Is this typical of a babysitting contract?
My wife and I have had a pretty good relationship with our sitter for the past year, despite the fact that she's a bit anal about minor things. We've happily paid her for short notice cancellations even though we weren't required to. Up until now we haven't had a written contract and certainly never objected to one. However, she gave us a contract on Friday and wants us to sign it by Tuesday. Monday is President's Day. One clause in it, I don't agree with and I am wondering if this is typical of a babysitting contract. It reads as follows: "A full weekly rate will be charged for school holidays/in-service days, Christmas break, and Spring break." She told us that she was unavailable for Christmas break (I work at a school and it's 2 weeks) and yet she still wants to be paid for it. She also won't be available for Spring Break and yet it seems like she wants paid for it. Is this legal? Or ethical? Has anyone else faced this before? If so, what did you do about it?
Well, I certainly never intended on signing it, but I was curious if this was typical. Another clause in the contract reads: "Full time and part time fees are based on booked days, not attendance, therefore parents are responsible for fees whether child attends or not. (This includes sick days, legal holidays, Christmas break and Spring break). Summer break and child care providers days off is an exception).
I feel like she is attempting to extort money from us because child care in this town is very hard to find. Most of this contract I can agree with but to pay for services not rendered is wrong. I do intend on talking to her about it.