would you still pay?

alli2672

Our housekeeper was hospitalized over the weekend, and obviously won't be able to clean for us this week.  Would you pay her anyway?  She doesn't work for an agency.  She is an individual working directly for us.  We did not agree to pay for sick time beforehand, but the contract was pretty informal. 

dmartin726

I wouldn't. My girl used to have to cancel for personal reasons and I wouldn't pay her. She would schedule to just come another day. Maybe that's wrong of me? I don't know... It was a very informal set up as well. It's like when I babysat and a kid got sick last minute and the parents said forget it don't come, I would have never expected to get paid... You know? Or if I was sick and couldn't babysit..

dizzycooks

Nope I would not. I would ask her if she'd like to come another day, but given she hospitalized I'd even hesitate at that.

alli2672

Yeah?  I know that I don't have to, but I hate to put her in a bad financial situation on top of everything else she is dealing with, and we obviously have the money budgeted for it.  

alli2672

You're right though that she probably isn't expecting it. 

JeffandLeslie

I would only pay her if *I* cancelled on her, not the other way around.

catycate

I don't t think you have to, but it's nice that you're thinking of it. Maybe half? Or all if she's been with y'all for a really long time?

minerswife17

I would probably. Since she was hospitalized, it's a real reason not to come to work. Now if she called off bc it was something else like, hungover or "something came up she forgot about" I would not. But knowing the money might help her (esp now that she has a hospital bill) I would.

Court0026

I probably wouldn't.  Is she okay? 

sunnydays99

Nope, I wouldn't pay. IMO that's a risk you take when self employed. My housekeeper had to cancel 2 weeks ago because her employee quit the morning of my cleaning day and I couldn't accommodate her coming by herself (it takes her 5 hours by herself rather than 2.5 with an employee). I didn't pay her for the day missed.

notkateanymore

I thought I answered this earlier on my iPad, but if you know she counts on this money to make ends meet{isn't a side job or something like that} then yes I would still pay her personally. Hospital bills don't pay themselves.

notkateanymore

I agree JBS, that was in my original post that didn't post...if she comes every week or has been with you for a long time, I would pay her for sure.

penguingrrl

I would. I'm working on the assumption that she needs this money to pay her bills and that this hospitalization would likely cost her a lot. Even if she worked for someone else it's unlikely she would have paid sick time, so a hospitalization may cost her a lot and she'll face the double whammy of lost wages while recovering. It has always bothered me that those who can least afford lost wages are usually the ones who have no paid time off even for medical emergencies.

ASullivan1231

larkin220 said:

I'm surprised at how many people said not to pay...
I can see if it's a company but an individual who counts on it I would.

Me too! I'd pay her. Just seems like the right thing to do to me. I'd put myself in her shoes and think how appreciative you'd be if someone did that for you.

ASullivan1231

Double post

sschwege

KateMW said:

I agree JBS, that was in my original post that didn't post...if she comes every week or has been with you for a long time, I would pay her for sure.

That's what I would do.

meglew

ASullivan1231 said:

I'm surprised at how many people said not to pay... I can see if it's a company but an individual who counts on it I would.

Me too! I'd pay her. Just seems like the right thing to do to me. I'd put myself in her shoes and think how appreciative you'd be if someone did that for you.

I completely agree with all of this!

penguingrrl

wife07mom09 said:

I understand helping someone out but paying someone when they did not work seems unusual.  Would you pay your mechanic if the shop was closed?  Pay a restuarant for a meal if they did not open?

Many nannies get paid vacation and sick time, as do most people who have the luxury of a salaried position. It's pretty backwards that we live in a society where the lowest paid workers are also the ones who have no benefits whatsoever, so a sick day could cause them to be short on their rent. I would imagine if I had someone coming to clean my house they would need that money far more than I did.