Rate for overnight sitter? (Cary: health insurance, wages, law)

[willis]

I've been nannying for a family for more than a year and started taking care of their baby when he was 5weeks. He's now 16 months and the parents want to leave him with me overnight. I work for them full time during the week and will be taking care of him from Sat. at 8:30am (dropping one of the parents at the airport with their older son) until Sun at 2pm. During waking hours I was going to charge my regular rate of $13, but I don't know what to charge during the night. He goes to sleep at 7pm and usually wakes up before 6am. He typically wakes up during the middle of the night,too. Any ideas?

[kml7780]

Hmmm..When I used to babysit overnight I would count all hours that I was there...asleep or not. I would charge $150-200. Just a thought!

[rfb]

IMO, since you are working overtime for the couple, you should receive time-and-a-half pay for the extra hours. At least, that was the law when I had a nanny for our son a few years ago.

[kristennc]

Hi there! I'm a nurse, so most of us have babysitters that watch our kids weird hours including overnights. Luckily - my babysitters are family, though, so I can't give specifics. I can tell you that my coworkers typically pay quite a bit during 'sleeping' times. I think it probably should be influenced by your relationship with this family, but as a mom and as someone who could be in that situation, I would expect to definitely pay more to have you getting up at 3am!

You might think about suggesting "sleep time" as 10 hours and then charge $7 for those, then charge $13 for the remaining 21.5 hours. That gives you an hour (hopefully) of 'awake' pay for when he gets up.

Then see what the family says.

[kristennc]

By the way, I am basing the lower rate on what most agencies seem to do for overnights... if you think the family can/will pay more, I think you should ask for more.

I certainly think it is WORTH more. Seriously.

[swbtoo]

I don't know what the "going rate" is for this, but my initial reaction (for what it's worth) is that you have the same responsibility (and it's a great responsibility) at night as you do during the day. That child is no less in your care at night, so the rate should be the same. Just my truly uninformed outsider's opinion.

[JJingle]

I used to work with a guy that was always trying to have one of us come over and watch his kids while him and his wife went away for mini-trips. He was asking us because he would have to pay his regular nanny overtime. He hired the nanny through an agency. So the labor laws applied.

[CaryMom]

I agree with most here who think your normal rate or an even higher rate should apply for asleep hours. I am a new mom and will soon have to face this question myself, so I appreciate everyone's thoughts as well.

What is the going rate in our area for a babysitter? I will have a sitter take care of my daughter when I return to work and we are currently negotiating the rate. Any thoughts?

[willis]

Carymom, I would say the rate depends on the age of the child and whether your sitter will be full time or part time. When I was part time for my 5 week old client, I charged $12/hour. When I became full time, I increased my rate to $13/hr. I work over 40 hours a week and sometimes have both the toddler and his 7 yr old brother at the same time. They also give me $50 a month to go towards health insurance. Hope that helps.

[travelmate38]

If you have small children too young to communicate, best be investing in a "nanny cam" You can find them on ebay for about $30-$40. They can be hidden anywhere and are not noticable. My sister's kid was abused by her nanny. And the family thought their nanny was perfect.

You folks are talking about paying $150-$200 a night for a nanny? These are very high wages for unskilled job. At this rate, you can and should demand the VERY best!