POLICIES ​

• overnight bookings generally call for about 14 days notice 

• maximum booking length: 3 nights (possibility to extend for older children/teens)

• overnights can only be booked with a sitter who has previously met and cared for your child; for this reason we cannot guarantee replacement/substitute in the unlikely event your sitter becomes unavailable

• all children must have an age-appropriate bed (crib, mobile crib, toddler bed, etc.)

• children cannot sleep in a bed with/share a bed with your babysitter at any time for any reason

• sitter must be provided with an appropriate adult bed such as a guest bed, foldout sofa bed, or your bed with clean linens​

• you must inform us in advance if any other person will be at your home i.e. a roommate, a grandparent etc. 

• you must have a contingency plan for a person to relieve the sitter at the scheduled end time of the sit 

  • Example: a child becomes sick and cannot go to school as planned, or the parent cannot get home on time (flight delay etc.). 

• you must have an emergency contact/contingency plan for a person to take over in the event the sitter has a medical emergency, etc.; our agency cannot be your emergency contingency plan

• Please contact us before making a booking if your child has sleep disruptions (sleepwalking, night terrors, etc.) 

 

POLICIES for LABOR & DELIVERY OVERNIGHTS (care of older children while parent(s) is in the hospital) 

• all of the policies above apply, and:

  • sitter is placed on paid "on call" status during the hours that you want to reserve their availability. ​

    • Example: you have a neighbor who can help if you go into labor overnight or on the weekend. You want a babysitter to be available during the hours of 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, M-F. You will pay an on call rate for the babysitter to be available during that 9 hour weekday window.​

  • "on call" is paid at 60 to 75% of the sitter's standard hourly rate, to compensate for declining other paid work to remain available 

  • on call bookings for L&D require a deposit and use a short L&D babysitter contract

  • L&D agency booking charge is $50.00/day (separate from babysitter's hourly wage)

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NOTE: because Colorado has an overtime law requiring overtime for any shift > 12 hours for non-exempt (protected) workers, L&D bookings may accrue overtime. 

 

PRICING

• Agency booking charge $35.00/night (this covers the day your sitter arrives + the next morning after the overnight)​; this is not refundable or applied as credit if you must cancel because of the work and time involved to reserve an overnight provider

• 7 days notice cancellation policy: 50% of sit's total anticipated value is due to the provider for cancellation with less than 7 days notice (this policy will change on 5/5/2023, see new policy below) 

• overnight rate: $15.00/hour ages 1 year and up, covers 1 to 4 children for up to 8 hours (federal wage laws limit overnight rate to 8 hours)

  • does not apply to night nanny care where the worker may be awake or waking periodically 

  • does not apply for any hours that children wake and require care (bottle feed, nightmare, waking up sick, etc.)

  • waking hours are invoiced at the standard hourly rate and wake time is charged in one hour increments 

 

Overnight stays may be subject to federal and state overtime law if your scheduled provider is more than your occasional babysitter: 

• With very few exceptions, domestic workers, including babysitters and nannies, are classified as “non-exempt” (protected) workers. There may be exceptions for casual babysitters, meaning "employment which is irregular or intermittent, and which is performed by an individual whose primary vocation is not babysitting." Read the Federal Code of Regulation § 552.5 here. The agency typically categorizes occasional overnight bookings as casual babysitting if the provider is not your nanny. However, we cannot professionally advise you regarding this. We recommend that you consult with your own legal counsel or tax service for wage and overtime questions. If you pay an overnight babysitter as a non-exempt (protected worker), then: 

  • Non-exempt workers are entitled to pay for every hour worked at a rate that may not be less than the federal, state and, if applicable, local minimum wage rate.

  • Overtime (time-and-a-half) is paid for each hour over 40 in a 7-day workweek. Under Colorado state wage law, non-exempt domestic workers must be paid overtime (time-and-a-half) for hours worked in excess of 12 hours in one workday, or 12 consecutive hours regardless of the day.per federal law, sitters and nannies are classified as domestic workers, must be paid hourly for all hours/minutes worked, and cannot be paid salary, a flat rate or a lump sum

  • per federal law, any time worked > 40 hours in a 7 day week must be paid a rate of 1.5x the standard hourly rate

  • per Colorado law, time worked > 12 in a single day, or worked consecutively regardless of day, must be paid a rate of 1.5x the standard hourly rate.​

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CANCELLATION: OVERNIGHTS effective 5/5/2023

Babysitters carefully arrange their schedule to reserve their time for a family for overnight or travel childcare. Effective 5/5/2023, once an overnight booking or travel booking is confirmed:

• client cancellation with 10 days notice or more: client pays 25% of the booking's total value to the babysitter 

• client cancellation less than 10 days notice: client pays 50% of the booking's total value to the babysitter

• client cancellation less than 72 hours notice: client pays 100% of the booking's total value to the babysitter

• 3 hour minimum for all cancellation payments 

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FAQs

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1. Do I need to pay a sitter while they are sleeping and my child is sleeping? Yes, and our standard rate is $15.00/hour for 8 sleeping hours (typically 10:00 pm to 6:00 am). If a child wakes in the night and needs care the standard waking hours rate will apply.

 

2. How do I calculate overtime? Start by tallying up the total consecutive hours in each shift (i.e. 5:00 pm nanny arrival to 11:00 am parent return home = 18 hours in the sitter's shift). In this case you pay overtime for hours 13 to 18. Federal law requires that overtime pay be calculated from the standard hourly daytime rate, not the reduced $15.00 overnight rate. 

 

3. My child might wake up at night ( bad dream etc.) and want to get in bed with the sitter. Is this ok?  We cannot permit a babysitter and a child to share a bed. Sitters should be compassionate and comfort your child of course, however, they must place your child back in their own bed. If your child needs to get in bed with a grownup in order to sleep, it's not time yet to book our overnight sitters. It will be soon! 

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4. My child has night terrors. Can we book an overnight sitter? We cannot book for overnights. We would love to help your family during the day.  

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5. My child sleepwalks. Can we book an overnight sitter? Possibly. In general we don't advise overnights for a child in a sleepwalking phase but contact us. We will ask about the safety items (door locks, baby gates etc.) in place to protect your child and what they typically do while sleepwalking. 

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