Paying Cleaning Help/Babysitters during this time

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zaftigmom

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:00 am

I plan on paying my cleaning lady and kids morah for as long as our income isn't affected. I don't think I am obligated to do it but I think it's the right thing to do. They are wonderful women with families that rely on their income for their daily expenses.

zaftigmom

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:03 am

amother [ Indigo ] wrote:

a cleaning lady or babysitter is not on payroll. you are not a bank, I dont see why anyone feels pressure to pay when they are not working. the arrangement is a per diem one

It's not about pressure. It's about empathy. No one should think they have to. If you can, though, it's the right thing to do. Doesn't mean it's wrong not to.

amother

Beige

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:11 am

I’m a babysitter and I thought I would work through the school year. Now I have no income and I know my “clients” are still getting their full salary. I don’t expect them to pay me anything but it’s would be nice if I got a part of the pay.

amother

Sapphire

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:35 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Hi,

I’m unsure what to do about my cleaning help/babysitter whom I generally employ full-time, but who has not come in a month because of coronavirus, as mutually agreed upon. I paid her full pay for two weeks, partial pay for the next two weeks. I am unsure how to proceed further. BH our household income has stayed the same, we both work remotely now (and do all the cleaning and childcare of course). She relies on this income to live, and I want to do the right thing. At the same time, I can’t pay her indefinite sick leave for services not provided. I have my own emergency expenses I need to save for should our financial status change. For context, she has worked for us for about six months. She won’t be eligible for any government stimulus packages.

What would you do? What are you doing? Please provide context if you respond regarding what you are doing in reality - whether your income has changed etc.

I have two different nannies. Long story but in short we share two different nannies with two different families. One of them is my "primary" nanny. She's been with us for years, feels like family, and I intend to keep her no matter what. I am paying her my full half of her salary even though she hasn't worked in 5 weeks. My husband and I still work and I have to go into work 3 days a week as I'm an essential worker. We plan on driving her to work and home starting Monday and we're both comfortable with that arrangement.

My second nanny is different. We are only planning on keeping her for a limited amount of time anyway. We were paying her full initially and started paying her half for the past two weeks. We are continuing paying her half until May 1 If things don't go back to semi-normal in May, we will let her go and my first nanny will watch both of our kids.

It's really really difficult and there are no easy answers. I think its important to be fair but its impossible to pay someone indefinitely. I would let her know what your plan is and if you decide to stop paying her or reduce her pay significantly you would have to be okay if she found another job.

amother

Fuchsia

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:44 am

amother [ Indigo ] wrote:

a cleaning lady or babysitter is not on payroll. you are not a bank, I dont see why anyone feels pressure to pay when they are not working. the arrangement is a per diem one

My babysitter is on payroll.

amother

Fuchsia

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:49 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

For those continuing to pay - how long do you anticipate doing that for? Indefinitely? Another month? What’s your plan if we need to social distance through June, July? No one knows when life will go back to normal, even partially. The first step of reducing social distancing may be for those who have recovered to resume work, and neither my family nor my cleaning lady have had it, as far as I know.

It’s the indefinite part that makes me uncertain. Yes I don’t want her starving on the street, and I want her to remain committed to me as her employer, so I’m happy to pay her something until she can come back. But I’m not sure doing that for months on end is reasonable, nor would it be worth it to maintain her loyalty.

I don’t think there’s one single right answer in this situation. I’m curious to hear different perspectives.

Another perspective on social distancing is quarantining for 2 weeks and then agreeing to limit social contact to a bubble that includes your immediate family, and the nanny - so long as that arrangement is legal where you live.

In my situation - my nanny is eligible for government assistance at this time.

amother

Mustard

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:49 am

My cleaning lady quit on me five weeks ago. Said she was not coming because of corona. I don’t blame her.
When and IF she comes back to work I will give her a bonus.

amother

Seagreen

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 10:49 am

The government is making it very easy for everyone to get back money. So you don’t have to pay her let her file unemployment. They are making it easy even for people who are self employed who usually can’t get unemployment.

We really don’t know how long this will go on you need to save money now. We are living in scary times right now who knows when it will end.

sky

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 11:54 am

Ive been paying mine not sure for how much longer tho.
She has been working for me a long time and needs the money to live.

amother

Aqua

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 11:59 am

tichellady wrote:

I’m continuing to pay mine. It just feels right to me but it’s also hard to do the right thing

For full time?

Op, I think discuss it with your rav. I did with mine and he said last two weeks we should go to half and then stop (we told her this all in advance). We pay legally so we ended up terminating right away and she’s getting more from unemployment! But otherwise when giving large amounts of money like that for months, I would clarify what my obligation is then do a little more for kiddush hashem. Then give to tzedaka instead of continuing past that....

tichellady

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 12:33 pm

amother [ Aqua ] wrote:

I think if she had the ability to collect unemployment than makes sense. My help doesn’t have that option.

amother

Beige

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 12:36 pm

I don’t think I could file for unemployment because my babysitting group is not really legal so I can’t report that income etc

amother

Aqua

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 12:38 pm

amother [ Beige ] wrote:

I don’t think I could file for unemployment because my babysitting group is not really legal so I can’t report that income etc

I’m sorry, but that a protection you lose by not paying taxes.

notshanarishona

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 12:39 pm

amother [ Beige ] wrote:

I don’t think I could file for unemployment because my babysitting group is not really legal so I can’t report that income etc

Just report it as self employment. You should be paying taxes even if it’s not a legal playgroup

amother

Beige

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 12:42 pm

amother [ Aqua ] wrote:

I’m sorry, but that a protection you lose by not paying taxes.

Right totally understandable. I don’t get certain benefits. I still think it would be nice if I would get even a small amount from the parents of the kids especially because they are getting paid....

amother

Aqua

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 12:53 pm

amother [ Beige ] wrote:

But they are paying taxes, and if you were then you’d be getting half +600$ a week so you’d be doing nicely.

Sorry it’s just a pet peeve of mine, only deal with cash if you don’t rely on it (or I mean just don’t in general but definitely don’t count on it). Why should the parents pay you instead of spending that money on entertaining their kids while they work?

The school I work in is still collecting tuition but they aren’t paying me. I completely understand. They have other staff they need to pay and I don’t serve the needs of the students at this time.

amother

Beige

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 1:21 pm

I also charge them less then a regular daycare because of the no taxes... that’s part of it. If babysitters paid taxes they would charge more per hour then they do.

amother

Seagreen

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 1:55 pm

amother [ Beige ] wrote:

I don’t think I could file for unemployment because my babysitting group is not really legal so I can’t report that income etc

But you
Should be paying taxes what you are doing is illegal. You also probably make a ton of money on programs bec you aren’t legal so you are still getting that.

amother

Ivory

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 2:10 pm

DH's income hasn't changed for now BH but I am no longer able to work since I'm doing childcare full time. My income was a tiny fraction of our total anyway though. At the beginning of the crisis we prepaid our babysitter through the end of April with the plan to reasses at the beginning of May. My guess is that we will probably end up paying for May and that she will be able to come back in June. I'm hoping she can come back sooner!

ETA - our sitter has been with us for years but every September we change the hours based on my work schedule and the kids' school schedule so I consider her term of employment through the end of August even though we don't have a contract. I would say if this thing drags on then I would certainly want to pay through the end of August but possibly not after that and certainly not a full salary.

amother

Scarlet

Mon, Apr 13 2020, 2:25 pm

amother [ Sapphire ] wrote:

You do realize that driving her to work and home is not protection for you family if she is taking public transportation other times?

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