The Official Blog of Morningside Nannies

How to Prevent Discrimination as a Household Employer

Provided by GTM Payroll Services

As someone who has hired an employee to work in your home, you’re considered an employer and your home is a workplace. That means you are subject to applicable labor laws. Some of these regulations are designed to prevent discrimination in the workplace. While federal laws require at least five, 15, or even 20 employees to take effect, it’s a best practice to set fair hiring and employment procedures as they are applied to any workplace. You’ll create a professional hiring attitude, an unbiased work environment, and a stronger relationship with your employee.

Laws to Prevent Discrimination

Federal Laws

Federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of:

• race, color, religion, sex, and national origin (Title VII of the Civil Rights Act)
• age (Age Discrimination in Employment Act)
• pregnancy (Pregnancy Discrimination Act)
• citizenship (Immigration Reform and Control Act)
• gender (Equal Pay Act)
• disability (Americans with Disabilities Act)
• bankruptcy (Bankruptcy Code)
• genetic information (Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act)

Even if you are not subject to anti-discrimination laws, you should use them as guidelines to prevent discrimination and ensure equal opportunity employment, including hiring, firing, compensation, promotion, recruitment, testing, job advertisements, benefits, retirement plans, disability leaves, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights

A number of states have passed a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights in an effort to help prevent discrimination in domestic employment. Household employees are often excluded from basic state and federal labor rights. They may be vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment and are isolated from the traditional workforce. Lacking typical workforce protections against unsafe conditions, domestic workers are open to discrimination and harassment and susceptible to exploitation by their employers.

In New York, the first state to pass a Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, household employees can file a complaint against their employer if they are harassed due to gender, race, sex, religion or national origin. Employers are not allowed to retaliate if their employee files a complaint.

Local Laws

In addition to federal and state laws, household employers must also comply with local laws, which often supersede federal and state laws. For example, in Washington, D.C., the DC Human Rights Act applies to all employers, even those with just one employee. It prohibits discrimination based on the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, personal appearance, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, family responsibilities, genetic information, disability, matriculation, or political affiliation.

Sexual Harassment

No employee should be subject to unwelcome verbal or physical conduct that is sexual in nature or that shows hostility to the employee because of their gender. Sexual harassment can have devastating effects on the workplace. Household employers should take every step necessary to prohibit sexual harassment from occurring.

A best practice is to include anti-harassment and/or anti-discrimination policy in your employee handbook, which specifically addresses sexual harassment. The policy should clearly state that:

• all employees and employers within the household are expected to treat one another with respect to maintain a positive work environment
• the employer will act immediately upon learning of a sexual harassment complaint
• an employee should promptly file a formal complaint if the employee experiences behavior that is unwelcome, offensive, or inappropriate
• employers need to assure employees that all complaints of sexual harassment will be handled in confidence
• the employer mandates a workplace free from all forms of discrimination, as per the law

The Society for Human Resource Management provides a sample anti-harassment policy document.

You should be prepared to respond to sexual harassment in the workplace. Your employee handbook should cover what actions will be taken when a sexual harassment complaint is filed. The policy must also state that no employee will experience retaliation for submitting a sexual harassment complaint.

Common Sense Practices to Prevent Discrimination

These practices can help you prevent discrimination in the workplace:

• treat all employees equally
• hire, promote, and fire without bias
• review employment policies for unfair and negative impact on a protected class (e.g., race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, or pregnancy)
• eliminate any unfair or negative policies or practices
• take immediate action to eliminate discriminatory conduct including inappropriate comments or behavior
• encourage diversity
• never retaliate against an employee for filing a discrimination complaint

Household employers can struggle with their home being a personal residence, and at the same time, a workplace for others. Be aware of any discrimination laws in your state and city and how they may apply to you. Then implement employment practices to prevent discrimination and possible arguments or lawsuits.

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5 Reasons Your Friend’s Nanny May Not Be the Right Nanny for You

There is nothing better than a personal referral when hiring your next nanny, right?

While a personal referral may feel like the gold standard in the nanny hiring process, ignoring other important screening measures simply because a personal referral was made can be a barrier to determining if a nanny is the right nanny for your family.

Here’s 5 reasons your friend, neighbor’s or colleague’s nanny may not be the right nanny for you.

1. The “it” factor may be missing. When it comes to hiring a nanny, parents and nannies typically know in their gut when they have found the right match. Of course, families should do their due diligence and ensure that their nanny gas a clean background and meets all their hiring criteria, but if the “it” factor is not there, none of that really matters. Just because the “it” factor was there for your neighbor, friend, or colleague, does not mean it is going to be there for you.

2. The job may be different. A personal referral is not just enticing for a family, it is enticing for a nanny, too! When a family gives a nanny a personal recommendation to a friend, neighbor, or colleague, it typically positions the nanny in the front of the line for the position. For nannies, it makes the job search easy—if her boss is great to work for, her friends, neighbors, and colleagues must be too! But this is not always the case. Different families treat their domestic workers differently, have different ideas about the role their nanny will play, and have different views on compliance, pay, and the human resources side of nannying.

3. The model of care may be different. There are three models of nanny care; the coordinated care, where nannies and families work as a team, the surrogate care model, where the nanny serves as the primary caregiver, and the custodial care model, where the parents provide daily guidance and the nanny executes the family’s plan. Perhaps your neighbor is a dual professional couple working in the medical field and needs a nanny who thrives in the surrogate care model, but your family is more hands on and wants to be involved in the every day details like in the custodial care model. A nanny who has the freedom to operate independently and make day to day decisions may not enjoy working in a position that has a much greater level of daily management.

4. The expectations may not be the same. Every nanny and family relationship has their own set of expectations surrounding punctuality, communication, interactions, and caregiving style. The expectations surrounding the relationship may also be different. Some families keep their relationships strictly professional, and some prefer to have their nanny be an extended member of the family. Starting over in any new position is an adjustment and when the position and family is being compared to that of a friend, colleague, or neighbor, it can bring an added level of stress.

5. The assessment may not be current. While it is best practice to run background checks regularly, renew CPR and First Aid every two years, and formally monitor the quality of childcare the children are receiving, in practice, the longer a nanny has been with the a family, the less likely these things are to occur. Overtime as nannies and families build relationship, they may be more likely to ignore or justify concerns that would be suspect at the start of the employment relationship.

While personal referrals are great, regardless of how you learn about a potential nanny, gathering as much information as possible so that you can make an educated and informed hiring decision is essential.

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Happy National Nanny Recognition Week

September 26-30, 2020

Since 1998, National Nanny Recognition Week has been observed the last week of September to recognize and celebrate nannies across the United States.

NNRW was created by a group of dedicated industry leaders and nannies, and over 20 years later, it continues to live strong in the hearts and minds of nannies across the country, and internationally.

During this week, families and the community take time to honor nannies and the important work they and role they play in the lives of families.

Nanny Magazine, our sister company and the trade publication of the in-home childcare industry, is offering $5 off a one year digital subscription, bringing the cost to $16.00.

Happy National Nanny Recognition Week!

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Educator and Educator Support Roles

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Dear Nannies…

Dear Nannies,

We have heard from so many of you over the past few weeks and we’re so proud of the work you are doing and the way you are managing through this storm.

We often see the meme circling around that says, “Behind every sane family is a spectacular nanny.” In the midst of this pandemic, that couldn’t be more true.

While many doctors, nurses, essential employees, and frontline workers head into the eye of the storm, their nannies are on the frontlines behind them, caring for their children and their homes. From reassuring children who are confused about the events of the world, to kissing boo-boos and playing school, it’s the nannies who are meeting the needs of the children so that the parents can meet the needs of everyone else.

These past weeks have brought job changes, tough conversations, and hard decisions. They’ve brought information overload, conflicting advice, and a host of emotions that you’ve had to sort through in real time. We applaud you for navigating these challenges times and showing up when you are needed most.

For some nannies these times have brought unexpected time off, furlough, and unemployment. For you, we encourage you to use this time to build your resume, increase your knowledge by enrolling in training (there are many free classes available), and prepare yourself to come out on top when this pandemic passes.

For other nannies, the times have brought an unexpected transition to a live-in role, more hours, and additional duties. For you, we encourage you to keep the lines of communication open with your employers and to take care of yourself so that you too, can take care of others.

While we have some trying times ahead, we are grateful for the service you provide. It’s your strength, encouragement, and presence that brings some of our youngest citizens peace while their parents are in the eye of the storm.

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Can Nannies Work During COVID-19

We’ve been reaching out to Judge Hidalgo’s office regarding the stay at home order and the impact on Texas nannies. On 3/30/20 we received the following guidance:

Nannies are allowed under the order to work. In regards to the documentation questions, at this time, the Order does not require proof that you are allowed to be outside your residence because the Order presumes that citizens will adhere to their civic duty and follow the Order for the greater good of the community. However, some organizations — such as the Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston — are encouraging employers to provide a letter to their essential employees reflecting that they are being asked to work. If your employer is an essential business and you have an identification badge for your job, you can elect to show that badge to law enforcement should you be stopped. Law enforcement is focused primarily on educating the public, but they have and will continue to stop people who they believe may be in violation of the Order.

Sincerely,
The Office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo

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Guidance for Nannies and Families | COVID-19

We are receiving many calls and emails from families and nannies seeking guidance regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. While the situation continues to unfold hour by hour, we have put together some thoughts for you to consider during this time.

According to Patrick DiFiore, partner manager for GTM Payroll, there is still a lot of grey area surrounding the rules, regulations, and relief on both a federal and state level with regards to how the COVID-19 will impact household employers and employees.

Until there is defined guidance in place, the best things household employers and employees can do is open the lines of communication, abide by current work agreements and employee handbooks, follow local and national guidance, and make any and all decisions in the best interest of their families.

As you discuss the effects of the pandemic, questions nannies and parents consider may include:

Nannies      

• What happens if me or a family member gets sick and must self-quarantine?
• What happens if my employer decides to self-quarantine and has asked me not to work?
• What happens if my employer works in a high exposure risk job and I don’t feel comfortable working?
• What if my work family works at a hospital and gets mandated to stay at work?
• How does our work agreement address paid and unpaid time off?
• What happens if I am not paid legally and can’t access any government relief or unemployment benefits?
• What if I am at work and begin to feel ill?
• What happens if I get exposed while at work?
• How will my boss working from home affect my day?
• Do I have short-term disability insurance?
• What if the family’s guidance regarding social distancing differs from the CDC recommendations?
• What can I do to build my skills or knowledge while I am out of work
• How will our daily schedule change if the children are out of school extensively?
• I am supposed to start a new job, should we change the start date?
• How can we best take care of each other and ourselves during this time?

Families

• What happens if I don’t want my nanny to come to work because I am not sure who she has been around?
• Can I have my nanny self-quarantine with our family?
• How does our work agreement address paid and unpaid time off?
• What happens if my nanny is not paid legally and can’t access government relief or unemployment benefits?
•  What if my nanny is at work and begins to feel ill?
• What happens if my nanny gets exposed while at work?
• What is the protocol if the children get sick?
• How will my working from home affect my nanny?
• Does my nanny have short-term disability insurance?
• What if the nanny’s actions regarding social distancing differs from the CDC recommendations?
• How will our daily schedule change if the children are out of school extensively?
• What if I work at a hospital and get mandated to stay at work?
• We have a nanny scheduled to start work soon, should we change the start date?
• What is my childcare contingency plan?
• How can we best take care of each other and ourselves during this time?

We are in uncharted territories and for many families and nannies, the unknown of how this pandemic will affect their childcare and their wallets is frightening. Open and honest communication will set the foundation for establishing next steps until we know more.

To learn more about the evolving COVID-19 situation and for current CDC recommendations visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

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Our Response to COVID-19

Please find below information and guidance regarding the new coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, first identified in late December 2019. 

As you may be aware, COVID-19 is spread through close person-to person contact.

TEMPORARY AND BACK UP CARE
As a result of ongoing health concerns regarding the virus, we are temporarily updating our temporary and back-up care policies as reflected below:

• Please notify us if you or any member of your household has recently traveled to a Level-3 country as listed at the CDC website https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html
• Please notify us if you or any member of your household has any potential exposure risk

We also ask that you do not request care if:

• Your child is exhibiting symptoms including fever or cough;
• Someone in your home is exhibiting symptoms; or
• Someone in your home has been in close contact with a person who is showing signs of being sick.

In addition, we will not be accepting any care requests for events, weddings or large gatherings.

For clients who have already scheduled providers, we encourage you to plan for cancellations. Should a provider become ill or otherwise unable to work, we will not be able to staff the position with an alternate provider.

For clients needing temp care, we encourage you to consider other resources as well, given that we anticipate a decline in nannies accepting temp care requests.

PERMANENT SEARCHES

In the last 48 hours, we have begun receiving numerous cancellations for in office interviews and client and nanny interviews. We have had several clients pause their nanny searches and several nannies pause their job searches due to health-related concerns.

As a result, we are taking the following action steps:

• Having all office employees work from home
• Conducting initial nanny screening interviews over video; all nannies screened through this method would still need to come into the office prior to being hired by a client, unless the client waves that requirement
• Encouraging all clients and nannies to engage in phone or video interviews, rather than in-person interviews

Due to our system set up, our team can continue our recruiting, reference checking, interview scheduling, background checking, answering calls and more from a telecommuting set-up.

We will be reevaluating our plan, based on guidance from the health department, CDC and other resources regularly and will keep you updated as additional information becomes available.

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4 Factors of a Successful Match

While both parents and nannies should ensure that every applicant or job they interview for meets their basic requirements, it’s essential that regardless of how good things look on paper, the nanny and the family are a good fit. While clear expectations, a solid work agreement and defined job description all help make a match work out, long-term successful matches share four common factors.

1. Ability to Communicate. Nannies and parents must be able to effectively communicate for the relationship to succeed. The ability to engage in open and honest communication, being approachable and being receptive are key in determining how long a match will last. Nannies and parents often have to communicate about difficult topics and if there isn’t a strong communication foundation in place, those tough conversations can be impossible to have.

2. Mutual Respect. Parents and nannies don’t have to be the same, but they do have to respect each other. Nannies and parents must respect the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors of each other for the relationship to succeed. A nanny’s lack of acceptance of family culture may lead to a lack of respect. Without mutual respect, the nanny and parent relationship will fail.

3. Personality Match. If parents prefer a quiet morning routine that consists of a slow roll out of bed while hanging with the kids in their PJs, sipping their coffee while listening to classical music, chances are a nanny that comes rushing in like a storm isn’t going to kick the morning off to the right start. If a nanny works better in an environment where the parents micromanage and they prefer a nanny who takes initiative, there’s going to be a lot of frustration going around.

4. Shared Philosophies. While parents and nannies don’t need to be philosophical clones, when there is shared common ground, it makes for an easier match. Being on the same page when it comes to how to approach child rearing and discipline, how the children’s moral compass will point, and the world view the children will be raised with certainly makes working together long-term easier than if not. When the nanny and parents aren’t in moral alignment, the relationship can become strained.

At Morningside Nannies, we strive to find the right nanny for each family. By the time our clients are interviewing candidates, the focus is on if the candidate is the right match. In addition to our in-depth screening which eliminates 95+% of all applicants, Morningside Nannies partners with Knowing Nanny to deliver personality assessments that help our staff and our clients better understand each applicant’s personality profile, which leads them to the right match.

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When You Don’t Get the Gift You Hoped For

In a world where we often view our worth to our employers in terms of our paycheck, our raises and our bonuses, it should be no surprise that for some nannies, this holiday season could make them feel really valued or really undervalued.

For nannies, we often anticipate what our holiday gift or bonus will be. Most nannies know that it is “industry standard” to give one to two week’s pay as a holiday bonus and more the longer the nanny has been with a family. This information in hand, nannies eagerly wait for their last paycheck of the year desperately hoping it’s filled with the extra money that they have been hoping for. We also tend to expect a holiday gift – something special crafted by the children or an item picked out from a store we would never be able to shop at on our own.

While you may expect neither a gift nor bonus, in my 15 plus years of being in the nanny world, I’ve found that most nannies, me included, have shared these holiday expectations at one time or another.

So how do you handle it when your bonus or gift doesn’t live up to your expectations?

The nanny and employer relationship is a funny. We are part of the family, but we are not. The holidays magnify this unique aspect of our relationship. Just as we often think our employer treating us like family when it benefits them, we must also ask ourselves if we are expecting our employers to treat us like family when it benefits us?

If you’ve worked for a family for years and your gift or bonus is less extravagant than in years past, it can be hard to swallow. If you don’t receive anything, it can be even harder. While we like to think we know everything that is going on behind the scenes in the family (and we often do!) sometimes quite honestly, we don’t.

I’ve worked for families where I’ve received everything from a tube of facial cleanser to a huge pair of diamond earrings. Funny enough, the family I would have expected to get the diamond earrings from got me the facial cleanser. Was I disappointed? Yes. Did I feel jaded? Yes. Hurt? Yes. Was my disappointment fair? Not really.

Just like we teach our charges, “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.” When it comes to holiday gift giving, this has to be our attitude. If it’s not, we risk resenting our employers, which if not resolved, can negatively affect the working relationship.

And while it can be tempting to compare bonuses and gifts with your nanny friends, don’t. One nanny may be completely thrilled with her holiday gift, until she learns that another nanny in the neighborhood got much more. That nanny could be you!

So, before you exchange gifts or open your last paycheck of December, take a deep breath, consider your value to the family and remind yourself it is the thought that counts.

If you truly feel like the gift your received (or didn’t) is a true reflection of how you are valued, it’s up to you whether or not you choose to broach the subject with your employer. Should you choose to address it, think very carefully about what you will say and how you will say it.

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