If you hire someone to watch your child and you don’t take them, do you still pay the sitter?
Question by Mrs. Doe: If you hire someone to watch your child and you don’t take them, do you still pay the sitter?
This is going off another question, but I have a lady that comes to my home to watch my son. She is a friend which makes it even more uncomfortable to discuss money, but we never had an agreement on the issue of me not bringing him by my own choice, and if she would be paid or not for that day. Now that she is entering her third trimester, I am looking for someone else to take her place in my home or theirs, and it leaves me wondering how that works. I mean if you commit to paying someone a set amount of days and by your own choice decide not to take your child a day for whatever reason, is it good etiquette to pay them for services you reserved, or does it come down to “well you didn’t work today, so you don’t get paid”. How does that usually work with licensed facilities? This has happened a few times with me, when she was sick or I had to take my son somewhere and she usually said she needed the money and I was kind of miffed for paying for days my son wasn’t there, but then I understand her side as well. What is the general rule on this with private day care?
Yeah, it seems like the right thing to do when I choose for him not to go, but when they back out, I guess it is optional?
Leah, it is going off your question, and my situation is much the same. She is often unavailable at the last moment and my husband has to watch my son and lose money while I am at school for 4 hours. I understand she is pregnant, and I end up paying her, but there is no security, no license, and no guarantee she will be able to watch him, so it is a bad deal all the way around, lol. It makes for a strain on friendships because it comes down to a “who is giving more” kind of question. In the end I always pay even if she can’t watch him for whatever reason, which is becoming more and more lately and why I am looking for someone else, and trying to figure a legal documented way to go about it. Thanks for everyone’s answers.
Best answer:
Answer by royalbird
I don’t know for daycare, but if I have my kids in music lessons or other lessons and we don’t show up for whatever reason, we still have to pay. If it’s a music lesson and the teacher cancels, often the teacher will not make us pay for that day or we’ll get a make-up day, but they don’t offer make-ups for when we cancel unless we call ahead and work it out ahead of time. It seems to me that if you have arranged to have your child watched by someone that you will pay, if you back out for any reason, you should still have to pay because they were counting on that paycheck. If they back out, they are giving up the paycheck. That’s my take on it, but I don’t have my kids in any type of daycare or baby-sitting situation.
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Tags: child, Don't, hire, Sitter, someone, Still, take, them, Watch
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You absolutely pay for the days that your child isn’t there.
Licensed facilities have you sign a contract and you pay whether the child is there or not. He could miss an entire week and you still have to pay for it.
Very few licensed facilities that I am aware of let you pay as you go but most home daycares (my own previous one included) will let you skip a payment if your child wasn’t there. The idea that you pay whether your child is there or not is based on a contractual concept (you wouldn’t get paid for non vacation/sick days at work) and they need to be able to count on a certain number of children to be making a profit.
It depends if its by “choice” I pay. but if its by “choice” because a child in their home is sick and really its not an option…no.
You really need to discuss all these details in advance. the *loose* agreement the other mom said she had is the downfall of many friendships and many good sitter/parent relationships.
When looking for a new sitter, discuss these things
Will the rate be daily or weekly?
Will there be a minimum weekly rate to hold the spot?
If the sitter is unable to care for the child, will you be expected to pay?
How many weeks of unpaid “vacation” time will be allowed without losing your space?
If the rate is daily and the child is on a varying schedule, how much notice needs to be given in order to not pay for that day or week?
And frankly, i would have the “if your kid is sick, i’m not bringing my child or paying” rule
because likely, on last minute notice like that, you’ll either have to pay a backup sitter or use a vacation day or an upaid day off.
Yes licensed day cares do make you pay if you’re not there, but if the center was closed down due to some epidemic, you would not have to pay. Also if a teacher is sick, there are still other teachers available to watch your child.
As far as I always understood it.. if you make a commitment to pay for a certain number of days.. you pay that certain number of days if your at fault for why they did not babysit. Now, if the baby sitter cannot sit because of something on Their part.. such as a pregnancy or whatever I wouldn’t pay a dime. I wouldn’t pay someone when my intention was for them to babysit but they were not able to. They choose not to babysit that day they don’t get money.
We use a licensed at-home daycare and we pay whether our children go to daycare or not. She is reserving time for our children, because she is licensed, she cannot take on other children unless she is positive that we are not going to be there (due to laws on the amount of children she can have in her care). So she should not be penalized because I decided that I did not need her services without any sort of proper notice.
I think it is fair, she should not miss out on income because our child was sick or we did not need her services for whatever reason – especially as either myself or my husband are still being paid by our employers if we use sick or vacation days.
We are thankful to have a great, caring daycare provider. Our daughter had heart surgery and was out of daycare for 6 weeks and she didn’t charge us, held our spot and even came to visit my baby in the hospital. It is all about being fair with each other.
For my home daycare I have to pay whether my child is there or not, she has a contract you sign.
This is the same for every daycare I have ever heard of.
There was a day my daycare provider closed early and she did not make us pay for that day.
where my sister and daughter take the kids (two different places). they pay for a set schedule whether the kids go or not.
so i would say pay her unless you tell ahead of time and you have an agreement not to.
I’ve never had an individual babysit, I’ve always used a state licensed daycare. At ours we all get 14 vacation days a year. If your child is sick or you take the day off work, you can use a vacation day and not pay for that day. If you run out of vacation days, you still have to pay for the day your child is not there.
There are some holidays that we pay for too although the facility is closed b/c the employees get that as a paid holiday.
I keep a record in a date book of every vacation day we’ve used (the director uses an Excel spreadsheet to keep track as well). I get a week or two off at Xmas each year and I keep my daughter home with me. I try to save her vacation days for that period.
If it is a day care then yes they will require that they still get paid whether they are there or not.If it is a nanny or a baby sitter then only if you did not let them know in advance that you were not bringing then child.The reason for that is because they could have made plans to do some thing else.If it is a daycare it depends on how they are getting paid if it is private pay then they will not get paid for that day if you choose not to pay them if it is Daycare that’s payed for through the CCIS Then they can still get if they mark the child as being there even if it wasn’t and the only money they would miss out on would be the weekly co pay they receive out of your pocket which depends on your income and then CCIS pays for the rest.If your child care is paid for and you don’t pay out of pocket only a co pay then do not pay any thing because they can still get paid any ways and are just trying to get more money out of you.Honestly i wouldn’t pay a day care on a dat my child was not present any ways.They have others children their so it’s not like they had other plans if your child did not show up any ways.
Well it’s complicated because YES, daycare centers do charge you whether you take your kid there or not BUT they are also ALWAYS available when you need them. You pay for stability, among other perks of a licensed, fully staffed facility. Assuming this question was inspired by mine earlier, it’s important to note that my babysitter (who is not certified and who I do not have a formal “contract” with) is not always available to watch my daughter and when she’s not (for whatever reason) it is up to me to make other arrangements. How can she have 100% pay security when I don’t have 100% childcare security?