Unfair Payments and Holidays

Dear Theresa, I worked for the Bd of Ed for 13 years and we never got the day off before Thanksgiving or more than 10 days for Christmas. Full time workers did get paid and part time maybe not. You should look into this. I know jobs are not easy to come by these days but you should know the truth. Grandma Mary

Both of my girls were in daycare & anytime they were either sick or the center was closed for a holiday or vacation we were still charged. Therefore, I think that you should be reimbursed. You may want to run it by someone at your State Labor Dept. Good luck!

I own a childcare center and although I am not sure what her policy is I know parent's pay me monthly and do not get deductions for holidays. I do pay my employees for holidays. However, in the summer we close for one week and the rate for that month is pro-rated so parents do not pay for that week. I do pay my employees for the week once they have been with me for one year. I doubt that she is not getting paid for the holidays, but the two week closure may be a different story.

Hi T., I would check with the labor department/labor board.

Hi T.,

The issue here isn't whether your employer gets paid or not. The issue is what is your agreement/contract with your employer.

When you were hired did your employer offer to pay holiday or vacation pay? Does your employer have any personal guidelines? By law she is not required to pay you for this time.

To answer your question about whether or not she gets paid by the city. Chances are yes, at least for the holidays. The contracts are usually for a set period like a week or a month regardless of whether or not the services are provided.

I don't really have any advice except maybe to call the labor board in your area and see what they have to say about it.

Other than that, I'm suprised that day care centers would charge parents for holidays when they're not watching the child. That's ridiculous. I don't know why parents should be expected to pay for services NOT rendered. I know some will charge for an entire week even if you need three days a week, which I don't like but I understand they need to have a consistent way to know how many employees they need and it might be too much work for them to actually have to figure out that on Wednesdays and Fridays they need an extra employee. (Said with a BIT of sarcasm.) I do understand paying for days when the child is sick since the child was scheduled and the child care worker had to come in, not knowing who would show up and who would stay home.

However, if the owner of the day care is charging the parents for daycare on holidays, then I think that the ethical thing to do would either be to pay the employees for holiday pay or to not charge the parents for these services. I wonder how many parents would be upset to find out the owner is pocketing this money they're paying instead of passing along holiday pay to her employees. Paying the employees holiday pay is the ONLY way I'd find it acceptable to pay for the holidays when they're closed. Ridiculous!

Hi T.,

I have never worked in a child care facility, but I have had some experience with a few as a working mom.

On holidays, they were usually closed, just like school. But days like the day before Thanksgiving and after Christmas, they have always been open because working parents still have to work and still need someone to watch their children. I would assume the same goes for state/city run facilities. They have to be paid for days they are open, as long as parents need child care providers.

Check into contracts if you can. See what stipulations there are for optional closing for days that are not holidays. Your boss and the parents may have already made alternate arrangements for days that are not holidays.

I would try to check into this, as a concerned employee, that she will not be working alone, while caring for children, when she is required to have help for more than a few children. (child/caregiver ratio, I'm not sure what the ratio is) These could bring her more trouble than its worth to keep the money for herself!!

This is just from my experience. I worked for a family daycare and she too had all state holidays off. Written into each parents contract was that these holidays were paid holidays. So, in turn yes I got all the holidays off and paid. Is there any way you can look at the contract or tell her you have a friend who is interested in sending there child there and wanted to see the contract? If its written in that holidays and closed days are paid, she should be paying you as well. If not, then there really isnt any obligation to pay you. That was something we agreed on when hiring me, I started at $10 an hour and worked there for 2 more years, each year I got a dollar raise and had all holidays paid and off.
Good luck!

You can always call the city/town and check the payment schedule. You can also call the labor board for advice, the number is in the phone book, probably in the government section.

I am not sure what you mean when you say 'The city doesn't pay her'.
All the daycare providers I used, and with 4 kids there have been a fair amount, had it as part of their registration information the holidays that they were closed, and whether we were expected to pay for these days. With few exceptions we paid, just as we paid if our child was sick and not attending.
In the same manner, most employers have a list of days that the work place is closed, and should provide the employees with information as to these closings being paid or unpaid. Laws vary depending on the size of the company and the status of the employee (salary or hourly).
If you are that concerned, ask her for a printed employer/employee Holiday sheet indicating holidays and if they are paid time off or not.

Good luck!

I find it odd. My daycare provider takes these days off, but we still pay. She even takes a paid vacation week off in August!

I don't know about the issues surrounding a group family day care but I own a preschool and parents pay whether they come or not because tuition (and this may apply to day care also) is calculated as a yearly amount and broken into 10 equal payments for the school year. So some months we have no holidays like this past March and then the next month there is a week off. It all balances out. This also covers sick days. When you enroll I hire teachers based on enrollment, if your child doesn't come on a day I still need to pay my employee to be there.
Employers are not required to pay for holidays. Some do and some don't. It would have been in your original contract stating whether or not you are paid for any holidays or not.
Everyone can have different packages, it's up to the employer and what the situation was when they were hired and what the employee signed and agreed to as a contractual agreement.

Paid holidays are considered an employee benefit. Employers are not required to provide them. However, if they provide paid holidays to some employees and not to others who are in the same type of employee status/job classification, there is a chance the employer could possibly be acting in a discriminatory way. My guess is that if she is not accepting children on certain days due to holidays, then she is not receiving income for those days, but regardless of that, the question is probably a moot point.

http://webapps.dol.gov/dolfaq/go-dol-faq.asp?faqid=314&am...

Here is your answer. She is not required by law to pay you. And particularly if she owns a small business under 25 employees, they are subject to different rules and laws than a bigger company.

It probably is true. Most small businesses do not give employees paid holidays whether the business is closed or not. Most do not offer health insurance or retirement either. A daycare center is a small business. Tailers/alteration shops, laundromats, some public libraries, do the same thing.