Holiday Benefits for Nannies & Housekeepers
By Marta Perrone
The holidays provided are mostly standard federal holidays (New Year's Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day). Providing holidays to domestic workers in the state of California is not mandatory. However, in the state of New York, just recently it became mandatory so it is best to always check your particular state. Here are the options concerning holidays for your household worker:
1) Provide the day off as paid
2) Provide the day off as unpaid
3) Employee works with regular pay
4) Employee works with double pay.
First you should decide which option is best for you and your family.
Although as mentioned that most states do not make it mandatory, you should be aware that the standard practice in the industry is to provide all 6 major Federal holidays off with pay.
If you simply want to give the day off unpaid, this may work for some employees who are happy to be able to take the day off even if they don’t receive payment.
Again, you simply need to think carefully about the individual holiday with respect to your needs, your budget and how you want to structure a benefit package for your employee. This is best decided at the inception of hiring an employee and should be documented in an "employee/employer" agreement.
Here are some questions that employers have asked with respect to holidays that might apply to you along with my advice.
Question: On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I often have a big party and desperately need my housekeeper's assistance. She, however, celebrates on these days and wants them off. How do I handle the fact that I need her but she doesn't want to work?
Response: For most of the Christian world, and especially the Christian Latin people, Christmas Eve is one of the most important holidays of the year. If your employee must have this day off (paid or unpaid), you can always consider finding additional help who is available to work on this holiday. Agencies usually have a list of employees that work holidays. You would have to pay more when hiring on these days for temporary help, but it would be well worth it in order to keep your full time employee happy.
Question: I don't really like providing paid holidays, but I know that I should provide at least one or two as a perk to the job. If only selecting a few, which of the standard holidays should I provide as paid?
Response: If you are unwilling or unable to provide your employee with ALL the Federal Holidays as paid, the ones that you most definitely should consider are: Christmas Day, New Year's Day. These are the most common holidays provided to employees.
Question: It really upsets me that an immigrant who is not a legal resident wants some of these federal holidays off and paid. Why should these be considered "their" holidays?
Response: First of all, we are all immigrants to some degree and certainly those of us who are legal to work here and contributing to the workforce, should be allowed to join in on the celebrations of national holidays. It is not a question as to whether or not the holiday can be labeled as "mine" and "not yours" depending on your heritage or immigration status. The fact remains that we are all here to work and hopefully integrate together into this country in every manner. Acknowledging that an employee who has not yet reached citizen status should not be granted the right to celebrate a national holiday does not encourage integration.
There are many different approaches to handling holidays and you may choose to handle each one differently. Whatever your choices, please be sure to discuss each one with your employee at the onset of hiring and to document the manner in which you plan to handle holidays so that there are no misunderstandings.
1) Provide the day off as paid
2) Provide the day off as unpaid
3) Employee works with regular pay
4) Employee works with double pay.
First you should decide which option is best for you and your family.
Although as mentioned that most states do not make it mandatory, you should be aware that the standard practice in the industry is to provide all 6 major Federal holidays off with pay.
If you simply want to give the day off unpaid, this may work for some employees who are happy to be able to take the day off even if they don’t receive payment.
Again, you simply need to think carefully about the individual holiday with respect to your needs, your budget and how you want to structure a benefit package for your employee. This is best decided at the inception of hiring an employee and should be documented in an "employee/employer" agreement.
Here are some questions that employers have asked with respect to holidays that might apply to you along with my advice.
Question: On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I often have a big party and desperately need my housekeeper's assistance. She, however, celebrates on these days and wants them off. How do I handle the fact that I need her but she doesn't want to work?
Response: For most of the Christian world, and especially the Christian Latin people, Christmas Eve is one of the most important holidays of the year. If your employee must have this day off (paid or unpaid), you can always consider finding additional help who is available to work on this holiday. Agencies usually have a list of employees that work holidays. You would have to pay more when hiring on these days for temporary help, but it would be well worth it in order to keep your full time employee happy.
Question: I don't really like providing paid holidays, but I know that I should provide at least one or two as a perk to the job. If only selecting a few, which of the standard holidays should I provide as paid?
Response: If you are unwilling or unable to provide your employee with ALL the Federal Holidays as paid, the ones that you most definitely should consider are: Christmas Day, New Year's Day. These are the most common holidays provided to employees.
Question: It really upsets me that an immigrant who is not a legal resident wants some of these federal holidays off and paid. Why should these be considered "their" holidays?
Response: First of all, we are all immigrants to some degree and certainly those of us who are legal to work here and contributing to the workforce, should be allowed to join in on the celebrations of national holidays. It is not a question as to whether or not the holiday can be labeled as "mine" and "not yours" depending on your heritage or immigration status. The fact remains that we are all here to work and hopefully integrate together into this country in every manner. Acknowledging that an employee who has not yet reached citizen status should not be granted the right to celebrate a national holiday does not encourage integration.
There are many different approaches to handling holidays and you may choose to handle each one differently. Whatever your choices, please be sure to discuss each one with your employee at the onset of hiring and to document the manner in which you plan to handle holidays so that there are no misunderstandings.
