Do you charge parents late fees if they call and tell you they are running late?

I struggle with this one.

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I've never done it but have wanted to add it. Not sure if I would. The issue I have is if I open early for someone (current client comes somedays at 6:30) I want them to be here when they say they are coming. Occasionally they have come late (like 8:30!!) & not let me know & here I got up early at 5:45 or so just for them so yes I wanted to charge them a fee!

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Personally I don't charge fees whether they call or not. The way that I see it is they pay weekly for their slot, if they show up late they're "wasting" their money. I'll be here whether their kid arrives late or on-time. They just know that their child will miss out on whatever activity or meals we have if they are not here and there are no "make-ups" and if we go out for a walk or whatnot I may not be here if they don't call ahead of time. They also know that they can't arrive during nap-time and that late arrivals don't mean their kid can stay later to make up for the time they lost.

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no - I am referring to when they are late to come and pick up their children.

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That depends...when you say they're running late, do you mean they're late arriving or late picking up? If they're late arriving, I'd let it go unless you open early especially for them, in which case I would charge.

If they're late picking up, regardless of whether or not they call, I'd charge. Anytime beyond their scheduled pickup is overtime. Sometimes if a parent calls and says "I'll be late" and you tell them "that's fine, but you're being charged anyway", they are magically able to show up on time after all.

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I give my parents a bill every month, and I note on the bottom that I have given them a one time waiver. A call or not, I am still working, but I do give them one freebie (as long as it's not too late!).

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No not when they call and as long as its not every day. Once in awhile...a great while. I have one mom that is pushing it. I think because her pick up time is earlier than others and when she pick ups her kid she see others still here so she knows Im open and have kids here. What I told her last night was
*** I see you are having a hard time getting here by 4:30, I do have a new option of a later pick up time of 5 for an extra $10 a week. Would you like to change your pick up time? She said she will think about it. If she doesn't take me up on it the next time she is late the late fee will be enforced. I will help when I can but I will NOT be taken advantage of!

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I give my parents the first 15 minutes free (they just don't know it, LOL) I don't want them to take advantage of it. After that, I charge $5 every 15 minutes.

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by the time he gets here it will be 2 hours late
big storm
power lines down
re-routed him all over my town and he got lost (he lives in another town)

I WANT to charge him but it is clearly NOT his fault
12 hour work days are NOT fun

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I would charge for being late except in inclement weather, like you described. That he can't necessarily control and it's not like huge storms that knock down power lines are a frequent occurrence.

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That would be hard to decide. If it's just a one time thing, and one time only, I'd probably let it go. Or you could divide your weekly rate by how many hours the child is in care per week, then add the new hourly rate to his weekly bill. Example: Say your weekly rate is $100. You'd divide that by say 40 hrs/week), that would be $2.50/hr extra. I think that would be fair to him, and I doubt he'd complain over a $5 charge, after all, you were nice enough to keep his child for 2 hours past closing time and didn't even charge the late fee. Of course it'd be best to explain that normally his late pick-up fee is $x, but due to the circumstances, you understood and chose to just charge the hourly rate instead. That way he'll know that even if he decided to be a little late so he can run past the grocery store first or something, you'd charge him a late fee, which is much higher than the hourly rate for an "excused" late pick-up. If all that makes any sense?

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Regardless of the reason the parent is working late or whatever they still owe you something. You can't tell me this parent wasn;t earning extra $$$ for working overtime, he certainly wasn't working for free & neither should you. I think you should definitely get paid something.

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I give 3 freebies (up to 15 min) per year. So if they are 45 min late one day, they used all their freebies. I feel like I don't want to punish my great parents when something actually happens, but I don't want people thinking they can just stroll in late any time. After the 3 freebies, they pay for every 15 min. or part there of. Three times a year something happens. Every other day you are just coming late and taking advantage.

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If this "storm" happens often, I would put it in your contract that you have late fees and at your own discretion per situation you may choose to waive them. I'm sure their is a better way to state it, but if you have to work an additional 2 hours often for this family or additional time more than a few times a year I would tack on a fee. If the parent works more than their regular hours and requests a few extra hours a week with you, you most certainly should be able to charge double time per hour for that extra time too.

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I take this back if this is the dad who is using a provider in his city instead of you when moms out of town. Charge him. When he pays next time say your lAte fees are $$$ from wed night.

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the more I thought about the more I can't. MOM pays me. Not dad. He couldn't care less about my late fees because it hits HER not him. She pays me and she gets state subsidy for most of it. He has NO incentive for being on time. He normally IS here by 5pm. I don't usually have a problem with him. But I am only open til 4:30. I make an exception for this little girl. So 7pm really was not fun!!!

I have to figure out late fees going forward. Perhaps this is something she'll have to add to her court discussion hearing she has next week. <sigh>

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as long as a parent calls and we have no plans i dont charge. dependong on how late and we DO have plans, we just take the kid w/us . then they have to p.u when we get back along with $10 to cover the dinner we bought.

other than that i dont...

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Oh, in this case and if they call then I do give a 15 minute grace period (which is not in the contract) because sometimes there are things that no one plans for like traffic. I don't announce it because I don't want clients to take advantage, which you know they will if they know that there's a buffer. Also I only give a grace period to clients that don't do it routinely, meaning that they aren't late to pick up all of the time. If they pick up late on a regular basis then I will charge.

If they call before coming late and they are not over their 10 hours a day maximum and I have other kids in care and it doesn't inconvenience our activities or plans then I might not charge them if they don't do it on a regular basis. Also if they pick up 15 minutes late then I may not charge but if they arrive more than 15 minutes late then I'll charge for this time including the first 15 minutes that they were late. Does this make sense? If they don't call and they are late then I charge for sure.

Also I close at 6pm. If a parent is late and it's 6pm or later then there is no grace period. They are late, period. Call or no call.

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but becareful with late fees because.....
my back up care is a provider also, so in her contract she states that if you are late you have to pay ***x amount of money, well she had a mom give her extra money one day so when christina asked her what that was for, the mom said that its for late fees because she was going to be late picking her dd up from shopping, it was going to be almost 3 hours late, well christina couldn't believe it because she closes at 530pm but because she didn't put a clause in the contract about the late fees being only good for one hour this lady thought it was for an additional 3 hours after she closed. I hope this made sense, she didn't watch her.

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I don't charge for late drop-offs (although we may not be at the house when they do end up dropping off) or pick-ups, as long as it's not after 6pm (my closing time). And at 6:01, the $1/minute rule kicks in. I'm open at 6am, so I've already put in a 12 hour day. So I make it very clear to parents in the interview, that while they can leave their child with me up to 12 hours a day, they can't do it any longer than that. I have charged parents when they were held up because of bad weather. Honestly, they can check the forecast, traffic, etc. before leaving work, and my parents do have the ability to leave work early, especially if a winter storm is coming. Haven't had any serious complaints yet . Of course, I did make one exception to the closing time rule, for a young mom whose military husband was on the other side of the world for a bit -- she had no family around, and it was only for an extra hour once a week. BUT, I made sure to keep that a secret from my other families

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I charge late fees. The first 5 min is free but after that its $5 per half hr. I'm sure his boss is not going to be paying him if he got to work late in the am because of bad weather. If you let it go, any storm you get he will expect to get a freebie. Start it with the first time they are late and stick to it.

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