r/housekeeping • u/PsychologicalCover65 • 10h ago

GENERAL QUESTIONS Hi cleaners- w2 work question

My boss pays me decent, but doesn’t reimburse gas or cover my drive time for cleaning. I sometimes have an additional 2-4 hours unaccounted for only working 2-3 days a week just driving. I told her depending on if gas will be reimbursed or my time driving covered, it will determine if I can give you more days. Well, she said we pay our employees really well compared to other cleaning companies with 3 month raises so we stopped reimbursing gas and just started to pay more. Ok? But that wasn’t told during the hiring process, it wasn’t specified I’d be expected to cover all my gas and waste my time to get these cleans done for YOUR business.

Any advice about saying something again? Because in the state of Delaware it’s law that any time working is paid. Period. And drive time is considered working hours. Once you work 25 hours weekly they cover 3 month oil changes and that’s about all the perks.

Edit: upon hiring I was told I’d have houses toward my area, but it hasn’t been the case. I’ve driven 45 minutes to and from for a deep clean unaccounted for. And sometimes jobs are spaced 30 mins away so in between 2 jobs I’m driving a half hour- added up throughout the week I’ll have 2-4 unaccounted for hours for her business I didn’t get paid for.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/Heavy-Attorney-9054 10h ago

I can't speak to the wages question, but it sounds like it's time for you to start figuring out client acquisition and management. You may not be ready to go out on your own right now, but look at the difference between what they charge and what they pay you and figure out the tax situation if you were billing independently. Learn how you could fill your schedule with your own clients.

2

u/PsychologicalCover65 9h ago

Ok wanna add too the new policy she created out of thin air - if your client complains and we find your job was not done correctly you’re only getting paid minimum wage for that job at like $14/hour

2

u/Heavy-Attorney-9054 9h ago

Pretty sure all of this is illegal, and you are certainly free to complain to the department of labor in your state.

The larger question is that if you could see house cleaning as a career, you want to be on her side of the deal and run your own company. The problems you face on that side of the line are client acquisition and employee retention.

Consider laying out a one year plan for acquiring the knowledge.It would take to run your own business. Where I live, the local community college and small business center offer training that could give you this information.

She's not right about what she's doing, and you can win the battle by complaining to the department of labor. You win the war by solving the bigger problem, which is that you'll never get rich or have stability by being an employee.

1

u/PsychologicalCover65 9h ago

I am working 3 jobs right now, 2 that are cleaning. I had to get this additional cleaning job because the business my friend and I are attempting to grow isn’t growing fast enough. So- own clients in the works but if by chance the business doesn’t succeed, I’d like to stay at this cleaning job because they do pay well with decent raises, but the issue of drive time will keep me from staying unfortunately. I’d rather struggle at my 1st job I hate than to be screwed over so her business can succeed.

1

u/thatgreenmaid HOUSES/RESIDENTIAL 2h ago

Keep trying to grow your own situation. I promise if you spend ONE hour a day doing things to promote you, it will pay off.

2

u/thatgreenmaid HOUSES/RESIDENTIAL 2h ago

So...Imma be kind when I say FUCK THAT. Please start taking the steps to work for yourself instead of for someone that is actively looking to sabotage your money and your mental health. You can work the same 2-3 days a week and be keeping the whole bag instead of working for crumbs.

1

u/PsychologicalCover65 58m ago

Thank you. Needed this validation lol just trying to figure out how to approach this

1

u/thatgreenmaid HOUSES/RESIDENTIAL 13m ago

You're not going to stay there long enough to make any of it worth your time.