Dismissal

Are you in the UK? Did you employ her directly or through an agency? Honestly you probably need to get professional legal advice. Bear in mind her ex my not be 100% truthful either. Unlikely but he could be making things up or have sent texts to himself from her phone. Tread carefully

Do you know her ex? Him showing you the pictures sounds really very odd.

Are you in the UK and have you been paying her properly i.e. payslips, tax etc. If you haven't been doing that and no contract you can get rid of her, but she may well grass you up to HMRC for tax evasion.

As per the good work plans an employee must have their contract of employment on day 1. As there is no contract there is still a working relationship and I think the best thing to do would be to suspend on full pay pending investigation. As part of these investigations you should get a witness statement from her. After this if you're not satisfied you can suspend for misconduct.

Like gdpr around pictures of children is massive and shes opening herself up to all sorts of shit!

Wow, what was the motivation for her boyfriend giving you this info and why are you entertaining it? I'd be more alarmed that he found me to show them to me. Sounds like an entire hot mess of a situation

The fault is not hers!

Some young and inexperienced nannies do do these things. I personally would not but this is what can happen when you have inexperienced nannies looking after babies and children. You put your own children at risk.

My advice, air her down and tell her that her actions have been quite remiss and give her a warning. If you feel you need to get a more mature and experienced nanny then I'd say your instincts will lead you to the right one.

So many nannies share video and photos of babies and children, daily, you just happened to find out about it. Thank your lucky stars.

Why on earth don’t you have a contract?

Her boyfriend sounds unhelpful. Have you never moaned about your employer to a bf or friend?

I think is a missing point here and is communication
You have to talk to her and ask her not to do it anymore I presume you were happy with your nanny before the shitty ex came to you?
And you are also in the wrong for not producing a contrat is the law since April 2020 you have 1 month to give her a contrat and since when nanny employees have no right if they worked less than 2 year

The law for nannies contract have change in April 2020 you have 2 month maximum to give your nannies a written contrat

Why don’t you have a contract - legally need one after think 8w employment

Are you legally employing her

So she sent rude texts and pictures of your child to her fb.

Bf is now an ex and just thought he would stir the pot by showing you these texts pics

Christ, I’ve got tons of pics of the kids I’ve nannied for on my phone! We do a lot of stuff together. The best ones I forward to the parents but I’ve still got loads of random ones on there.

Probably a fair few texts to my other half sent on the (frequent) occasions my boss is being really unreasonable too.

Yes it would be within the law to dismiss her immediately.
If youre worried about what she or her boyfriend have done with the photos you could also contact the police.

I also think that if you're employing someone you deem to be in a nanny role, whether full or part time, it seems madness not to have a contract in place. It's such a vital job role and one in which clarity of boundaries, expectations etc is so important.

It’s a big mistake not having a contract.

You should also have policies covering this kind of thing in a similar way that dance teachers & girl guides do. Expectations of privacy & social media etc.

If she worked for you for less than two years you can fire her for (almost) anything.

More than two years and it’s more complicated. Depending on the content of the photos unless you expressly forbade her to take share images of your child it’s not necessarily gross misconduct. You’d need to follow a disciplinary process and possibly give a verbal or written warning rather than sack her.

I can only speak for myself but I certainly wasn't making silly comments or taking the mickey, I felt it was vital to know how you came across the information because you could have been opening yourself up to some legal challenges were you to dismiss her without a contract if she's presumed due to hours and frequency of work to be an employee and you had been deemed to have invaded her privacy by looking through her phone. Now we know that isn't the case, no need to be so snippy about people saying further info would help you get advice when you've posted on a forum asking for advice...

As I say, if you haven't got a contract but she's done a certain amount of hours for a sustained period of time (I believe two years) I believe there are presumed statutory responsibilities as an employer. IANAL - I would be seeking some legal advice (maybe call ACAS) on this so you don't cause yourself additional stress.

Sorry you feel let down by her, it's never a nice feeling especially when someone has been around your family and your own home.

Her ex sounds like a right shit stirrer though, if he didn't say anything at the time (like can you not send me pictures of the kids you nanny) and is saying it to you, only now, after they've split. Dick move.

If you don’t have a contract and a clause on social media you need to dismiss her for a breach of trust and confidence which is some other substantive reason. But you. First need to investigate, you must check your facts otherwise it could be unfair dismissal (even if you ‘know’). Then meet with her, explain your reason and allow her a right to respond before deciding if you will move to dismiss. You have to give her fair justice which j life’s knowing what you have against her and allowing her to defend herself. Then you confirm your decision in writing.

Has she worked for you less than two years? If so employees have no rights anyway so you'd be fine, though worth a conversation with ACAS

Are you in the UK?

You need to follow employment law.

If she has worked for you for 2 years or more then you need to suspend her and follow a fair process of investigation and disciplinary. Otherwise you run the risk of being taken to a tribunal which could be very, very costly if you lose.

If she has less than 2 years service then you should be ok to dismiss as she doesnt have many rights. But make sure you pay her notice pay in full or she could take you to the small claims court for breach of contract.

ACAS also offers free advice to employers as well as employees. You can ring them in the morning for advice.

Oh how stupid is she? Why on earth would she send photos to her boyfriend? She could show him a photo on her own phone while she was with him if she wanted to show him. I'm glad he's told you about this.

I think it really depends upon the content of the video. If they’re dining happy birthday, showing their art work, something they baked, singing in a school play and your nanny helped your daughter learn her lines and is proud of her so sharing the great moment - I don’t see anything wrong with this.

Might be a good idea to get a contract and address this in the contract
However, if it’s risqué / inappropriate, then you should speak with the nanny and terminate

How do you know that? Did you discuss photos before she started? We had inductions at my work surrounding privacy and online conduct

Erm well how did you find out this info, have you been through her phone 😳