just had a v bad conversation with my nanny

i am a nanny and i travel from luton to london in the snow and stayed over . i have friends who are nannies one day a week and if they don t go in they don t get paid same as sick only poaid for planned hoilday either side

Oh no, i didnt mean at all that you are furious with people posting another opinion. If it came like this is probably because of my english. Sorry.

CORRECTION:
"...it made me a whole lot less generous than I am to the one ..."

I guess I am leaning towards defending the OP here because I think her nanny is taking the mick. 3 weeks she can't show up because of the snow? Or maybe it's because I was raised in Chicago where no one would let a silly thing like a few snowflakes slow them down.

In all of this snow, I have not missed a day of work. Nanny has not missed a day of work (although she is live in and there is no snow inside our house). DH has not missed a day of work. And the kids have not missed a day of school.

One day off... yeah okay. They coped. Second day... they still coped. And then on the tird day when they are all out of compensation from their jobs and on the phone nanny says "fine I'll take holiday" or something to that effect. Now, I would be officially annoyed at that point.

Actually, forget whether or not the day is paid, I would NEED the nanny to be at work just like my boss needs me to be at work.

I do know what it's like to bend over backwards for an ungrateful nanny and it pissed me off. And it made me a whole lot generous than I am to the one I have now because the one I have would never let me down (and I luv her for it!).

BecauseImWorthIt, no you are not the only one. I felt the same but didnt bother to post,i 'm sure others did aswell. The thing with these threads is that if someone is furious whatever you say it wont make difference. Those who are happy with their nannies dont post much anyway so what we read here doesnt represent RL.

The way i see it when you employ a nanny you accept that some days you will need back up and yes maybe pay twice-for the nanny and the back up. Or you will have to work in the evening or weekend. I don't like it either but i accept it. It is only couple of days a year and assuming you are earning more than your nanny it wont be the end of the world.

It is not just nannies. Teachers, the postman, the tesco man...It is not their fault. If the tesco man cant deliver then you ll have to eat the tins of the cupboard like everybody else.

Wanted to chip in as have had a nanny my self and my employer has just issued a snow day policy!

In my view, if she were unable to get in to work and you have managed to work round it and not incur any additional expense, I would have paid her as normal. However as you then needed to make alternative arrangements for the 3rd missed day I would only stop her pay if you have had to pay someone else but I think you should have told her first. I think the difficulty is in that due to the stressful time etc you didn;t discuss it when she called for the 3rd time. lets face it no one expected teh snow to be this bad did they?

Try and sit down with her and explain that you cannot afford to pay her and another carer and ask her if she can make the day up (if this would help you) maybe you could work extra hours on a different day to bump up your wages. Good luck.

notanidea-glad dh managed to pick up your nanny and you could work

Well this is clearly why I'm not running ICI. I'd be a crap boss as I wouldn't expect snow days to be taken as holiday! It never occurred to me that employers would take precious days out of someone's annual leave because they couldn't get to work due to adverse weather.

I live over 6 miles away from work, I've been taking an hours+ bus journey as opposed to a 16min train journey and I've only once been 5 mins late.
It wouldn't occur to me to try and take the day off tbh, I love my job and would do whatever it takes to get in because I know my bosses have to work. Simples.

agree with offering to pick her up - I'd love a lift to work LOL

don't think she should be able to just decide it is a holiday, I'm pretty sure I have to give at least a months notice for any holidays I have to take??

Havent read the whole thread.But we paid our nanny for three days she did not come and had a discussion regarding the leave she has taken so far. and hiw it is affecting her.Today, it was really really bad and DH went to pick her up and dropped her as we had both important work.I think the job she does involves lot of good will and flexibility on both sides and she has your children when you are not there. If either of you are unhappy this wont work- it is not like any other job i.e., office work etc., But I think most of the problem in any situation arises from lack of communication.

BTW - DH went to pick and drop her and he did say that it was really bad where she lived.On her part she was willing to stay with her sister who lives closeby if it would help us on difficult days so the tavel we make is less during the snow -- It is always give and take.

I don't think employees are entitled to choose their holidays. I believe the usual custom is that an employee requests a particular day and then the employer says yes or no. If the employer says no, then said employee is obligated to show for work. So, I think I would just decline the request for holiday on the basis that it is too short of notice to take holiday at my work.

I was particularly struck by the bit about the OP and her DH not giving each other Christmas presents in order to give the nanny a bonus. I would say this nanny does not bend over backwards for OP in the same way that OP does for the nanny.

It's bloody cheeky of the nanny to announce she will take it as holiday. And I think I would be tempted to tell her all of her snow days are holiday.

Nobody has a right to be paid for snow days unless it explicitly says they do in their contract.

I don't get paid 'snow days' they either come out of my remaining annual leave entitlement or they are unpaid.

Ok, I'm not a nanny, but my employer doesn't pay me just because I can't get in. It's not their responsibility to give me a free paid day off because of the weather.

I'd PMSL if they did as I work for the NHS, imagine the uproar if that hit the front page of the Daily Wail ?!

It has been hard getting to work, I know, it took me 3hrs 20mins to get to my workplace, 2.5 miles from home on Monday and 1hr 20m this morning but I got there. Last Weds I had to have the time off because of DD's school was closed and I couldn't afford to pay the childminder for a snow day so my day off had to come out of my annual leave entitlement. If I had no annual leave left then I would have had to have taken it as unpaid leave (although in that case I would have paid the childminder as I would have earned more at work than I would have paid out, but you see what I mean).

I do think that lots of employees are using this snow as an excuse to swing the lead, they certainly are at my place of work. Obviously there are people who are finding it genuinely hard to get to work and some cannot get in at all.

BTW, DH's company don't pay snow days either (private sector). It is not common practice as far I am aware

Not sure I can agree with those saying the OP is mean. At my work, if the site is closed, we get a snow day. If the site is open, and we can't get it, we are expected to take it as leave. Site closure is based on how dangerous it would be for staff to get in, so if it's deemed safe, we're open.

How can she say for sure she can't make it when it's days before the actual day she needs to work?

I think the OP has been more than fair, conditions aren't expected to be bad on Fri and she has every right to expect nanny to be there or not be paid/have to take leave.

Of course, if conditions are really bad on Fri, it would be fair for you to declare a 'site closed' day and allow her the day off, esp if you and DH can't get out to work.

Legal Rights on Taking A 'snow day' - found this article, thought it may be an interesting read.
According to the legal person who wrote it, an employer could let an employee choose to take the day as Annual Leave, Unpaid Leave.

The first two times she failed to turn up to work, when she contacted you, you agreed with her that on that specific occasion that you would pay the day... so it's Paid Authorised Leave. Is that right?

Now you are saying that if it happens this week (you don't know as yet if she will fail to get to work) then you will not be considering it as Paid Authorised Leave... instead you will either permit it to be Unpaid Leave, or let her take Annual Leave. Is that right?

Not sure how you having problems in paying for alternative care is her problem... if she has Annual Leave available to be taken and IF you agree that it can be taken, then this months payroll will include the day as paid. If she is aware of your difficulties in being able to pay, then she may say she would take the day as Unpaid Leave.

Her financial situation isn't your problem, I feel you are entitled to say that it can't be taken as annual leave. I don't believe that you have to authorise all annual leave requests... so you could refuse to let her take the day as annual leave... but permit it to be Unpaid Leave.

I travel 8 miles to work (normally - my snow route is 15 miles via Motorways as those tend to be clear of snow), I'm a similar age and my boss has been lovely about giving me shorter days when it's been possible to do so. I've got to be at work at 7am tomorrow, setting my alarm for 5am. I am intending to make every effort to be at work on time, as my boss needs me to take over at 7am. I have no issue with that... what actually happens tomorrow is what happens though, there are never any guarantees but my boss knows that I will make every effort - I hope the slush does not freeze! If I can't get in, then I would accept it as unpaid leave, or annual leave.

but if it does snow again,and she doesnt get in then what?

you will pay her/SHE WILL TAKE IT AS HOLIDAY/NO PAY FOR HER

whoops hit caps,sorry

so she works on a friday and today is wednesday and she is saying she may not be in?

i would tell her you will pick her up 30mins before she needs to be at yours (or however takes long to get to yours roughly) so that she can be at yours for the right time you need to leave

hassle to you,but worth it if you get to work

i do wonder if the roads are THAT bad where she is .........

For what it is worth , the legal position is that by bot turning up, if she is not unwell, she is in breach of contract and does not , in my view need to be paid. BUT- particularly if there is no knock on effect for you, i.e yuo get paid, i would have thought it would be the rright thing to tell her that , whilst you are not obliged to pay her, you will,
As to the next day, i.e the 3rd Friday, if it does affect you, i think you can esxplain that it must be unpaid or holiday or day in lieu.

the trouble is, one tends not to have written contracts etc so when it gets messy noone really knows what to do and yuo want ot be nice as she is looking after the lids all day.
we had a nanny who knew the ropes, thought we were rolling in it cas we could afford her services and actaully took everyting yet gave no more than her contractual duties.
That's life

sorry i just read that

would you be happy to go and pick her up and take her home if it meant you could go to work?

I think you should say to her you need to start again.

Leave it that the 2 days she has already had stay as paid, normal days.

In future if she can't get in through no fault of her own she will be paid but it is expected that she work a different day of the week.

If you then can't work, and she doesn't do the alternate day, she doesn't get paid as you haven't been paid.

If she could get in and is being a bit of a pita about things she has it as holiday.