Should I pay for my housekeeper to go on vacation with us??
Hello,
I recently had a huge argument with my husband over whether we should have to pay our housekeeper's way for her to go on vacation with us. We're heading off to Paris with our 3 young children and his point is that the plane tickets are expensive and she will get free room and board. I agree with these perks but believe we should pay 50% of the ticket.
FYI-She cleans our 3 story brownstone every day and is a bargain at $1,000 dollars a month. I don't want to lose her!
I recently had a huge argument with my husband over whether we should have to pay our housekeeper's way for her to go on vacation with us. We're heading off to Paris with our 3 young children and his point is that the plane tickets are expensive and she will get free room and board. I agree with these perks but believe we should pay 50% of the ticket.
FYI-She cleans our 3 story brownstone every day and is a bargain at $1,000 dollars a month. I don't want to lose her!
Comments
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You live in a much different world than I do.
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If you are taking her along with the expectation that she is to continue taking care of your children, then it is not a vacation for her, it is WORK. As such, you should pay for any and all expenses. My employer pays for all my expenses when I have to travel for work.
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Of course she is going to take care of my children! Why else would I take her?
I am going to add that she will not be working all the time. Our kids go to bed around 7:30 and she will be free to do whatever she wants after that. -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Of course she is going to take care of my children! Why else would I take her?
Because you are a nice person?I am going to add that she will not be working all the time. Our kids go to bed around 7:30 and she will be free to do whatever she wants after that.
So what? When I'm traveling on business I'm rarely done after 5pm. I still expect my employer to pay my full ticket, meals, expenses, etc. -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Of course she is going to take care of my children! Why else would I take her?
Um, so how many hours out of the 24 in every day would she have to work for you to not expect her to pay her own way?
I am going to add that she will not be working all the time. Our kids go to bed around 7:30 and she will be free to do whatever she wants after that.
Pay for her ticket. It sounds like you can probably afford it much better than she can. But beyond that, it's like folks have already said -- for her, this is a work trip. If you traveled for business, would you expect your boss to make you pay for the plane ticket just because you get a few hours off each day? Or would you think it reasonable for your boss to make you pay some of the expenses unless you worked every waking hour? -
i think he has a point. her function is simply to clean. why should he take care of other amenities?
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Jesus Christ on a Stick!!
What the fuk is wrong with this world!! -
she is working for you, pay for her ticket. remember she might seems nice friendly but after the end of the day she is still your worker.
she isn't there to be your friend or have fun, she is there to work for you!!! -
I think the answer was in your question. The woman is your "housekeeper". You pay her to clean your house. If you want to take her across the atlantic to watch your children you need to pay for her to do so. What makes your family so special that she should pay for the priviledge of traveling to be with you to watch your kids? Especially since, as a housekeeper, she could stay here and clean other people's houses during the time you were away without being out of pocket for any expenses.
This has got to be a joke right???? -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Of course she is going to take care of my children! Why else would I take her?
like daver, when my employer sends me somewhere for work they pay for everything:
I am going to add that she will not be working all the time. Our kids go to bed around 7:30 and she will be free to do whatever she wants after that.
all transportation - taxis, trains, airplanes
all meals
all expenses (bottles of water, for instance, for plane rides)
all hotel expenses
the point is you are not taking her on vacation, she doesn't have a choice of destination or accommodation. she is there to work and you should pay all of the expenses.
don't tell me - you and your family are going to fly first class and she's going to be in economy, right?
when I travel for work, as lowly support staff, whether or not I am traveling with a partner or an associate from my firm, I travel first class. often I'm expected to discuss work while we're traveling - so we do it in comfort. I'm expected to arrive in international destinations well rested, so I get the full sleeper bed. etc. -
People cannot even take care of their own kids on frickin vacation now? I'm at a loss for words. :shock:
However, since the world has apparently long passed the point of absurdity, I may as well answer the question. Pay all of her expenses. She is WORKING so that you dont have to. The fact that YOU are on vacation, does not change that fact. Nothing else makes any sense. -
btw, if you and your husband make enough money to have a full time housecleaner/nanny, a 3 story brownstone, and a kid in this city, and can afford to take a vacation in paris when the dollar is at a horrid low, you should know what daver and I are talking about re: work expenses. why? because you either work somewhere where you make boatloads of cash or, if you're trust funders or whatever, you KNOW people who work somewhere where they make boatloads of cash. and if any of them travel for business, which people do in this universe, they can tell you the exact same thing. I have no idea what planet you came from.
oh! and, when you're in paris, go ahead and ask some wealthy mommy what she does about paying the help when she and her family travel. I think you'll find that you're being a classically stingy american in her view. -
alafairnadia wrote: like daver, when my employer sends me somewhere for work they pay for everything:
Plus you're paid your regular salary for your work, I assume, right? The OP hasn't said whether she plans to pay the housekeeper/travelnanny for her work time; I think she absolutely should get paid.
all transportation - taxis, trains, airplanes
all meals
all expenses (bottles of water, for instance, for plane rides)
all hotel expenses
the point is you are not taking her on vacation, she doesn't have a choice of destination or accommodation. she is there to work and you should pay all of the expenses. -
I think this person meant to post on the Park Ave. Mommy site...whatever the case, the housekeeper/nanny's expenses, travel, and salary should be taken care of. Taking care of three kids is alot of work!
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BTW, it sounds as if you're husband is actually pissed that YOU wont take care of the kids while on vacation (or maybe he'd prefer that the kids stayed home?). It doesnt sound like money is really the issue :roll:
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Wow, I'm very surprised by these responses. First of all, she will get paid her salary while she is away with us. Second of all, we did partially sponsor her to come and work for us. We paid almost $3,000 for the partial sponsorship. Is $3,000 worth nothing these days!?!
-Thank goodness Maria does not read these boards! -
apollonia666 wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]like daver, when my employer sends me somewhere for work they pay for everything:
Plus you're paid your regular salary for your work, I assume, right? The OP hasn't said whether she plans to pay the housekeeper/travelnanny for her work time; I think she absolutely should get paid.
all transportation - taxis, trains, airplanes
all meals
all expenses (bottles of water, for instance, for plane rides)
all hotel expenses
the point is you are not taking her on vacation, she doesn't have a choice of destination or accommodation. she is there to work and you should pay all of the expenses.
oh yeah, definitely - I get my normal salary and if I work OT, I get paid that. plus, if I'm away from home for 3 nights or more I get something like an extra $100/day for the inconvenience. I'm allowed to use my blackberry phone for personal calls, even internationally, etc. my employer knows they are asking a lot of me to go somewhere, especially abroad, and do my job. y'all would not believe how behind europe is technologically - it's a royal pain the ass. thankfully most of the young IT folks speak english in the non-english speaking countries. working abroad can be painfully difficult. -
Oh yeah, and it goes without saying that the nanny should continue to get her full salary while on the vacation. It is also normal to pay the nanny extra premium since she can't go home at nights, and to make sure to pay for weekends. If you normally pay by the week, then weekend days would be 1/5 the weekly rate. An extra premium would be something like 20-50% on top of the complete salary, depending on just how long the days are compared to what you normally have her work.
And on a side note, $1,000 a month for a full time nanny is a very good deal, I wouldn't want to lose that either. -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Wow, I'm very surprised by these responses. First of all, she will get paid her salary while she is away with us. Second of all, we did partially sponsor her to come and work for us. We paid almost $3,000 for the partial sponsorship. Is $3,000 worth nothing these days!?!
Still, you are totally taking advantage of this person, especially if she does a good job. That $3k doesn't go very far when you consider bargain basement nanny prices are more like $1,500/mo, and for decent ones $3k+/mo is not unusual. I would pay for her ticket if you are taking her, and not try to nickel and dime the poor woman, which may cause her to start looking around and find out she is getting screwed.
-Thank goodness Maria does not read these boards! -
NYS Attorney General Investigations, Labor Dept
PLEASE REPORT TO Casa Nightnannyuser
When I travel for work I get a per diem on top of my salary,
hotel and airfare paid by the employer of course.
And retirement and health insurance and the lawful requirements of soc sec/workmans comp etc.
Is this a trolly encitement thread?
Anyway, I know people (who, er, live in Manhattan) who have a live-in nanny/ maid. She goes on vacation with them, they pay for her transportation if they want her to go with them. You should too.
She stays with them and gets her regular salary and timeoff.
She's not an indentured servant who is expected to be thrilled to run the kids around Paris on her own dime. Maybe she even has kids of her own.
jeez -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Wow, I'm very surprised by these responses. First of all, she will get paid her salary while she is away with us. Second of all, we did partially sponsor her to come and work for us. We paid almost $3,000 for the partial sponsorship. Is $3,000 worth nothing these days!?!
Terminate her employment immediately. That sponsorship is obviously a waste of money. She must be a rubbish housekeeper for you to not want to pay her expenses while on your vacation. Why sponsor a slacker? Off with her!
-Thank goodness Maria does not read these boards! -
Listen everybody. She is going to get her own room at a bed and breakfast in the middle of Paris! Also, we will be going to exclusive restuarants which she would never get a chance to go to if she wasn't with us. Paying $400 of an $800 ticket doesn't seem that ridiculous.
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why is she called a housekeeper if she's really taking care of your kids and house? and $1000 is a sweet deal - for you! you expect her to pay 50% of her plane fair to paris and you pay her mininum wage? poor maria.
alafairnadia, sounds like you have a pretty sweet work/travel deal. i worked for a large fortune 500 company and didn't get half of the perks that you're talking about (extra $100/day if more than three days travel, for example). i think its great that you get those perks, but you shouldn't assume that just because you get them others do as well. -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Listen everybody. She is going to get her own room at a bed and breakfast in the middle of Paris! Also, we will be going to exclusive restuarants which she would never get a chance to go to if she wasn't with us. Paying $400 of an $800 ticket doesn't seem that ridiculous.
It isn't her vacation. Her vacation would be going her _her_ family and friends to the place _she_ wants to go to doing the things that _she_ wants to do. It doesn't matter one iota if you are staying at a nice place in an amazing city or not- IT IS NOT HER VACATION. IT IS NOT HER CHOICE.
It any case, make sure you delineate exactly how the her duties will go down. If you are making her pay half her ticket, she might start thinking that you aren't planning to work her until 7:30pm every night and weekends. Then you will end up with a big sticky mess thousands of miles from home. -
Nightnannyuser wrote: Listen everybody. She is going to get her own room at a bed and breakfast in the middle of Paris! Also, we will be going to exclusive restuarants which she would never get a chance to go to if she wasn't with us. Paying $400 of an $800 ticket doesn't seem that ridiculous.
I stayed in a boutique hotel in downtown chicago and ate at some fancypants steakhouse that probably cost a fortune on a work related trip. it wasn't even, frankly, a trip for client work - I was helping a partner with a powerpoint presentation at a lecture at chicago law. he paid for my plane ticket. I wouldn't go to chicago in january otherwise. -
Subject: Rich narrow minded white....
MARIA!! :evil: :evil: -
snazzybangs wrote: alafairnadia, sounds like you have a pretty sweet work/travel deal. i worked for a large fortune 500 company and didn't get half of the perks that you're talking about (extra $100/day if more than three days travel, for example). i think its great that you get those perks, but you shouldn't assume that just because you get them others do as well.
wow, that sucks. I think a lot of people who've posted get the same sorts of deals. I get them I think b/c most of this is a) client billable and b) I work for one of the wealthiest law firms in the world. but I think other folks who've replied who say they get similar perks do not work for similar setups. but I don't know for sure. I just know that most of the compensation (room/board, transportation, regular salary, expenses) is usually covered. -
Having to pay $400 for a ticket when you only make $1000.00 a month is a HUGE burden! Especially if she has children at home, or family she may be supporting someplace else.
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You know, I had a similar situation with my housekeeper Conchita a few years back. We flew down for a week in Belize and naturally wanted to bring her along. She only had to look after the kids during the afternoons and clean up after our meals, and yet she refused to come with us unless we paid for her flight.
OP, maybe you can do what we did: we compromised by sending her on one of those discount airlines and taking the cost of the flight out of her Christmas bonus (without telling her of course!).
Think about it, we are doing her such a huge favor by employing her and taking her out of her miserable life in her home mother country. Now she gets a free vacation! -
alafairnadia wrote: [quote=snazzybangs]alafairnadia, sounds like you have a pretty sweet work/travel deal. i worked for a large fortune 500 company and didn't get half of the perks that you're talking about (extra $100/day if more than three days travel, for example). i think its great that you get those perks, but you shouldn't assume that just because you get them others do as well.
wow, that sucks. I think a lot of people who've posted get the same sorts of deals. I get them I think b/c most of this is a) client billable and b) I work for one of the wealthiest law firms in the world. but I think other folks who've replied who say they get similar perks do not work for similar setups. but I don't know for sure. I just know that most of the compensation (room/board, transportation, regular salary, expenses) is usually covered.
I don't get paid extra. I usually don't get to fly first class. But I DEFINITELY get all my expenses covered, taxi, meals, hotel, whatever in addition to salary. Oh, and sometimes I have gotten a per diem for expenses, which is usually far in excess of what the real expenses actually are, so that is like getting paid extra, I guess.
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