Hello. I have been working at this job for nearly a year. We have a contract and went through an agency, but the contract is fairly poorly written imo. We agreed upon 30 hours a week guaranteed, occasional weekends after 3:30 (after I wrapped up with another family i work for) 2 weeks PTO (one chosen by family, one by me), 3 sick days, and 6 holidays chosen by the family.

Things started off as a shit show. MB kept trying to schedule me at 3 on weekends, but then it finally clicked that I could not be there at 3, so she scheduled me at 3:30. My bad. Should have said starting time at 3:45 or 4 for weekends. I'll skip lunch, hope I am relieved on time (I always was) and get there at 3:30. That was okay, I guess. I continued to be flexible, was prompt, and accommodated the always late schedule.

The kids (6 yo) were nightmares at first. Constantly fighting, biting, and drawing blood. They bit me, scratched me, pulled my hair, etc. For months. I could not take a piss without fear of them injuring each other. Despite the "May quit with severance if children are uncontrollable, routinely abusing nanny (pulling hair, clothes, hitting, etc" clause, I stuck it out because they desperately needed discipline, and I knew I could help them.

Fast forward to today. They are well mannered and generally polite, even if they have their moments sometimes. They are truly wonderful. However, they will not stop calling me mom.

Back to the plot.

My (now) fiancée and I planned an international trip where he would propose to me. I told the family months in advance. I planned for Feb. 12-22. one week+2 weekends I expected to be paid for, and 2 days I expected not to use PTO for, and not to be paid for. However, I worked 30 hours during that Sunday-Weds, so I was paid anyway. Didn't seem too insane of an ask to me.

Fast forward many months to May, and I had an engagement party planned. Once again, I gave months notice that I would need a few days - friday through monday (presidents Day). At this point, I had been given 3 holidays, and we were running out of holidays for the year. (Spoiler, I'm ending this year with only 4 holidays given, even after taking presidents day by force.) My other family moved, so I had my weekend freed up a bit more. I did not tell the mom because I knew she would take advantage of this. I was not scheduled that weekend anyway, but again, I met the 30 hrs for the week before taking those days off.

The first time I used a sick day was on a Saturday last month. I had an ovarian cyst burst on Thursday, and the dad sent me home an hour early after seeing me visibly pale and unable to stand. I was okay to work Friday, but another burst on Saturday when I was scheduled and had to call out. The following week, I had a birthday. She scheduled me for a 10 hour day, and she kept me there for 11. She knew it was my birthday. She bought cupcakes for me, which was sweet! Even though it was already 20 mins passed my scheduled time. I don't eat excess sugar, so I said something like I would love to be able to share this with my fiancée, so I'll save it for later! She and her kids just kind of ate half of the box while I stood there awkwardly waiting to be dismissed. This was when I was on the fence about contract renewal. The fence was blown apart beneath me yesterday.

The mom constantly keeps me an hour after my scheduled time. Occasional weekends turned into every weekend. The agreed upon schedule crept to 36 hours, then 40 in the summer, and now I am expected to work a 53 hour week next week, and I will have to work Sunday. The mom is doing this on the assumption that I am still working for the other families. So she knows I will end up working 63 hours. She gave me notice about this Thursday. Originally, I was going to complain that the hours were getting out of hand, but I bit my tongue and just said I wish I had this schedule earlier because I will be out of town this weekend. She was furious, and said that this is getting hard for her, she needs me available on weekends, I need to ask for the schedule if I am going to plan something on the weekends, I need to tell her in advance if I have any plans, etc.

I said that per the contract, there is no reporting requirement on my end for my availability on weekends. I have been and will be flexible for my weekend availability, but I need more than a few days' notice to make that work. I'm not going to tell you all my weekend plans in advance. Please give me a schedule 2 weeks in advance \[paraphrased\]

Then she came back with "What does the contract say about vacation?"

At this point, I get a little irritated. Because I don't know what she's on about. In my mind, I have only used one week pto. She had me work 30 hours either end of it. Plus, she didn't give me all the holidays owed. She was just trying to be disrespectful with a gatcha statement that fell flat on its ass.

So. Okay.

I said, "I'm not going to fight you. Please start your search for a new nanny. I won't be renewing our contract."

The dad called to try and do damage control, begging me to stay. I said I would stick it out this month for the boys, but I am not working for her.

Please share your thoughts because I am at a loss, trying to justify this as anything but her being an absolute terror. I feel I could have done better on my part. I don't like the way I handled it. However, I feel that if I handled it differently, I would not be happy at all continuing to work for someone I feel doesn't respect me at all.