How to Get Paid for a Vacation After the Parent Has Left
How would you handle this situation?
A Minnesota family child care provider's contract says that parents will pay for ten paid vacation days each year. The provider has already taken five days and plans to take the other five days the last week of December. The parent has given their proper notice and their last day will be the end of November.
Is the parent required to pay for the five vacation days in December?
In this situation, the provider's contract says nothing about the parent paying for vacation days after the parent has ended the contract. The provider assumed that all parents accrued these vacation days throughout the year. In other words, for every month of the contract, the parent would be required to pay .83 days of vacation (10 days divided by 12 months) whether or not their child was in her care during the two weeks she took her vacation. But, this wasn't in the contract.
I've heard of this situation many times before. A parent gives notice right before a provider is taking a planned vacation.
The Minnesota provider is rightly upset because she was counting on this money. The parents have been with her for two and a half years and are insisting that the provider cannot charge them for these five days. They also threatened to take further action unless the provider pays up. This threat could mean making a complaint to licensing or taking the provider to court.
Legal Answer
Because the provider's contract does not say anything about parents paying for vacation days after the contract has ended, I believe the parent is not legally required to pay for these five vacation days.
I do think it's reasonable for providers to get paid for vacation days by parents who leave before the vacation days are taken.
Here's how to do this. Let's assume you want to take ten vacation days a year. Put in your contract the following language:
"Provider will take ten paid vacation days each calendar year. Parents will pay their full tuition rate for these days. If a parent terminates this contract before the end of the calendar year, and the provider has not yet taken all of her vacation days, parents will be required to pay for the unused vacation days under the following formula.
For every month or partial month that the parent has been enrolled for each calendar year, the parent will owe the provider 80% of a day of tuition (10 vacation days divided by 12 months = .83 per month). For example, if the parent gives notice as of March 1st, and the provider has not taken any vacation days before that date, the parent will owe the provider 1.6 days of tuition (80% x 2 months).
If the parent has paid for all of the provider's vacation days and then ends the contract, the parent does not owe the provider any more money."
Another way to solve this problem is to get paid for your vacation days throughout the year and don't charge for the vacation days when you take them. Here's how: Calculate your daily rate by dividing your weekly rate by five. Then multiply your daily rate by the number of paid vacation days you want to take each year. Divide this amount by the number of weeks in a year minus the number of vacation weeks and raise your weekly rate by this total.
For example: If your weekly rate is $150, your daily rate is $30. If you want to take ten paid vacation days a year: $30 x 10 days = $300. $300 divided by 50 weeks = $6 per week. If you raise your rates by $6 per week you will get paid for your vacation days throughout the year and parents won't have to pay you when you do take a vacation.
Non-Legal Answer
Even though this provider doesn't have a legal case, she can always try to negotiate a settlement with the parent. You can appeal to the parent and say something like this: "Even though it's not in my contract, I've provided years of excellent care for your child and I was expecting to get paid for my next vacation. I'm willing to split the difference and will only ask you to pay for half of my upcoming vacation time."
Some parents may be willing to pay something, so it doesn't hurt to ask.
In the end, you deserve to get paid for vacation days. When a parent quits her job, she will be paid for her unused vacation days. You should also get paid for your vacation days. You may need to change your contract to make sure you do.
How do you handle these situations?
Tom Copeland - www.tomcopelandblog.com
Image credit: https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/vacation.html
For more information on contracts, see my book Family Child Care Contracts and Policies.
