When your household employee – whether a nanny, housekeeper, senior caregiver or other – leaves your employment many states require that you pay out her earned but unused vacation time. Generally, it doesn’t matter if the separation of employment is voluntary or involuntary. If you have a separate bank for sick time, that is excluded… Read more »
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules and domestic employment are often misunderstood by the household employer. The temptation is to either agree to a weekly “salary”, agree to “average hourly rate” (pay $15 an hour for 45 hours for example) and or to average weeks (pay bi-weekly and average the two weeks hours to… Read more »
Our wonderful nanny will be leaving in September when our son begins full time school. How do we help her with a letter of recommendation? The nanny’s letter of recommendation from her former employer is an important part of her “Nanny Portfolio,” a collection of materials including her resume, work history, educational certifications, and examples… Read more »
In-home care is expensive. After the family’s mortgage payment, the nanny or home health aide salary is often the biggest expense in the household. Add the cost of taxes on top of this and many families wonder “Why?” If I don’t pay the taxes the nanny keeps more money and it costs me less. The… Read more »
A little preparation and a few hours of new employee orientation greatly improve the comfort level of both the nanny and family. Before the nanny starts make sure you have all of her personal contact information as well as information you need for payroll processing – a completed W-4 form with her Social Security Number… Read more »
Nannies, like any other employee, are entitled to regular, scheduled salary reviews and performance appraisals. Many families link the two, others strictly review salary on an annual basis and performance appraisals may be delivered more frequently. Regular review of performance and compensation sends the nanny the message that you view her as a professional, a… Read more »
Do I give my nanny a holiday bonus or a yearend bonus? Many employers seek guidance on bonus and incentive pay norms for nanny employment. There is no “one size fits all” solution; there are as many creative ways to approach this as there are nanny employers. A cash bonus is by far the most… Read more »
The nanny candidate has just left your home. The meeting went very well. You felt a connection, an instant bonding. You think, “Hurrah! I found the perfect nanny for my family!” You are ready to make an offer — or are you? Whoa! Stop right here! Never make an offer to any candidate without checking… Read more »
States use a Wage and Benefit audit for many purposes. The state may be checking on taxpayer subsidized benefits that the worker is receiving such as Medicaid for a dependent child, or on the veracity of information the employee has previously provided for purposes of child support enforcement, wage garnishment for tax delinquencies, etc. The state will… Read more »
It is rare to find a household with it’s own Human Resources Department. The good news is that HWS services go far beyond payroll and include many aspects of household HR functions. We’ve been helping clients understand the big picture of being a household employer since 1993 and are happy to do the same for… Read more »
