February 9, 2025 • 35 mins
Note: This episode was recorded in 2024, for updates on tax information in 2025 visit https://info.homeworksolutions.com/blog/2025-household-employment-coming-changes
Unlock the mysteries of legal pay and taxes for nannies and domestic workers with us on Adventure Nannies On Air. With expert insights from Rachel Lawrence of Homework Solutions, we navigate the complexities families and nannies face in understanding payroll, workers' compensation, and insurance requirements. Rachel shares her journey from nanny to industry influencer, emphasizing the importance of bridging knowledge gaps to advocate for fair pay and employment rights. Together, we explore the historical backdrop of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and its profound impact on labor rights in the nanny industry.
Get ready for an engaging conversation as Rachel delves into her unique experiences as a former nanny and Senior Partner Specialist at HomeWork Solutions. Her firsthand knowledge illuminates the intricacies of employment laws, from travel and sleep time considerations to the nuances of classifying nannies as employees or independent contractors. We also uncover the fascinating history of domestic workers' fight for inclusion in labor laws and the invaluable contributions of marginalized groups, urging our listeners to acknowledge these often-overlooked narratives.
From childhood adventures to the dynamics of homeschooling, we weave a tapestry of personal stories that highlight the unique dynamics of caregiving. As we wrap up this enlightening episode, we invite you to connect with Adventure Nannies through our website and social media channels for the latest opportunities. Whether you're a nanny, a parent, or simply curious, this episode offers a blend of practical advice and heartfelt stories that you won't want to miss.
- Have any questions? Reach out to us on Facebook, and Instagram, and check out the resources on our blog!
- If you’d like to join our newsletter to be the first to know about our new positions, click here.
- Are you looking for an exceptional nanny, newborn care specialist, or private educator? Get in touch!
- Do you have what it takes to be an Adventure Nanny? Apply Now!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
you're listening to adventure nannies on air in each
episode we'll dive into a topicfrom the wide world of nannying
from what to pack for your nextadventure, professional
development opportunities,industry standards, legal pay
and anything else we seecrossing our desks at adventure
nannies, the nationwide agencyfor families, nannies, private
educators and newborn carespecialists.
(00:30):
I'm Danielle, I'm Shenandoahand this is Adventure Nannies On
Air.
The policies and viewsexpressed in this episode are
those of the individuals and donot necessarily represent the
views of Adventure Nannies.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Also, this episode has a little salty language in
it and may not be appropriatefor kids.
Hello Shenandoah, how are youdoing today?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, I am glad that you asked.
I am doing wonderful todaybecause I just finally finished
my GD taxes.
They have been a weight on myhead for many, many years.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You know, I understand.
For many, many years, you know,I understand.
Taxes are probably one of theleast fun topics just worldwide
that anybody ever wants to talkabout.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I just can't.
I think I saw someone on TikToka few weeks ago, which is when
the actual tax filing deadlinewas for those of us that did it
on time.
Filing deadline was for thoseof us that did it on time was
talking about how taxes work inother countries and how sort of
ridiculous it is in the us thatthe government system for
collecting taxes is okay, justum, why don't you just guess how
(01:56):
much money you're gonna owe usthroughout the year and how much
you want to take out on yourpaychecks, and then at the end
of the year we'll just tell youhow, like you will have to do a
bunch of math and fill out abunch of forms and then you can
find out only after the year isover, like how right or wrong
you guessed, and that systemjust does not feel like it's
(02:19):
really set up for anyone to be atotal rock star.
And you know a lot of thefamilies who we work with as an
agency.
They are entrepreneurs, some ofthem are tax people or finance
people, and it's reallycomplicated because paying
people legally who are workingin nanny roles is still it's a
(02:40):
relatively new concept that mostpeople don't know about, and so
every time we're talking to anew family who's coming to us
looking for a nanny, we you know, we're like, okay, and you have
to pay this people as anemployee.
And the families are like, ofcourse, sure, I'm going to do
everything the right way.
And then when they start to getinto the weeds of all of the
(03:00):
things that that means and whatit means to be a domestic
employer and adding someone totheir car insurance and getting
a worker's comp policy andmaking sure that their home
insurance policy is updated byhaving an employee and making
sure that employees gettingclassified the right way and
Medicare and all the rightpercentage of all of the things
are getting withheld sort of newto the concept it can feel
(03:28):
almost kind of punishing becauseof the amount of steps and
research and information that'srequired just to get it set up
the right way and that a lot oftimes will put nannies in a
really difficult spot,especially if they're not
working with an agency that'sadvocating for legal pay,
because then they are in theposition of sort of either
really deciding to stick totheir guns and get paid legally
(03:49):
and haranguing and annoying thefamily of yes, you have to fill
out this form.
Yes, you have to do this.
Yes, now you have to pay apayroll company, or just sort of
giving up and saying, ok, Iguess I'm just going to get paid
illegally.
Or someone's going to Venmo meand I hope nothing bad happens.
Where I would need workers comp,I hope I don't lose my job in a
(04:09):
way that I would needunemployment insurance, and we
just saw so much of that kind ofunfold in some really terrible
ways during the pandemic.
But I think you know as much astaxes are hard for you and I to
figure out and I would considerus to be relatively intelligent
Borderline, Borderlinerelatively intelligent.
(04:32):
But this stuff can be socomplicated, I think, for
everyone to understand andfigure out and to make sure
you're getting the rightinformation on it and even know
sort of where to start and whatto do when things don't work or
when someone isn't into legalpay.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I really think that, from the perspective of an
agency and just as human beings,we all care so much about
trying to advocate for thenannies who are making this
industry possible, and I thinkpayroll is such a great
opportunity for us as an agency,and for all agencies, to really
step in that gap between theunderstanding and the
(05:14):
requirements for compliancy inan arena that nobody
particularly feels super stokedto talk about because it's
challenging.
But that kind of brings us tothis amazing conversation that
we had with Rachel.
Rachel from Homework Solutionsis one of the most uplifting,
(05:34):
engaging and just delightfulpeople that you could ever speak
with, and one of the thingsthat she is so talented at is
taking really complex conceptsand breaking them down in a way
that feels really manageable andthat feels very understandable
and accessible and actionable.
And she has created so muchmore understanding for me
(05:58):
personally and I know, for somany of all of us that have
interacted with her in thisindustry, for so many of all of
us that have interacted with herin this industry.
So it's just such a joy to getto learn from her and to be
around her, because she shereally makes all of this so much
more interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
She really does, and I mean we just I know that the
price of eggs is sort ofdropping now, but she and I,
separately from the conversationthat we had with her, she and I
had a conversation with eggsduring the sort of egg crisis of
2023.
And I found out that she's asecret egg millionaire because
(06:35):
of, because of all of thechickens they have.
I think she I don't want tospoil her surprise, but we were
in a webinar together and I wasI can't remember what I was
saying because you know again,borderline, relatively
intelligent, but I was justtalking about financial
decisions and saying, hey, whena dozen eggs are $2, I'm going
(06:58):
to make a quiche on Sunday, butwhen eggs are $8, like there's
no quiche getting made in theday afterwards.
She was like thanks for thequiche idea.
I actually made one this weekendand I was like what are you?
Are you rich?
Are you crazy?
Do you know how many eggs go ina quiche?
It's like all the eggs.
So, if you know, if, if thingsgo down, I am going to be
heading to Rachel's family'shouse.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
All right, she's rich in eggs and rich in knowledge,
and such an incredible person.
I'm so excited.
Will you kind of tell us alittle bit more about Rachel and
some of her accomplishmentswithin this industry?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yes, I would be happy to so.
Rachel Lawrence is passionateabout the nanny industry and her
work shows it from Fromattending and speaking at
industry conferences put on byINNTD, Nannypalooza, INA, APNA
and USNA, to speaking withsmaller groups via webinars.
Her focus is always oneducation and improvement.
(07:55):
Rachel believes that when weknow better, we tend to do
better, so knowledge is thenatural first step to change.
She focuses on educatinghousehold employers and
employees about why legal payand adhering to labor laws is so
important.
She also works to encourage theindustry as a whole to strive
for higher industry standards.
(08:16):
Rachel's passion and knowledgecomes from an 18-year foundation
in the industry and a varietyof roles.
Her career began as a nanny inthe industry.
In a variety of roles, Hercareer began as a nanny, later
moving on to work for local andnational placement agencies, own
a boutique nanny agency andwork as the operations manager
for the International NannyAssociation, all before joining
(08:37):
the Homework Solutions team in2019.
As a working mom with threechildren, she has also been a
nanny employer.
As a working mom with threechildren, she has also been a
nanny employer and just as aheads up.
Before we dive in with Rachel,the information that she is
discussing today is for generalknowledge.
It is not intended to be, nordoes it constitute, professional
legal or tax advice.
(08:58):
And while we're talking aboutthat, also, for sure, nothing
that, Danielle, you or I evertalk about should be considered
professional legal or tax advice.
If you are looking for personaladvice on a legal issue or a
tax issue, please consult anattorney or tax professional.
And if you were just lookingfor some general info or have
(09:20):
questions for Rachel or her eggsor her chickens or kids, that
is completely appropriate.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Absolutely Well.
I'm so excited to be able tohear this episode.
Let's dive in.
Welcome, rachel.
We're so glad to have you heretoday with us.
Today we're going to be talkingabout FLSA and the way that it
impacts the nanny industry, andI'm really excited to jump into
that today.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Rachel, what is the Fair Labor Standards Act and why
do we?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
care about it?
Sure.
So I will admit to being a geekof history.
I really enjoy it.
If you look at my desk, there'sa history calendar, like a
daily calendar, that tells mesomething about history and I
have.
My novels are usuallyhistorical fiction.
So basically, the short versionof the history is that back in
1938 in the New Deal theydecided they needed to put some
(10:19):
labor I guess I'll call themlimitations in place, rules in
place.
I guess I'll call themlimitations in place, rules in
place to address things likechild labor and how long is a
workday and how many days in aweek do you have to work, as a
norm.
Those sort of things we,meaning the domestic work
(10:46):
industry, did not get added tothe Fair Labor Standards Act
until 1974.
So you can see there's a prettybig gap there.
Before we were considered sortof eligible, I guess I'll say,
for these rights and they arereally what defines the work
that we do and how it's paid outand what's allowed and what
isn't.
So it's a really good sort ofskeleton framework for everyone
to know in the industry so thatthey know how to go into that
job interview or how to write upthat work agreement or how to
(11:08):
pay that employee, those sort ofthings.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Awesome.
Can you tell us a little bitabout why domestic employees
were not added until 1974 as ahistory buff?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Well, I guess to do it from a very high level.
The work our industryoriginally did was done either
by enslaved individuals or laterby indentured servants or later
by indentured servants.
Also, it's always beenprimarily women who.
Anyone who knows much abouthistory knows that women's work
(11:44):
wasn't always considered to bereal work.
Even if they were doing thesame job as a man, it was
considered like pickup work,like not that big of a deal
Really.
People didn't even startthinking about women's role in
the workplace in what I wouldconsider a serious way, until
all the men left to go to warand someone had to do the work.
(12:06):
Also, people that know historywill know when the men came back
, people kind of forgot that wekept the country running, and so
that, I think, is really wherea lot of the additional parts of
FLSA come in.
Between, say, 1938 through,you'll see it sort of happen in
(12:30):
the 50s and 60s.
You see some things.
And then domestic workersreally lobbied and came on the
scene and were included in 1974.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's undeniable to see the way that people who have
been pushed to the sidelines insociety have often upheld so
much of the work in society.
And there's an Instagram pagecalled Domestic Workers History
and it is so, so cool becauseevery day or every other day
(13:03):
they make a post about a lot ofthe things that you're saying,
Rachel, but throughout historythey have kind of a daily
calendar where they'll say thishappened at this day in history
with this particular person whowas, in a lot of different ways,
making a difference in domesticworkers' rights, and it's
heartbreaking to know the sortof origin of how this industry
(13:24):
came about.
But I think it's also soimportant to acknowledge that
and I think it's a really bigpiece of this conversation that
a lot of times people don'tnecessarily want to acknowledge.
But I think that's part of whatmakes the history really
interesting and also, I think aspeople working in the industry
in present day, we have aresponsibility to be aware of
(13:47):
that history and how it relatesto where we're at now.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I couldn't agree more .
I think that when you knowwhere things come from, you
better understand their meaningand why they're important.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And I think that you know that is part of why you're
passionate about history isreally looking at what has
happened and where we've beenand being one of the change
makers to propel us into, youknow, a better future, which I
think is admirable and reallycool, because these topics can
be really complex.
You know, I was talking to youa little bit before we hit
record about, you know, taxseason and how a lot of people,
myself included feel intimidatedby discussing things like
(14:41):
really anything to do withfinances and laws.
It's kind of scary to thinkabout.
And when you look at the FLSA,though, one of the things that I
really love about you and theway that you and Homework
Solutions kind of tackle thesesubjects is that you make the
information really accessible,and there are so many cool
resources just on, and HomeworkSolutions kind of tackle these
subjects is that you make theinformation really accessible,
and there are so many coolresources just on the Homework
Solutions blog about this topicthat make it, you know, bullet
(15:04):
point and really straightforward, so that's really cool.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, a lot goes into FLSA, that you're right.
It's really complex, right.
It's this huge thing that hasbeen added to over the years.
There are sort of four majorparts of it that I think apply
to our industry, and it goesover things like when are you
working, right?
What are considered hoursworked?
What about wages?
(15:28):
What about overtime?
How about travel?
What about if you're sleepingthere, either as a live-in or a
24-hour shift?
How do you know if any of thiseven applies to you?
What kind of classification iswhat they call it of worker are
you, and how is that determined?
And so you know a lot of it.
(15:49):
Is you know if-then scenarioswhich are clear, if you know
where to look for them, but thensome of it is totality of
circumstance, right?
Which then you have to know.
The whole scenario.
For instance, whether or notyou're an independent contractor
or an employee isn'tnecessarily FLSA, but that's a
totality of circumstance.
(16:09):
And so that's where you have tostart.
Before you can even look atFLSA and see how it applies to
you, is you have to look and sayI'm an employee and now I can
do the if that right?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, Rachel, I know a lot of folks who are listening
to this podcast are nannies andthey're probably listening
during a nap.
They might not have time toread the entire Fair Labor
Standards Act on their phoneright this second Standards Act
on their phone right the second.
So would you mind giving ussort of the cliff notes of some
of the scenarios that you runinto on a daily basis?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, and I will try to give very quick references,
meaning something you could jotdown in Google, you know, since
this is an audio format.
So I think the first place tostart there's a really great
resource.
Again, if you're just GooglingFLSA, you can start with just
putting domestic worker and thatwill get you half the way there
(17:08):
.
But if you want to specificallylook, for instance, at wages
how do I know about that it'sthey do these fact sheets
because it's so extensive thatgive you sort of pieces of it
and explain it.
So fact sheet 76A talks aboutwages and it talks about things
like you have to be paid minimumwage.
(17:30):
There is a federal minimum wage, but don't forget that
localities, states, localgovernments, cities can set
minimum wages too, and those areoften higher.
Well, they have to be higherthan the federal minimum wage.
So those are things to considerwhere FLSA is a jumping off
point, but there may be otherthings to consider in your local
(17:52):
area.
Same is sort of true forovertime.
There are rules regardingovertime at the federal level
for domestic employees.
For a live-out nanny, thatwould be 40 hours in a week.
Anything above that's time anda half.
But again, there are more andmore states these days that have
additional overtime laws,california being sort of the
(18:15):
most noted that they have dailyovertime, but we're seeing other
states jump in in differentways too.
Another bullet point would behours worked.
This is probably the one I getthe biggest or the highest
number of questions on.
A good reference point is factsheet 79D as in dog so 79D and
(18:39):
it goes over different scenariosand it gives examples which I
think are really helpful aboutwhen are you on the clock.
So it goes over things.
One of the big definitions isif you're engaged to wait.
One of the big definitions isif you're engaged to wait.
So in the nanny industry, ifyou're listening to this on a
(19:00):
nap, you are engaged to wait andneed to be paid for that,
because while you might notactively be holding a baby right
now or teaching a song orwhatever you might do, an hour
from now, you are not able toleave and go do what you want.
So you are not on theequivalent of like a lunch break
in other industries or, back inthe day, a smoke break.
(19:22):
But those are questions thatcome up a lot in our industry
and so it goes through differentscenarios where you can kind of
like I said.
It's sort of if-then, and youcan work your way down this
one-sheet document and sort offigure out the answer to your
question.
I think pretty easily, but ofcourse you can always call me.
(19:42):
It goes over things like travel.
So how to tell whether or notyou should be paid for your
travel time has a lot to do with, again, whether you are
traveling with a child andtherefore, even if they're
sleeping in the seat next to you, you are engaged to wait,
meaning when they wake up andthey need a snack, you're on.
And if it crosses over yourregular workday versus, like if
(20:07):
you work Monday through Fridayand you're traveling on a
Saturday, it also goes oversleep time If you're working a
24-hour shift and how that canbe calculated.
On that one again, californiahas a state law that applies as
well, that waives a sleep timeexemption, meaning you get paid
the whole night, even if youhave a legitimate time off where
(20:30):
you're allowed to rest.
And then I guess, two more sortof bullet points that are not
as extensive as the lastClassification of a worker.
I sort of alluded that somethingcalled an ABC test helps
determine if you're anindependent contractor or an
employee.
A little side note.
(20:51):
Basically, if you're listeningto this, you are an employee
almost without, unless you're anNCS, in which case there's an
argument to be a contractor.
So that's not Fair LaborStandards Act.
But you do have to know theanswer in order to apply what is
in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is that you're a
(21:13):
non-exempt employee, meaning youhave to be paid hourly, you
have to be paid over time.
You can't have what peoplethink of as a true salary,
meaning we're going to pay you Xnumber of dollars per year to
be our nanny, without anyqualifiers to that, because you
don't meet the exceptions whichare for things like office
(21:36):
workers they call learnedprofessionals, meaning you know
attorneys, doctors, those sortof people, computer outside
sales, those things haveactually spelled out exemptions
to that and we don't fall underany of those in this industry.
And that's 17A if you want togo look it up.
And that's 17A if you want togo look it up 17A.
(22:01):
And then the last one maybe isfor a smaller section of this
group, which is for live-ins,because rules are a little
different if you are a live-innanny.
Basically, who is a live-innanny is defined in this?
So someone who maintains noother residence, so you indeed
full on live with your employer,or if you are there for an
(22:22):
extended period of time, theyactually define that out it's
120 hours consecutively in aweek, which, for those of you
who want to sort of break thatdown, it's five 24-hour shifts.
Want to sort of break that down, it's five 24-hour shifts.
And then, if you do meet thosequalifications, what's different
?
How is overtime different?
(22:42):
Again, federal and state varysome on this.
So start with federal and thenwork your way to the more
detailed.
State is a good place to start.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So what'll happen?
Because I just I could bet mylast bottom dollar that somebody
listening is wondering you knowwhat if we don't want to do it?
What if both parties decide wedon't want to comply with this,
we want to do it differently?
What?
What'll happen?
Speaker 3 (23:14):
What will happen?
Sure, I actually, wheneverthere's a question that could
either be divisive or combativeor make someone feel bad, I try
to use a really outlandishexample, because I think it
often illustrates the point andtakes it farther away from home,
right, and so you can see thepoint a little bit better.
So the one that I always usebecause people realize I am not
(23:37):
judging them in any way is if wecould just write laws and
rights out by putting them in acontract, if we could just make
them not apply to us by saying,sure, we agree to this and
everybody's on the same page, soit's really cool.
Well then we could hire hitpeople, right, like we could
hire a hit man, if that weretrue, and be like well, you know
(23:59):
, it wasn't really for screenmurder because, cool, we put it
in contract and everybody was onthe same page.
So you know, no harm, no foul.
So it just doesn't really workthat way.
You can't sign away your rights.
So it's worth knowing at leasta baseline of what your rights
are.
And then, when questions comeup, our industry is really lucky
(24:21):
to have a strong group ofprofessionals that are willing
to help and answer questions,and, you know, answer questions
about parts of the industry thatthey do and then refer you to
someone else if it's not whatthey do.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Well, you know, there are somany different resources that
you've mentioned and I just wantthe listeners to know when this
blog or when this post comesout, we definitely will have a
blog to accompany it with a lotof these resources shared there.
So if you weren't able to joteverything down, don't worry,
it'll be all in one spot for you.
(24:58):
And then you know, rachel,there is sort of a little thing
that we do with this podcast.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I'm so sorry, daniel.
Oh, no, please.
I would love for her to answer.
You know, because we'rerecording this during tax season
and, as you know, every singleyear during tax season a lot of
nannies take to Facebook,because that is when people
realize that something that hasbeen going on in their
(25:26):
employment relationship is maybenot totally kosher, it's not
totally OK.
Communications that we have beenseeing happening online, or you
know, nannies are sort ofasking other nannies in their
(25:47):
community to help them drafttheir you know their text to the
boss that you know thatbasically says like hello,
employer, it has come to myattention that the way you're
employing me is illegal andyou're in violation of FLSA
statute as detailed in 79.1.
Do you maybe have some examplesof ways that employees could
(26:10):
approach this with employersthat might land a little bit
better, or sort of what or whatemployees resources are, if
their employers are like no,we're cool with salary, we're
cool with paying you as a 1099,like, we're just not going to do
that like, so what's the stepto get it resolved?
And then, if you're not able toget it directly resolved, what
(26:34):
are your options after that as adomestic employee?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
sure.
So whether it is an agency or ananny that calls me, and I deal
with a lot of parents who haverealized this on their own,
sometimes without anyone tellingthem.
They get halfway through a yearand they're like, oh goodness,
what have I done?
So that is the first point Iwould make is, in all of these
(26:57):
calls I take all the time allyear long, most of them are not
malicious.
Of these calls I take all thetime all year long, most of them
are not malicious.
Tax code is crazy.
Labor law is wide.
These families, I will tell you.
Sometimes I get an email from mykid's teacher and it takes me a
week to respond, right, Becausemy life is just bananas.
(27:18):
So know that a lot of the timethis is not malicious, this is
just purely they had no ideawhat they did not know.
So I would always start from aplace of what I would refer to
as grace to say, hey, I didn'tknow this either and I just
found this out from a nannyfriend of mine or wherever.
You found it out it out and Iwas a little surprised to hear
(27:46):
this, so maybe we could chatabout it.
And sometimes now is not thatmoment, right, they say I'm busy
, how about tomorrow morning?
Or whatever it is.
So know that you should go intoa conversation like that with
grace and then present them theinformation that you know, as I
don't want to say softly as youcan, because I don't mean it
that way just as information,right, that's not loaded with
(28:09):
emotion.
Just hey, realize this, Gosh,we haven't been doing that.
What shall we do now?
And then, of course, if thisperson says, yeah, thanks for
the pointer, I don't care, Thenthere are options.
If you have gone to them andit's obvious that this is not
(28:32):
going to resolve itself, thereare forms you can file for a
missing W-2 where you say eitherI was given the wrong form,
meaning a 1099, or I was givenno form at all.
We have articles on our websiteabout how to fill these out
because, again, tax code iscrazy and what's going to happen
(28:55):
is that then the IRS is goingto say, hey, we have no record
of you as an employer.
That doesn't look like it'sright, because your employee
says that they were youremployee and missing a W-2.
So they'll resolve it with theIRS.
But then the nanny isn't filinga false tax return and things
like that.
And obviously, if there arewage and hour disputes, again
(29:17):
same thing Go to the family.
They may not know, Be graceful.
Go to the family.
They may not know, be graceful.
If it becomes clear that this,they have no interest in this
conversation, Then if you feellike your rights have been
violated, there are certainlywage and hour lines in each
state.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, that's so helpful and just really
practical advice.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Now you can do the fun part.
Danielle, Thank you for yourYay.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
My favorite part.
Okay, so for each, for eachpodcast episode, we ask our
guests some silly questions,funny questions, and I'm excited
to ask you some.
Are you ready for theseexciting, funny questions, shoot
.
So when you were four years oldold, who would your dream nanny
(30:04):
have been?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I had my dream nanny.
That's the best question oh mygosh no one has had a dream
nanny yet nobody has said mustsee she was my nanny.
That wasn't really her name, hername was Joe Sperling um, but
we called her muzzy and she waslovely.
And she was lovely and a dreamnanny in a way.
(30:28):
That's probably a littleoutdated now that we all have
conferences and things, becauseyou see I'm old, so that was a
long time ago.
But she was loving, she cared,she was the kind of person who,
if there was a roly-poly on thesidewalk, would squat down with
you and tell you what she didknow, which maybe was something
(30:50):
and maybe it was nothing, ormaybe she asked you questions
about it, and we had fun and Ifelt so loved.
In fact, I saw her many, manyyears later.
In fact I saw her many, manyyears later and you know she was
sort of I know it's sort ofcliche, but she was sort of like
a grandmother to me and I lovedit.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
She sounds like a dream nanny to me.
I want to have experience.
Muzzy, Muzzy, you said Muzzy.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I have no idea why we called her that.
My husband is trying to learnSpanish on Duolingo right now
because we've been going toMexico for Christmas and I'm
okay at Spanish, but he has none, and so I've just introduced to
him the way that I learnedSpanish as a child, which was
also named Muzzy.
But Muzzy is like this largecartoon monster and there are
(31:43):
like little songs that they singabout vowels.
But there's been, there's beena lot of Muzzy getting thrown
around in our house lately, andI love that.
That was your nanny's nickname.
It was.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
It's such a cool story, okay, so for all of the
candidates that come toAdventure Nannies, we ask them
to list out 10 fun facts that weshare with families.
And you know they can be kindof anything ranging from some
exciting adventure that theywent on or the you know some
really cool experience, orsomething goofy and funny, and
(32:14):
it's just kind of a little wayfor the families to get a deeper
sort of insight into who theperson is.
But also it doesn't have to beserious.
So my question is do you havethree fun facts about Rachel?
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Three fun facts, let's see.
I will try to do unusual onesthat people have maybe never
heard.
Okay, so all through my teenageyears I was big into sports,
but the biggest sport I was intowas horse vaulting, and so if
you have no idea what that isand I'm sure you do not because
(32:47):
it is not common go ahead andlook it up.
It is not the kind ofgymnastics that you do like in
the olympics and a gymnasium.
It is probably you would callit trick riding.
It is gymnastics on the back ofa moving horse and that is like
the most random talent I have.
I probably I may not have itanymore, let's be honest, but it
(33:10):
was one of my more interestinglife experiences and I went
around the country on a team anddid that and it was fun.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
That is so cool.
I love that, and when I wasyounger I was obsessed with
horse vaulting.
Our listeners are probablytired of hearing this, but I was
and probably deep down still amkind of a horse girl, so I was
really into dressage andeventing way of writing.
(33:44):
Looking at horse vaulting wasjust like mind-blowingly cool
because it was wild and alsoterrifying.
I honestly can't imagine it.
So that's a really cool fact.
You have any more facts for us?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I do.
Let's see what can I come upwith.
That's unusual, one that peopleprobably know.
Of my three children, two aretwins, and I only survived this
experience because of the womenin this industry.
The NCSs probably saved mysanity, and when I would go to
(34:12):
conferences with my children,people would come up and I mean
this in a nice way lovinglysteal my children, and my
husband would always have aslight moment of pause, and I
would always remind him that thewomen that were in this room
with me and a few men back thenhad a much higher skill set than
(34:32):
we could ever hope to have, andso children were in better
hands than they would have beenwith us in the hotel room.
And then let's see another fact.
I have sort of like a mini zooat my house.
It's like a mini farm aroundhere.
My husband did grow up on afarm in the middle of nowhere.
He's never even been to a dayschool in his life.
(34:54):
He was homeschooled his wholelife because they lived in the
middle of nowhere.
But so we have a green acresscenario where we have blended
those two things together.
So we live in suburbia but wehave, let's see, a rabbit, eight
chickens, a bearded dragon, twofish, a cat, a dog, an enormous
(35:16):
vegetable garden and fruittrees and stuff.
So that's our menagerie.
When's the horse coming?
You know I love a miniaturehorse, so I keep joking.
And then I watched the I can'tremember the name of the movie
the other day the Banshees ofHirshwin.
I'm not getting that island'sname right, but there's a donkey
(35:37):
that lives in the house in itand I have to say it was my
favorite character.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Oh, that sounds like a dream to me.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Danielle and I were also both homeschooled, so we
may need to bring Aaron on herefor a future podcast episode.
No one else will listen to us.
We'll let you.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah, exactly, I think homeschooling is such a
unique experience, for sure, butthe amount of independence that
you get is kind of unmatchedoutside of the house, and so
(36:19):
they were always together.
And then I grew up like totalsuburbia right.
My parents both had jobs theywent to.
We always had a nanny or anafterschool or a summer program.
You got on board with societyand it's sometimes super
restrictiveness, and so it wasinteresting to blend those into
raising children.
(36:40):
But it's been good.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I was just thinking how lucky your children are to
have such a cool mix of parentsand your menagerie, as you put
it, sounds really exciting andcool.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I often think of Shenandoah when I'm petting the
bunny, because I know she likesbunnies.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I left my bunny in Tacoma when I moved.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
You can come visit me .
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I would like to do that Shenandoah could have a
farm too.
All I'm saying is, somebodyneeds to get a horse, and that's
that's just what I'm getting at.
So mini regular sized.
I just think it'll add toeverybody's joy.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
They do bring joy, they really do Well.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Rachel, thank you so much for taking the time out of
your probably really wildschedule during tax season to
share all of your knowledge withus, and I do just want to thank
you again for distilling someof these really complex
processes and rules into reallypalatable information that is so
(37:42):
accessible.
So thank you for that, andwould you mind sharing where our
listeners can go to learn moreand to get more resources?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Sure.
So if you're just going to jumpon Google, the best thing to do
is just do FLSA domestic workeror domestic employee.
That will get you most of theway there.
We also have a tremendousnumber of resources on our
webpage, which, again, we try totake tax language and make it
accessible or labor law language, and it's homeworksolutionscom.
(38:15):
You can click on the KnowledgeCenter tab and then search by
keyword.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Thank you, Rachel.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Absolutely.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Thanks for listening.
You can find all of ourepisodes on Apple Music, spotify
and wherever podcasts arestreamed.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
And you can find Adventure Nannies off air on our
website adventuredanniescom, oryou can follow us on Facebook
and Instagram to stay up to dateon our latest opportunities.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
If you love this episode, please give us a review
if you're feeling so inclined.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
And if you hated this episode, well, sorry.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Thanks for listening.
you're listening to adventure nannies on air in each
episode we'll dive into a topicfrom the wide world of nannying
from what to pack for your nextadventure, professional
development opportunities,industry standards, legal pay
and anything else we seecrossing our desks at adventure
nannies, the nationwide agencyfor families, nannies, private
educators and newborn carespecialists.
(00:30):
I'm Danielle, I'm Shenandoahand this is Adventure Nannies On
Air.
The policies and viewsexpressed in this episode are
those of the individuals and donot necessarily represent the
views of Adventure Nannies.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Also, this episode has a little salty language in
it and may not be appropriatefor kids.
Hello Shenandoah, how are youdoing today?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well, I am glad that you asked.
I am doing wonderful todaybecause I just finally finished
my GD taxes.
They have been a weight on myhead for many, many years.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
You know, I understand.
For many, many years, you know,I understand.
Taxes are probably one of theleast fun topics just worldwide
that anybody ever wants to talkabout.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, I just can't.
I think I saw someone on TikToka few weeks ago, which is when
the actual tax filing deadlinewas for those of us that did it
on time.
Filing deadline was for thoseof us that did it on time was
talking about how taxes work inother countries and how sort of
ridiculous it is in the us thatthe government system for
collecting taxes is okay, justum, why don't you just guess how
(01:56):
much money you're gonna owe usthroughout the year and how much
you want to take out on yourpaychecks, and then at the end
of the year we'll just tell youhow, like you will have to do a
bunch of math and fill out abunch of forms and then you can
find out only after the year isover, like how right or wrong
you guessed, and that systemjust does not feel like it's
(02:19):
really set up for anyone to be atotal rock star.
And you know a lot of thefamilies who we work with as an
agency.
They are entrepreneurs, some ofthem are tax people or finance
people, and it's reallycomplicated because paying
people legally who are workingin nanny roles is still it's a
(02:40):
relatively new concept that mostpeople don't know about, and so
every time we're talking to anew family who's coming to us
looking for a nanny, we you know, we're like, okay, and you have
to pay this people as anemployee.
And the families are like, ofcourse, sure, I'm going to do
everything the right way.
And then when they start to getinto the weeds of all of the
(03:00):
things that that means and whatit means to be a domestic
employer and adding someone totheir car insurance and getting
a worker's comp policy andmaking sure that their home
insurance policy is updated byhaving an employee and making
sure that employees gettingclassified the right way and
Medicare and all the rightpercentage of all of the things
are getting withheld sort of newto the concept it can feel
(03:28):
almost kind of punishing becauseof the amount of steps and
research and information that'srequired just to get it set up
the right way and that a lot oftimes will put nannies in a
really difficult spot,especially if they're not
working with an agency that'sadvocating for legal pay,
because then they are in theposition of sort of either
really deciding to stick totheir guns and get paid legally
(03:49):
and haranguing and annoying thefamily of yes, you have to fill
out this form.
Yes, you have to do this.
Yes, now you have to pay apayroll company, or just sort of
giving up and saying, ok, Iguess I'm just going to get paid
illegally.
Or someone's going to Venmo meand I hope nothing bad happens.
Where I would need workers comp,I hope I don't lose my job in a
(04:09):
way that I would needunemployment insurance, and we
just saw so much of that kind ofunfold in some really terrible
ways during the pandemic.
But I think you know as much astaxes are hard for you and I to
figure out and I would considerus to be relatively intelligent
Borderline, Borderlinerelatively intelligent.
(04:32):
But this stuff can be socomplicated, I think, for
everyone to understand andfigure out and to make sure
you're getting the rightinformation on it and even know
sort of where to start and whatto do when things don't work or
when someone isn't into legalpay.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
I really think that, from the perspective of an
agency and just as human beings,we all care so much about
trying to advocate for thenannies who are making this
industry possible, and I thinkpayroll is such a great
opportunity for us as an agency,and for all agencies, to really
step in that gap between theunderstanding and the
(05:14):
requirements for compliancy inan arena that nobody
particularly feels super stokedto talk about because it's
challenging.
But that kind of brings us tothis amazing conversation that
we had with Rachel.
Rachel from Homework Solutionsis one of the most uplifting,
(05:34):
engaging and just delightfulpeople that you could ever speak
with, and one of the thingsthat she is so talented at is
taking really complex conceptsand breaking them down in a way
that feels really manageable andthat feels very understandable
and accessible and actionable.
And she has created so muchmore understanding for me
(05:58):
personally and I know, for somany of all of us that have
interacted with her in thisindustry, for so many of all of
us that have interacted with herin this industry.
So it's just such a joy to getto learn from her and to be
around her, because she shereally makes all of this so much
more interesting.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
She really does, and I mean we just I know that the
price of eggs is sort ofdropping now, but she and I,
separately from the conversationthat we had with her, she and I
had a conversation with eggsduring the sort of egg crisis of
2023.
And I found out that she's asecret egg millionaire because
(06:35):
of, because of all of thechickens they have.
I think she I don't want tospoil her surprise, but we were
in a webinar together and I wasI can't remember what I was
saying because you know again,borderline, relatively
intelligent, but I was justtalking about financial
decisions and saying, hey, whena dozen eggs are $2, I'm going
(06:58):
to make a quiche on Sunday, butwhen eggs are $8, like there's
no quiche getting made in theday afterwards.
She was like thanks for thequiche idea.
I actually made one this weekendand I was like what are you?
Are you rich?
Are you crazy?
Do you know how many eggs go ina quiche?
It's like all the eggs.
So, if you know, if, if thingsgo down, I am going to be
heading to Rachel's family'shouse.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
All right, she's rich in eggs and rich in knowledge,
and such an incredible person.
I'm so excited.
Will you kind of tell us alittle bit more about Rachel and
some of her accomplishmentswithin this industry?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yes, I would be happy to so.
Rachel Lawrence is passionateabout the nanny industry and her
work shows it from Fromattending and speaking at
industry conferences put on byINNTD, Nannypalooza, INA, APNA
and USNA, to speaking withsmaller groups via webinars.
Her focus is always oneducation and improvement.
(07:55):
Rachel believes that when weknow better, we tend to do
better, so knowledge is thenatural first step to change.
She focuses on educatinghousehold employers and
employees about why legal payand adhering to labor laws is so
important.
She also works to encourage theindustry as a whole to strive
for higher industry standards.
(08:16):
Rachel's passion and knowledgecomes from an 18-year foundation
in the industry and a varietyof roles.
Her career began as a nanny inthe industry.
In a variety of roles, Hercareer began as a nanny, later
moving on to work for local andnational placement agencies, own
a boutique nanny agency andwork as the operations manager
for the International NannyAssociation, all before joining
(08:37):
the Homework Solutions team in2019.
As a working mom with threechildren, she has also been a
nanny employer.
As a working mom with threechildren, she has also been a
nanny employer and just as aheads up.
Before we dive in with Rachel,the information that she is
discussing today is for generalknowledge.
It is not intended to be, nordoes it constitute, professional
legal or tax advice.
(08:58):
And while we're talking aboutthat, also, for sure, nothing
that, Danielle, you or I evertalk about should be considered
professional legal or tax advice.
If you are looking for personaladvice on a legal issue or a
tax issue, please consult anattorney or tax professional.
And if you were just lookingfor some general info or have
(09:20):
questions for Rachel or her eggsor her chickens or kids, that
is completely appropriate.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Absolutely Well.
I'm so excited to be able tohear this episode.
Let's dive in.
Welcome, rachel.
We're so glad to have you heretoday with us.
Today we're going to be talkingabout FLSA and the way that it
impacts the nanny industry, andI'm really excited to jump into
that today.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Rachel, what is the Fair Labor Standards Act and why
do we?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
care about it?
Sure.
So I will admit to being a geekof history.
I really enjoy it.
If you look at my desk, there'sa history calendar, like a
daily calendar, that tells mesomething about history and I
have.
My novels are usuallyhistorical fiction.
So basically, the short versionof the history is that back in
1938 in the New Deal theydecided they needed to put some
(10:19):
labor I guess I'll call themlimitations in place, rules in
place.
I guess I'll call themlimitations in place, rules in
place to address things likechild labor and how long is a
workday and how many days in aweek do you have to work, as a
norm.
Those sort of things we,meaning the domestic work
(10:46):
industry, did not get added tothe Fair Labor Standards Act
until 1974.
So you can see there's a prettybig gap there.
Before we were considered sortof eligible, I guess I'll say,
for these rights and they arereally what defines the work
that we do and how it's paid outand what's allowed and what
isn't.
So it's a really good sort ofskeleton framework for everyone
to know in the industry so thatthey know how to go into that
job interview or how to write upthat work agreement or how to
(11:08):
pay that employee, those sort ofthings.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Awesome.
Can you tell us a little bitabout why domestic employees
were not added until 1974 as ahistory buff?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Well, I guess to do it from a very high level.
The work our industryoriginally did was done either
by enslaved individuals or laterby indentured servants or later
by indentured servants.
Also, it's always beenprimarily women who.
Anyone who knows much abouthistory knows that women's work
(11:44):
wasn't always considered to bereal work.
Even if they were doing thesame job as a man, it was
considered like pickup work,like not that big of a deal
Really.
People didn't even startthinking about women's role in
the workplace in what I wouldconsider a serious way, until
all the men left to go to warand someone had to do the work.
(12:06):
Also, people that know historywill know when the men came back
, people kind of forgot that wekept the country running, and so
that, I think, is really wherea lot of the additional parts of
FLSA come in.
Between, say, 1938 through,you'll see it sort of happen in
(12:30):
the 50s and 60s.
You see some things.
And then domestic workersreally lobbied and came on the
scene and were included in 1974.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
It's undeniable to see the way that people who have
been pushed to the sidelines insociety have often upheld so
much of the work in society.
And there's an Instagram pagecalled Domestic Workers History
and it is so, so cool becauseevery day or every other day
(13:03):
they make a post about a lot ofthe things that you're saying,
Rachel, but throughout historythey have kind of a daily
calendar where they'll say thishappened at this day in history
with this particular person whowas, in a lot of different ways,
making a difference in domesticworkers' rights, and it's
heartbreaking to know the sortof origin of how this industry
(13:24):
came about.
But I think it's also soimportant to acknowledge that
and I think it's a really bigpiece of this conversation that
a lot of times people don'tnecessarily want to acknowledge.
But I think that's part of whatmakes the history really
interesting and also, I think aspeople working in the industry
in present day, we have aresponsibility to be aware of
(13:47):
that history and how it relatesto where we're at now.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I couldn't agree more .
I think that when you knowwhere things come from, you
better understand their meaningand why they're important.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
And I think that you know that is part of why you're
passionate about history isreally looking at what has
happened and where we've beenand being one of the change
makers to propel us into, youknow, a better future, which I
think is admirable and reallycool, because these topics can
be really complex.
You know, I was talking to youa little bit before we hit
record about, you know, taxseason and how a lot of people,
myself included feel intimidatedby discussing things like
(14:41):
really anything to do withfinances and laws.
It's kind of scary to thinkabout.
And when you look at the FLSA,though, one of the things that I
really love about you and theway that you and Homework
Solutions kind of tackle thesesubjects is that you make the
information really accessible,and there are so many cool
resources just on, and HomeworkSolutions kind of tackle these
subjects is that you make theinformation really accessible,
and there are so many coolresources just on the Homework
Solutions blog about this topicthat make it, you know, bullet
(15:04):
point and really straightforward, so that's really cool.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Yeah, a lot goes into FLSA, that you're right.
It's really complex, right.
It's this huge thing that hasbeen added to over the years.
There are sort of four majorparts of it that I think apply
to our industry, and it goesover things like when are you
working, right?
What are considered hoursworked?
What about wages?
(15:28):
What about overtime?
How about travel?
What about if you're sleepingthere, either as a live-in or a
24-hour shift?
How do you know if any of thiseven applies to you?
What kind of classification iswhat they call it of worker are
you, and how is that determined?
And so you know a lot of it.
(15:49):
Is you know if-then scenarioswhich are clear, if you know
where to look for them, but thensome of it is totality of
circumstance, right?
Which then you have to know.
The whole scenario.
For instance, whether or notyou're an independent contractor
or an employee isn'tnecessarily FLSA, but that's a
totality of circumstance.
(16:09):
And so that's where you have tostart.
Before you can even look atFLSA and see how it applies to
you, is you have to look and sayI'm an employee and now I can
do the if that right?
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, Rachel, I know a lot of folks who are listening
to this podcast are nannies andthey're probably listening
during a nap.
They might not have time toread the entire Fair Labor
Standards Act on their phoneright this second Standards Act
on their phone right the second.
So would you mind giving ussort of the cliff notes of some
of the scenarios that you runinto on a daily basis?
Speaker 3 (16:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Yeah, and I will try to give very quick references,
meaning something you could jotdown in Google, you know, since
this is an audio format.
So I think the first place tostart there's a really great
resource.
Again, if you're just GooglingFLSA, you can start with just
putting domestic worker and thatwill get you half the way there
(17:08):
.
But if you want to specificallylook, for instance, at wages
how do I know about that it'sthey do these fact sheets
because it's so extensive thatgive you sort of pieces of it
and explain it.
So fact sheet 76A talks aboutwages and it talks about things
like you have to be paid minimumwage.
(17:30):
There is a federal minimum wage, but don't forget that
localities, states, localgovernments, cities can set
minimum wages too, and those areoften higher.
Well, they have to be higherthan the federal minimum wage.
So those are things to considerwhere FLSA is a jumping off
point, but there may be otherthings to consider in your local
(17:52):
area.
Same is sort of true forovertime.
There are rules regardingovertime at the federal level
for domestic employees.
For a live-out nanny, thatwould be 40 hours in a week.
Anything above that's time anda half.
But again, there are more andmore states these days that have
additional overtime laws,california being sort of the
(18:15):
most noted that they have dailyovertime, but we're seeing other
states jump in in differentways too.
Another bullet point would behours worked.
This is probably the one I getthe biggest or the highest
number of questions on.
A good reference point is factsheet 79D as in dog so 79D and
(18:39):
it goes over different scenariosand it gives examples which I
think are really helpful aboutwhen are you on the clock.
So it goes over things.
One of the big definitions isif you're engaged to wait.
One of the big definitions isif you're engaged to wait.
So in the nanny industry, ifyou're listening to this on a
(19:00):
nap, you are engaged to wait andneed to be paid for that,
because while you might notactively be holding a baby right
now or teaching a song orwhatever you might do, an hour
from now, you are not able toleave and go do what you want.
So you are not on theequivalent of like a lunch break
in other industries or, back inthe day, a smoke break.
(19:22):
But those are questions thatcome up a lot in our industry
and so it goes through differentscenarios where you can kind of
like I said.
It's sort of if-then, and youcan work your way down this
one-sheet document and sort offigure out the answer to your
question.
I think pretty easily, but ofcourse you can always call me.
(19:42):
It goes over things like travel.
So how to tell whether or notyou should be paid for your
travel time has a lot to do with, again, whether you are
traveling with a child andtherefore, even if they're
sleeping in the seat next to you, you are engaged to wait,
meaning when they wake up andthey need a snack, you're on.
And if it crosses over yourregular workday versus, like if
(20:07):
you work Monday through Fridayand you're traveling on a
Saturday, it also goes oversleep time If you're working a
24-hour shift and how that canbe calculated.
On that one again, californiahas a state law that applies as
well, that waives a sleep timeexemption, meaning you get paid
the whole night, even if youhave a legitimate time off where
(20:30):
you're allowed to rest.
And then I guess, two more sortof bullet points that are not
as extensive as the lastClassification of a worker.
I sort of alluded that somethingcalled an ABC test helps
determine if you're anindependent contractor or an
employee.
A little side note.
(20:51):
Basically, if you're listeningto this, you are an employee
almost without, unless you're anNCS, in which case there's an
argument to be a contractor.
So that's not Fair LaborStandards Act.
But you do have to know theanswer in order to apply what is
in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which is that you're a
(21:13):
non-exempt employee, meaning youhave to be paid hourly, you
have to be paid over time.
You can't have what peoplethink of as a true salary,
meaning we're going to pay you Xnumber of dollars per year to
be our nanny, without anyqualifiers to that, because you
don't meet the exceptions whichare for things like office
(21:36):
workers they call learnedprofessionals, meaning you know
attorneys, doctors, those sortof people, computer outside
sales, those things haveactually spelled out exemptions
to that and we don't fall underany of those in this industry.
And that's 17A if you want togo look it up.
And that's 17A if you want togo look it up 17A.
(22:01):
And then the last one maybe isfor a smaller section of this
group, which is for live-ins,because rules are a little
different if you are a live-innanny.
Basically, who is a live-innanny is defined in this?
So someone who maintains noother residence, so you indeed
full on live with your employer,or if you are there for an
(22:22):
extended period of time, theyactually define that out it's
120 hours consecutively in aweek, which, for those of you
who want to sort of break thatdown, it's five 24-hour shifts.
Want to sort of break that down, it's five 24-hour shifts.
And then, if you do meet thosequalifications, what's different
?
How is overtime different?
(22:42):
Again, federal and state varysome on this.
So start with federal and thenwork your way to the more
detailed.
State is a good place to start.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So what'll happen?
Because I just I could bet mylast bottom dollar that somebody
listening is wondering you knowwhat if we don't want to do it?
What if both parties decide wedon't want to comply with this,
we want to do it differently?
What?
What'll happen?
Speaker 3 (23:14):
What will happen?
Sure, I actually, wheneverthere's a question that could
either be divisive or combativeor make someone feel bad, I try
to use a really outlandishexample, because I think it
often illustrates the point andtakes it farther away from home,
right, and so you can see thepoint a little bit better.
So the one that I always usebecause people realize I am not
(23:37):
judging them in any way is if wecould just write laws and
rights out by putting them in acontract, if we could just make
them not apply to us by saying,sure, we agree to this and
everybody's on the same page, soit's really cool.
Well then we could hire hitpeople, right, like we could
hire a hit man, if that weretrue, and be like well, you know
(23:59):
, it wasn't really for screenmurder because, cool, we put it
in contract and everybody was onthe same page.
So you know, no harm, no foul.
So it just doesn't really workthat way.
You can't sign away your rights.
So it's worth knowing at leasta baseline of what your rights
are.
And then, when questions comeup, our industry is really lucky
(24:21):
to have a strong group ofprofessionals that are willing
to help and answer questions,and, you know, answer questions
about parts of the industry thatthey do and then refer you to
someone else if it's not whatthey do.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, that's amazing.
Well, you know, there are somany different resources that
you've mentioned and I just wantthe listeners to know when this
blog or when this post comesout, we definitely will have a
blog to accompany it with a lotof these resources shared there.
So if you weren't able to joteverything down, don't worry,
it'll be all in one spot for you.
(24:58):
And then you know, rachel,there is sort of a little thing
that we do with this podcast.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I'm so sorry, daniel.
Oh, no, please.
I would love for her to answer.
You know, because we'rerecording this during tax season
and, as you know, every singleyear during tax season a lot of
nannies take to Facebook,because that is when people
realize that something that hasbeen going on in their
(25:26):
employment relationship is maybenot totally kosher, it's not
totally OK.
Communications that we have beenseeing happening online, or you
know, nannies are sort ofasking other nannies in their
(25:47):
community to help them drafttheir you know their text to the
boss that you know thatbasically says like hello,
employer, it has come to myattention that the way you're
employing me is illegal andyou're in violation of FLSA
statute as detailed in 79.1.
Do you maybe have some examplesof ways that employees could
(26:10):
approach this with employersthat might land a little bit
better, or sort of what or whatemployees resources are, if
their employers are like no,we're cool with salary, we're
cool with paying you as a 1099,like, we're just not going to do
that like, so what's the stepto get it resolved?
And then, if you're not able toget it directly resolved, what
(26:34):
are your options after that as adomestic employee?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
sure.
So whether it is an agency or ananny that calls me, and I deal
with a lot of parents who haverealized this on their own,
sometimes without anyone tellingthem.
They get halfway through a yearand they're like, oh goodness,
what have I done?
So that is the first point Iwould make is, in all of these
(26:57):
calls I take all the time allyear long, most of them are not
malicious.
Of these calls I take all thetime all year long, most of them
are not malicious.
Tax code is crazy.
Labor law is wide.
These families, I will tell you.
Sometimes I get an email from mykid's teacher and it takes me a
week to respond, right, Becausemy life is just bananas.
(27:18):
So know that a lot of the timethis is not malicious, this is
just purely they had no ideawhat they did not know.
So I would always start from aplace of what I would refer to
as grace to say, hey, I didn'tknow this either and I just
found this out from a nannyfriend of mine or wherever.
You found it out it out and Iwas a little surprised to hear
(27:46):
this, so maybe we could chatabout it.
And sometimes now is not thatmoment, right, they say I'm busy
, how about tomorrow morning?
Or whatever it is.
So know that you should go intoa conversation like that with
grace and then present them theinformation that you know, as I
don't want to say softly as youcan, because I don't mean it
that way just as information,right, that's not loaded with
(28:09):
emotion.
Just hey, realize this, Gosh,we haven't been doing that.
What shall we do now?
And then, of course, if thisperson says, yeah, thanks for
the pointer, I don't care, Thenthere are options.
If you have gone to them andit's obvious that this is not
(28:32):
going to resolve itself, thereare forms you can file for a
missing W-2 where you say eitherI was given the wrong form,
meaning a 1099, or I was givenno form at all.
We have articles on our websiteabout how to fill these out
because, again, tax code iscrazy and what's going to happen
(28:55):
is that then the IRS is goingto say, hey, we have no record
of you as an employer.
That doesn't look like it'sright, because your employee
says that they were youremployee and missing a W-2.
So they'll resolve it with theIRS.
But then the nanny isn't filinga false tax return and things
like that.
And obviously, if there arewage and hour disputes, again
(29:17):
same thing Go to the family.
They may not know, Be graceful.
Go to the family.
They may not know, be graceful.
If it becomes clear that this,they have no interest in this
conversation, Then if you feellike your rights have been
violated, there are certainlywage and hour lines in each
state.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, that's so helpful and just really
practical advice.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Now you can do the fun part.
Danielle, Thank you for yourYay.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
My favorite part.
Okay, so for each, for eachpodcast episode, we ask our
guests some silly questions,funny questions, and I'm excited
to ask you some.
Are you ready for theseexciting, funny questions, shoot
.
So when you were four years oldold, who would your dream nanny
(30:04):
have been?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I had my dream nanny.
That's the best question oh mygosh no one has had a dream
nanny yet nobody has said mustsee she was my nanny.
That wasn't really her name, hername was Joe Sperling um, but
we called her muzzy and she waslovely.
And she was lovely and a dreamnanny in a way.
(30:28):
That's probably a littleoutdated now that we all have
conferences and things, becauseyou see I'm old, so that was a
long time ago.
But she was loving, she cared,she was the kind of person who,
if there was a roly-poly on thesidewalk, would squat down with
you and tell you what she didknow, which maybe was something
(30:50):
and maybe it was nothing, ormaybe she asked you questions
about it, and we had fun and Ifelt so loved.
In fact, I saw her many, manyyears later.
In fact I saw her many, manyyears later and you know she was
sort of I know it's sort ofcliche, but she was sort of like
a grandmother to me and I lovedit.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
She sounds like a dream nanny to me.
I want to have experience.
Muzzy, Muzzy, you said Muzzy.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
I have no idea why we called her that.
My husband is trying to learnSpanish on Duolingo right now
because we've been going toMexico for Christmas and I'm
okay at Spanish, but he has none, and so I've just introduced to
him the way that I learnedSpanish as a child, which was
also named Muzzy.
But Muzzy is like this largecartoon monster and there are
(31:43):
like little songs that they singabout vowels.
But there's been, there's beena lot of Muzzy getting thrown
around in our house lately, andI love that.
That was your nanny's nickname.
It was.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
It's such a cool story, okay, so for all of the
candidates that come toAdventure Nannies, we ask them
to list out 10 fun facts that weshare with families.
And you know they can be kindof anything ranging from some
exciting adventure that theywent on or the you know some
really cool experience, orsomething goofy and funny, and
(32:14):
it's just kind of a little wayfor the families to get a deeper
sort of insight into who theperson is.
But also it doesn't have to beserious.
So my question is do you havethree fun facts about Rachel?
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Three fun facts, let's see.
I will try to do unusual onesthat people have maybe never
heard.
Okay, so all through my teenageyears I was big into sports,
but the biggest sport I was intowas horse vaulting, and so if
you have no idea what that isand I'm sure you do not because
(32:47):
it is not common go ahead andlook it up.
It is not the kind ofgymnastics that you do like in
the olympics and a gymnasium.
It is probably you would callit trick riding.
It is gymnastics on the back ofa moving horse and that is like
the most random talent I have.
I probably I may not have itanymore, let's be honest, but it
(33:10):
was one of my more interestinglife experiences and I went
around the country on a team anddid that and it was fun.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
That is so cool.
I love that, and when I wasyounger I was obsessed with
horse vaulting.
Our listeners are probablytired of hearing this, but I was
and probably deep down still amkind of a horse girl, so I was
really into dressage andeventing way of writing.
(33:44):
Looking at horse vaulting wasjust like mind-blowingly cool
because it was wild and alsoterrifying.
I honestly can't imagine it.
So that's a really cool fact.
You have any more facts for us?
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I do.
Let's see what can I come upwith.
That's unusual, one that peopleprobably know.
Of my three children, two aretwins, and I only survived this
experience because of the womenin this industry.
The NCSs probably saved mysanity, and when I would go to
(34:12):
conferences with my children,people would come up and I mean
this in a nice way lovinglysteal my children, and my
husband would always have aslight moment of pause, and I
would always remind him that thewomen that were in this room
with me and a few men back thenhad a much higher skill set than
(34:32):
we could ever hope to have, andso children were in better
hands than they would have beenwith us in the hotel room.
And then let's see another fact.
I have sort of like a mini zooat my house.
It's like a mini farm aroundhere.
My husband did grow up on afarm in the middle of nowhere.
He's never even been to a dayschool in his life.
(34:54):
He was homeschooled his wholelife because they lived in the
middle of nowhere.
But so we have a green acresscenario where we have blended
those two things together.
So we live in suburbia but wehave, let's see, a rabbit, eight
chickens, a bearded dragon, twofish, a cat, a dog, an enormous
(35:16):
vegetable garden and fruittrees and stuff.
So that's our menagerie.
When's the horse coming?
You know I love a miniaturehorse, so I keep joking.
And then I watched the I can'tremember the name of the movie
the other day the Banshees ofHirshwin.
I'm not getting that island'sname right, but there's a donkey
(35:37):
that lives in the house in itand I have to say it was my
favorite character.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
Oh, that sounds like a dream to me.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Danielle and I were also both homeschooled, so we
may need to bring Aaron on herefor a future podcast episode.
No one else will listen to us.
We'll let you.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah, exactly, I think homeschooling is such a
unique experience, for sure, butthe amount of independence that
you get is kind of unmatchedoutside of the house, and so
(36:19):
they were always together.
And then I grew up like totalsuburbia right.
My parents both had jobs theywent to.
We always had a nanny or anafterschool or a summer program.
You got on board with societyand it's sometimes super
restrictiveness, and so it wasinteresting to blend those into
raising children.
(36:40):
But it's been good.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
I was just thinking how lucky your children are to
have such a cool mix of parentsand your menagerie, as you put
it, sounds really exciting andcool.
I love it.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I often think of Shenandoah when I'm petting the
bunny, because I know she likesbunnies.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
I left my bunny in Tacoma when I moved.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
You can come visit me .
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I would like to do that Shenandoah could have a
farm too.
All I'm saying is, somebodyneeds to get a horse, and that's
that's just what I'm getting at.
So mini regular sized.
I just think it'll add toeverybody's joy.
Speaker 3 (37:18):
They do bring joy, they really do Well.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Rachel, thank you so much for taking the time out of
your probably really wildschedule during tax season to
share all of your knowledge withus, and I do just want to thank
you again for distilling someof these really complex
processes and rules into reallypalatable information that is so
(37:42):
accessible.
So thank you for that, andwould you mind sharing where our
listeners can go to learn moreand to get more resources?
Speaker 3 (37:52):
Sure.
So if you're just going to jumpon Google, the best thing to do
is just do FLSA domestic workeror domestic employee.
That will get you most of theway there.
We also have a tremendousnumber of resources on our
webpage, which, again, we try totake tax language and make it
accessible or labor law language, and it's homeworksolutionscom.
(38:15):
You can click on the KnowledgeCenter tab and then search by
keyword.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
Thank you, Rachel.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Absolutely.
It's a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Thanks for listening.
You can find all of ourepisodes on Apple Music, spotify
and wherever podcasts arestreamed.
Speaker 2 (38:35):
And you can find Adventure Nannies off air on our
website adventuredanniescom, oryou can follow us on Facebook
and Instagram to stay up to dateon our latest opportunities.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
If you love this episode, please give us a review
if you're feeling so inclined.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
And if you hated this episode, well, sorry.
Speaker 1 (38:54):
Thanks for listening.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.