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I have a child that is going away for half the week, with the possibility that they won't come at all that week. My contract states that i am paid regardless of the child's attendance (including sick days), except for when the child is on vacation. (EDIT- when the child is on vacation, I am paid half rates) How do you think I should be paid in this case?
EDIT- upon reading my original post, I realize I made a mistake which caused confusion. For clarification, please read below.
If you don't have a set number of days they can use for vacation then assume you will not be paid anything for this week. The parents likely have the entire week off and will bring the child only Mon and Tues if they need to get some stuff done - otherwise they are all on vacation.
For sure an amendment to your contract that gives only a specified number of no pay vacation days. Alternate idea is to charge half fees with the idea that you still have expenses for the house utilities, or part of can of food opened for the group whether they are there or not but recognizes the less work load and unused expendable items like craft supplies. It also means you can budget to never be less than half fee in income so if you normally charge $200 a week you can budget that you will never receive less than $100 a week.
I charge half fees for parents vacation time but it must be a full week and with two weeks notice. so in this case it would be full fees.
[QUOTE=playfelt;71183]If you don't have a set number of days they can use for vacation then assume you will not be paid anything for this week. The parents likely have the entire week off and will bring the child only Mon and Tues if they need to get some stuff done - otherwise they are all on vacation.
I don't understand what you mean. This incidence is different than my other post, maybe you are thinking i am referring to my other post about Christmas break? This is another question unrelated to my post about christmas break.
I wouldn't be paid anything if I were the one taking vacation, however i am paid if the child takes time off. I should either be getting paid half rate if they take the whole week off for vacation, or full rate if they are only away for 2/3 days.
I think you get nothing unless the child come to day care. If I am understanding your policy, your clients don't pay if they are on vacation. Essentially you've been told that this child is going to be on vacation for half the week and they might expend their vacation to the entire week. Whether they are away for the whole week or home for part of it, doesn't matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyPrincess
You've been informed the child is going to be off on vacation, it doesn't really matter where that vacation is, your contracts state you don't get paid.
[QUOTE=MonkeyPrincess ;71187]Your original question said that ..Quote:
Originally Posted by playfelt
Sorry but to me that means if the child is planning to be away from day care, not ill, but having some vacation, regardless of whether they are away or at home, you don't get paid.Quote:
i am paid regardless of the child's attendance (including sick days), except for when the child is on vacation
You are now mentioning half rates or full rates which is completely different than your original statement. Perhaps you can clarify exactly what your policy is.
If you don't charge for days the family is away for vacation then I would say you don't get paid at all for the days they are away. Personally I would put a limit to the amount of days they can take for unpaid vacation days or get rid of this policy all together and ask that you be paid for all vacation time. How you have it worded a family could take a month off and not have to pay if they were "on vacation". That is a big cut in your pay.
I always get paid no matter what (except for days I close). I found parents were always sending their kids because they had the "I am paying therefore I will send my child no matter what" mentality. I changed my policy to give a reduced rate on days kids did not attend daycare due to vacation time. I give a $5 reduction on those days providing I get one month's notice of vacation time. It is working great!!
EDIT: I read the other thread stating you charge half day rate when families are away. You will receive half day rate for the days they are away. I would charge them half day rate all week and then if they end up bringing their child a few days just adjust their next pay for the extra.
Ok so upon reading my original post and all the replies, I realize that I made an error in my original post. My policy states that I get paid half the child's regular rate when they go on vacation. I realize my error, and I apologize for the confusion. No wonder I was so confused by your replies, you guys were confused by what I wrote in error. So sorry!!!! :o:o
So just to clarify, my policy is that I do not get paid when I take my own vacation or when I close for sick days. When the children take vacation, I get paid half of their regular fees but they have to take the full week off. When the children stay home sick (or single vacation day with parents) , I still get paid for the day.
So that's why I was asking how I should be paid. I believe I should be paid for the full week if the child takes a few days off, but if she takes the whole week off, i would be paid vacation rate, which is half of regular fees.
Does that clarify things? Hope so.
Much clearer yes but at the same time I understand the meaning behind your policy is that they can't pick and choose no pay days but why cut yourself short in the sense of the family has booked the week of vacation so it is non paid. At the same time they are saying we could really use two days of care while we get ready to go on vacation - why would you turn down the extra money. Also many take a week by taking two days from one week, a weekend and then two days from the next week so that they are not missing a full complete week from work and many employers like this or even require this. How would that work in that they are taking a full week just taking part of it in two different weeks.
Yes it's clearer but I've never heard of such a policy where a parent who needs 3 days off day care is actually better off in terms of fees had they taken a full week.
So, one of your clients who just needs 3 days leave and comes for 2 days, has to pay 5 full days yet if they take the entire week, then they are paying the equivalent of 2.5 days fees? If that's correct, then what's to stop your clients booking the full 5 days leave and paying 50% rate even though they need only 3, then they can go elsewhere for 2 days and pay those fees - in total, they will pay you 2.5 days fees (50%) rate and a casual carer 2 days that they need and in total pay 4.5 days fees - they are way better off than paying you for all 5 days just because they need two.
You are missing out on that two days fees that they pay to a casual carer and your clients are having to have a back up/casual carer just because they don't need a full week off all the time.
Do your clients always have to take a Monday-Friday week? What if they are flying out for a week and the flight goes on a Wednesday - does that mean in order to have a week off from Wednesday to Tuesday, they must take the full two weeks at 50% charge or they have to pay 100% for both weeks because it's split over two calendar weeks?
Just picking a day care rate for the sake of example - let's say the fees in your area/your fees are $35.00 a day.
If a client wants three days off only, they have to pay you full rate of $175.00 for the week if they attend for the other 2 days. If they want the full week off, then they pay you 50% which is $87.50.
They are better off paying you $87.50 and finding a casual sitter for 2 days at $70 making their day care bill $157.50.
If your client only has 4 days leave entitlement, then bringing their child to you for just that one day of the week will cost them 100% rates at $175.00. Again, they are better off paying you 50% rate of $87.50 and finding another carer for one day at $35.00 making their day care bill for that week $122.50 instead of $175.00 with you.
Maybe it's an incentive to book the whole week off and keep child at home therefore giving her one less kid. Makes her week a bit easier and in way she gets a mini break too?