather than being taught to spell. If you were asking on behalf of your friend for advice, my advice would be that she should not sign this contract without strict limits being put on the babysitting. The wording at the moment means that she might never be able to participate in a regular evening activity or hobby, if she’s constantly being called on for babysitting. What happens if the parents ask for three or four evenings in a row? It doesn’t really matter if the child sleeps through or not, it’s being tied to the house, and not having a life of her own, which matters. if your friend is going to accept this role, then I hope she is being paid a great deal of money.

Thanks for thoughts. Sounds like slave labour to me, irrespective of the wages paid.

i don’t see how you can equate 5 days a week of normal hours plus two overnights, with presumably every hour paid, and hopefully some sleep, as slave labour. If you/they don’t want to do it, don’t. If you/they are considering it, establish your paremeters. Max 2 nights a week, with 48 hours notice/ one weeks notice as to which nights, you won’t do two Saturdays in a row so you have 48 hours off each fortnight, if you work overnight before a weekday what happens- you clock off at 8am and back on at 9;30? You are expected to work through? Be very clear on what’s ok and what’s not.