just had a v bad conversation with my nanny

your nanny should make an effort to get in, i did and im about 6miles away from my work

i did get stuck,did 180 slide down hill and eventually abandened my car mile from work and got picked up , but i made it in and mb worked from home

if your nanny has holiday due then yes she should be able to take it as holiday and be paid, surely if she was away you would possibly have to pay for childcare, or does mil always cover?

agree you could go and pick her up if 8miles away - be interesting to see how much snow she has, ie is she pulling a fast one

why is her christmas bonus 3 weeks late?

I spent 10 year being a nanny for different families before i had my own children.

And on my last job it was in my contrct how many days i got for emergencies that covered think like snow.

While i worked for them my car was stolen and she offered to come and pick me up it was 10 miles away is this a possibility ?
She did this for 1st week after my car was stolen and I managed to borrow a car after that.

Nowwearefour - I sympathise, I really do, but something I have discovered recently when my own childcare arrangements collapsed in the snow is that sometimes one ends up having effectively to pay twice. Annoying but unavoidable. I think you are taking a big gamble if you are banking on your MIL always being available to provide free childcare if your nanny's unavailable.

As I said before, I think you as the employer can adopt whatever policy you like (within reason) towards snow days/leave for other emergencies, but it's the retrospective change here which troubles me - especially if you are otherwise happy with your nanny and don't want to jeopardise the working relationship.

OP - I understand your frustration (and financial concerns) but if your nanny has a holiday entitlement isn't there always a risk that you'll have, in effect, to pay twice by arranging alternative cover for days she's on holiday? I see the problem but surely it's one that could crop up at other times of year too and which (I'm guessing) you factored into your decisions about childcare.

And I take your point about Friday being the last day of the week, but would your employer be content for you to work a third day next week to offset taking Friday off (if it came to that)?

BIWI - It's just that I was surprised that in your first post you were "sure" that OP was paid on snow days and based on that assumption you called her "mean". Are you so confident taht employees are always paid on snow days? I have no idea, myself. I believe there is no legal requirement to pay. That's where the subtlety is.

And is it really something you can specify in your contract as paid or unpaid, black and white? Surely it would probably be "discretionary", like sick pay?

greybird - I did read the OP! That was my opinion.

Then I read posts that had been made while I was writing mine, and reconsidered that criticism, on the basis that if the OPs employers weren't paying her and/or if it is current practice not to pay people who have a snow day, then it was different and she wasn't being mean.

For the future, I think you need to have something written into your nanny's contract about what will happen if she can't get in to work because of unforeseen circumstances (snow, transport strike, domestic emergency etc) and, crucially, whether such time off will be paid or unpaid. Most employers, I think, expect staff to struggle in through the snow and, if they can't, to take the day as annual leave or flexi-leave. Mine certainly doesn't give paid 'snow days'. I think you also need to be clearer about how much effort you expect her to make on days when travel is difficult because of the weather.

As for the days already taken, then as others have said it seems rather harsh retrospectively to make the two days already taken holiday if you had previously given her the impression that they were 'snow days' (and harsher still if your employer gave you a snow day but you are unwilling to give the same leeway to your nanny, but that's for you to judge). For this week, I don't see why it's such a problem if the nanny takes Friday as one day of her holiday - she'll take the holiday sooner or later so once it's gone it's gone, surely?

i think you have to make it clear exactly what is acceptable from her end.. and not even trying to get in to work is not on and that would be irritating to say the least

This is exactly the kind of circumstance that you need to have in your contract - not necessarily about snow, but what happens on a day when she can't - for any reason - get to you.

And you did say in your OP that you gave her the days off, which is why some of us are saying that it appears to be a bit mean to then withhold her pay.

From my years of employing a nanny, my advice to you would be to be as generous as you possibly can. On the first two occasions I would have paid her. Eight miles in snow/ice is a long way, so I'm not surprised she was reluctant to come in. But all was OK because you were given the time off by your employer. (Were you paid?)

On the third occasion you were right to try and pre-empt the situation, but you should have had other plans in place. An alternative childminder is great, but obviously will cost you more. Unfortunately, this is one of the problems about being full time working parents! Could you not take time off work at all? I thought there was more flexibility these days from employers in terms of time needed to look after children when there are problems?

But you will really, really piss her off if you start to talk about withholding part of her bonus. As Lulu says, this is money that was supposed to be rewarding good performance and your thanks - not part of her salary.

And I still don't understand why if it's a Christmas bonus, you haven't paid it yet!

I think it's mean to call the OP "mean" when you haven't even read the posts. There are all sorts of subtleties about snow days. I don't think it's fair to attack someone based on a few lines.

Anyway OP - For what it's worth, I think you've been very understanding and fair, but I do think you needed to manage expectations on the first two occasions, not just quietly note that she had not offered other options to you. She probably had no idea you were not going to continue your practice of paying despite absence, and no one likes surprises.

Seems to me you have an issue of whether nanny is trying as hard as you are to get into work, is that right?

i think it is unfair to offer someone a snow day off and then complain they did not try to get in to work

how old is your nanny, where does she live in relation to you and how bad is the snow?

if the bonus is now going to be treated as her wages, it is not a bonus is it?

i think where things fall sdown is expectations and presumptions

you seem miffed she has not worked a day in lieu or taken the days as holidays, but you gave her them off as snow days

instead of snow days, perhaps you should have encouraged her to come in a different day or stay over with you or start later if you still had to go to work yourselves