Nanny's "chosen" holiday - would you pay out?

McPheast, I know lots of people in non-nannying jobs who have their holidays dictated by their employers - it's not uncommon in accountancy firms during audit busy season, for example. But that's done in accordance with the employment contract. If someone has the contractual right to choose when they spend half their holiday entitlement then that should be honoured.

You choose yours, she chooses hers.

End of.

Why do nannies get such a shit deal when it comes to holidays? We are no different, and have the same rights, entitlements to everyone else. I hear the above, time and time again. Can anyone imagine if their employer turned round and said, "you have to have your holiday when we say you can"? . It's not accepted anywhere else, so why should we?

Sorry, YABVU

I have never had a nanny but sleepwhenidie sounds fair to me in her last paragraph.

So we hold back on allocating some of our holiday entitlement from our employers so that we can cover her holiday. If we take more than our 12 days, we still have to cover her 12 days.

OP, we work the 50/50 split of holiday allocation like this. Our nanny has 24 days leave in her contract. We pick when 12 of those days are, and she picks when 12 of those are. There's no expectation of overlap, we get 24 days holiday and she gets 24 days holiday but each side of the equation picks when half of them are. In practice she takes 2 weeks in September (when the kids are back at school so we can't go away) and the period between Christmas and New Year. Contractually we are supposed to give each other at least 2 weeks' notice, but we don't hold each other to it.

We are very flexible, as is she, but she doesn't get 8 weeks holiday!

I think it comes down to the person you employ and how nice they are prepared to be about it.

I have to say I would be with our nanny if she made a point about taking "her" two weeks on top of 7-8 weeks holiday she has already had, albeit that it is of course your choice to be away at those times. Unless there was a very good reason for her to choose a different holiday time I would hope she would be reasonable (and fair) about it. Luckily our nanny is - she gets similar time to yours off because we choose to be away and she occasionally takes her own time, but only if circumstances demand, eg the people she is going away with cant do another time or significant birthdays/anniversarys/death of close friend's dad.

I guess you could change the contract for next time, stipulating six weeks (or whatever) paid holiday, but all at your choice, any other leave subject to your approval and unpaid?

As others have said your nanny gets to chose her two weeks and if you have given her more/gone away more then your 2 days then that is up to you and doesn't mean she doesn't get her choice.

Fwiw in my last job I got every half term off - 2 weeks at Xmas and Easter - as well as their 2 weeks holiday choice and mine - so in the contract it's said 4 weeks but also said any extra holiday taken by employer was to be paid - so for 5years I usually had 11/12 weeks paid holiday - but that was my employers choice and they likes to spend any extra time they could with their children :)

Yes obv a nanny will try and work holidays around employers but personally I don't like going away in July/ aug as prices are so high and I like to go may/June and sept/oct

You do come across slightly peeved that your nanny is asking for her time off - but it's what she is entitled to :)

Can you imagine if you work said to you / theres no work next month - have 2 weeks off but we are not paying you - its the same thing - you chose to go away extra / just like my ex employers did

Hope you sort things out :)

The contract in my view should not be specifically saying that they get x number of days holiday of their choice. All holiday in my view is subject to being approved by the employer.

Do you really want to end things with the threat of legal action hanging around? Come to an agreement between you, regardless of what the legal position may be. Sure you may be legally in the right but is 4 days worth fighting over?

Would nanny compromise on 2 days? They have some responsibility to track holiday I feel, as you do as the employer. You are both at fault for having this 2 week choice thing and not making sure it was actually working in reality.

Would xmas have fallen in this holiday year? Are they leaving before that? If so, would you not have given them time off over xmas?

Agree with the others. Her days are her choice, not yours.

So the nanny has a day holiday owed, is that right? If so then yes you should pay it. As chipping says if you've taken extra holiday then that's your problem.

'Also, she has always taken her two weeks as "extra", in the sense that there is never any overlap, she waits till we have chosen our days, then wants hers at other times'

This is making me . That's what she is supposed to do! She has the choice of two weeks, so she chooses two weeks. The time that you choose is... your choice. You think you should choose holiday dates and then she should take the same two weeks and count that has her choice?! Are you slightly mad?

If you choose two weeks and the she chooses the same two weeks, she'll only have had two weeks holiday instead of 4 weeks or whatever is in the contract. What would you do with the other two weeks? You'd pick that would you? So she'd actually have no choice?!

It is perfectly reasonable to ask the new nanny for notice of holidays, but I think the beginning of the year might be a bit much. My contract has one months notice of holiday dates (that goes both ways, not just me giving them notice). I actually almost always give more notice, but they have been flexible a couple of times when I've given slightly less. I am also flexible with them.

Though I do like your posting name, so maybe you are actually quite nice but are posting when you are in a shitty mood and it's coming over as very 'them & us'. Have a

YABU The days she gets to choose are her annual leave days (two days more than standard isn't that big a deal, lots of nannies get a lot more and it's not relevant to this discussion). If you have taken 4 days in addition to your two weeks (or whatever your 'share' of the annual leave is) then that's your problem. If you have a days leave owed to you when you left a job, would you be happy to say 'don't worry about it'?

She hasn't taken her two weeks as 'extra' she has simply taken her two weeks! So what if she waits until you have chosen your dates? She's not going to lose out on two weeks holiday to overlap with you is she?

You can't expect a new nanny to book her holiday a year in advance - and why should she? Some parents ask for 4 weeks notice, most just accept there are two weeks in the year that they will need to make other arrangements for their children and get on with it - accepting that nannies also have their own lives.

You sound like hard work.