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Nanny Time Off Policy: About 10 Vacation Days, Then Put It in Writing

October 10, 2026
Nanny Time Off Policy: About 10 Vacation Days, Then Put It in Writing

Federal law does not require you to give your nanny paid vacation, sick days, or holidays, but a written policy still protects both of you. A common starting package looks like about ten vacation days, a few sick days, and several paid holidays, plus guaranteed-hours language that covers weeks when your family travels without the nanny. Put the terms in a signed agreement and track hours consistently from day one.

TL;DR:

  • State and city rules may require labeled sick leave or payout of accrued vacation at termination, so check local requirements before using forfeiture clauses.
  • Part time leave should scale by weekly hours, while guaranteed hours preserve the nanny’s normal pay when your family travels or closes the household.
  • A combined PTO bank simplifies tracking, but separate vacation and sick leave balances help meet local laws that set sick leave accrual minimums.
  • Paid vacation counts as taxable wages, but PTO hours do not automatically count as hours worked for federal overtime; record leave separately from actual work.
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Table of Contents

What federal and state law actually require

The Fact Sheet #79D explains that the Fair Labor Standards Act focuses on minimum wage, overtime, and what counts as hours worked. It says nothing about paid vacation, paid holidays, or paid sick leave for household employees. According to the Domestic Service FAQs, those benefits are left to the written employment agreement between you and your nanny, unless a state or local law says otherwise.

For live-in nannies, the FLSA distinguishes between time the nanny is "on duty" and time she is "completely relieved from duty." Sleep periods can sometimes be excluded from paid hours for live-in employees, but only under specific conditions spelled out in the same fact sheet. Time spent "engaged to wait," such as sitting with a sleeping child while on call, generally counts as working time.

Before finalizing anything, check your state and city rules. A growing number of jurisdictions have passed paid-sick-leave laws or domestic-worker bills of rights that apply directly to nannies, and these can override whatever you assumed was optional.

  • The FLSA sets wage and hour minimums but stays silent on PTO.
  • Live-in sleep-time exclusions follow strict, narrow conditions.
  • State and municipal sick-leave or domestic-worker laws can create obligations the federal rule does not.

What most families offer and how to prorate for part-time roles

Industry placement agencies and common nanny contracts tend to cluster around a predictable package for full-time roles: about ten vacation days, a few sick days, and several paid holidays. Senior nannies or those working in higher-cost metro areas often receive more vacation days, reflecting both tenure and local pay norms.

For part-time nannies, prorate by hours rather than days so the math holds up regardless of schedule. A nanny working 20 hours a week, for example, would reasonably receive half the PTO hours of a 40-hour full-time nanny, even if the number of "days" looks different on paper.

  • Full-time baseline offers roughly ten vacation days, a few sick days, and several holidays.
  • Part-time packages scale proportionally by weekly hours, not calendar days.
  • Guaranteed hours during family-chosen closures (holiday weeks, vacations without the nanny) are common and protect the nanny's income even when she isn't working.

How to structure your PTO policy

Three structural choices cover most families: a combined PTO bank, separate buckets for vacation and sick time, or an accrual system tied to each pay period.

  1. A combined bank gives the nanny one pool of days to use however she likes, which simplifies tracking but can blur sick-leave compliance if your state requires sick time to be labeled separately.
  2. Separate buckets for vacation, sick leave, and holidays keep you compliant with state sick-leave statutes that specify minimum accrual rates, though they require more careful bookkeeping.
  3. Accrual math works cleanly on a biweekly cycle: if you offer vacation days annually, that accrues to a fraction of a day per pay period, so a nanny employed for six months earns a proportional amount.

Guaranteed hours deserve their own line in the policy. If your family takes a trip and doesn't need the nanny that week, guaranteed-hours language ensures she still receives her normal pay, distinct from vacation days she requests herself.

Key policy decisions and contract clauses to write down

A handful of decisions turn a vague verbal understanding into a policy that holds up under pressure. Settle these before you sign anything:

  • The leave year start date (calendar year or hire-date anniversary).
  • How vacation and sick time accrue, and whether they front-load or build gradually.
  • Notice windows for requesting time off, often one to two weeks for planned vacation.
  • Whether unused days carry over, and any annual cap on carryover.
  • Payout rules if employment ends before all accrued time is used.
  • Which days count as paid holidays and whether holiday work earns premium pay.

Some states treat accrued vacation as earned wages that must be paid out at termination, so a "use it or lose it" clause may not hold up depending on where you live. The sample nanny agreement from the Department of Labor cautions against forfeiture language for exactly this reason.

Pro Tip: Write each clause in plain, specific language, naming exact numbers of days and exact notice periods instead of vague terms like "reasonable time off."

Sample PTO language for your nanny agreement

Borrowing structure from a sample nanny agreement makes drafting faster. A vacation clause might read: "Nanny accrues 10 paid vacation days annually, front-loaded at the start of each employment year, with vacation weeks selected by mutual agreement and requested at least two weeks in advance." A sick-leave clause might read: "Nanny accrues paid sick leave consistent with state law, with any unused days handled according to [state] requirements."

Use this six-item checklist as an addendum to your existing agreement:

  1. Number of vacation days and accrual method.
  2. Number of sick days and accrual method.
  3. List of paid holidays and premium pay rules, if any.
  4. Guaranteed weekly hours during family-initiated closures.
  5. Carryover cap and payout terms at termination.
  6. Notice period required for requesting time off.

Align carryover and payout language to your state's specific rules before finalizing, since this is where generic templates most often fall short.

How PTO pay affects overtime, taxes, and recordkeeping

Vacation pay counts as wages for Social Security and Medicare purposes, and IRS Publication 926 walks through how household employers report these payments alongside regular wages. Treat a paid sick day or vacation day the same way you treat a worked day on your payroll records.

Overtime works differently. Hours paid as PTO are not automatically "hours worked" for FLSA overtime calculations unless you choose to count them that way in your own policy. A nanny who takes a paid sick day during a 45-hour week has still only worked the hours she was present, not 45.

  • Log actual hours worked separately from paid leave hours.
  • Track any excluded sleep time for live-in nannies according to Fact Sheet #79D.
  • Keep records consistent week to week, since the employer carries the ultimate recordkeeping responsibility even when a nanny logs her own hours.

A nanny timesheet template can make this distinction easier to maintain without building a spreadsheet from scratch.

Tracking PTO without the guesswork

Tracking PTO in hours rather than days keeps prorating and overtime math accurate, especially for part-time or variable-schedule nannies. A shared scheduling tool that lets your nanny submit a time-off request and lets you approve it in the same place creates a clean audit trail if a dispute ever comes up, as described in the caregiver scheduling guide. For more on building that workflow, our caregiver scheduling guide walks through the approval process step by step, and our guide on tracking nanny PTO covers accrual and carryover in more detail.

PTO request approval and recordkeeping workflow

Balancing fairness and practicality in your policy

A written policy, even an imperfect one, cuts down on misunderstandings and the kind of resentment that drives good nannies to quit. Start with a simple package: split vacation weeks, 3 to 5 sick days, six holidays. Revisit it after 6 to 12 months once you know how your family's schedule actually runs.

— mercedes

How theCareTracker helps you put this policy into practice

Writing a fair policy is only half the job. Keeping it running day to day is where most families lose track of details, and our app closes that gap by keeping everything in one place.

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  • Nannies submit schedule and time-off requests, and you approve them with one tap.
  • Weekly hours are tracked automatically, so PTO accrual and overtime math stay accurate.
  • A shared job calendar keeps everyone looking at the same schedule, no texting back and forth.

If you'd rather have someone set up your payroll and PTO tracking correctly from the start, our payroll consultation service walks through compliant setup, and our Standard Payroll Consultation package is built for families who want it handled in a single session.

FAQ

How much PTO is normal for a nanny?

A common full-time package includes about 10 vacation days, 3 to 5 sick days, and 5 to 6 paid holidays, scaled down proportionally for part-time schedules. Senior nannies or those in higher-cost areas sometimes receive up to 15 vacation days.

Do I have to give my nanny PTO?

No federal law requires it. The Domestic Service FAQs confirm that paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave are set by your written agreement, though some states and cities mandate paid sick leave regardless of what the contract says.

Do nannies get paid when the family is on vacation?

That depends on whether your contract includes guaranteed-hours language. Many families write in guaranteed weekly pay for weeks they travel without the nanny, separate from the nanny's own vacation days, which keeps her income steady and reduces turnover.

Why do nannies keep quitting?

Frequent turnover often traces back to unclear expectations around pay, hours, and time off rather than the work itself. A written policy covering vacation, sick leave, and guaranteed hours removes a lot of the ambiguity that leads to frustration on both sides.

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