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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to want to take nanny to court for £40.25

215 replies

VentiPeppermintMochaWithWhip · 12/05/2011 17:14

Long story short:
Nanny of 9 months announces she is 6 weeks up the duff to the guy she broke up with late last year... (it's one of those "If I get pregnant, he'll stay with me" babies that I think she is now regretting)

Got a text yesterday in the middle of a uni lecture from said nanny:
Cnt get kids 2day I quit

I immediately leave uni to collect kids from school, ask her what is going on, she says it's confidential.

Then last night, I tot everything up for her last wages and discover that she's taken too much holiday by three weeks this year. After deducting this month's wages, etc, it turns out she owes us £40.25

I inform her of this yesterday. She then has the gonads to text me this morning asking if she can work her four weeks notice?!?!

I very politely but sternly tell her no, that she quit, that she is no longer welcome here, and requested that she return her key today whilst I'm at uni.

I spoke to a friend who is also a solicitor last night, who has agreed to send a letter requesting the money.

I KNOW it's only £40 and it's not the money I'm pissed off about... it's the fact that she flipping TEXT an hour before the kids were due to be collected, that she gave no notice, never came to speak to me about any of her issues, nothing!!

AIBU?

OP posts:
HowToLookGoodGlaikit · 12/05/2011 17:14

Was thsi also posted in the childminding section?

Original poster
VentiPeppermintMochaWithWhip · 12/05/2011 17:16

yes!

OP posts:
usualsuspect · 12/05/2011 17:16

forget about the money ..its not worth the hassle

belledechocchipcookie · 12/05/2011 17:16

£40 to get rid of her is a bargain!

TattyDevine · 12/05/2011 17:17

I would say cut your losses and let it go.

Where do you stand legally with the not letting her work her notice thing? You better not find you have to pay her a month's wages anyway! (or is that already cancelled out with the holiday thing?)

Anyway, that aside, I would seriously let it go. If it were £400 fine but £40, be pissed off, feel enraged, slag her off to anyone who will listen, but dont bother with court.

She's going to get a shitty shitty reference from you...bask in that instead.

expatinscotland · 12/05/2011 17:17

YABU.

You're well short of her.

HaughtyChuckle · 12/05/2011 17:18

Nanny of 9 months announces she is 6 weeks up the duff to the guy she broke up with late last year... (it's one of those "If I get pregnant, he'll stay with me" babies that I think she is now regretting)
^^ I found that really shocking

you are right to be annoyed, but court?

BecauseImWorthIt · 12/05/2011 17:18

Seriously?!

Don't be daft. YABU.

Yes, she's messing you around and it must have been/will be hugely inconvenient for you, but just let it go. If it was £400 it would be different.

You'll just give yourself more trouble, and she won't get the message anyway.

Make sure you get a better nanny next time! (Easier said than done, I know - but make sure you take more than one reference)

AgentZigzag · 12/05/2011 17:22

Is it not your responsibility she took three weeks more holiday than she was due? (if that's what you're saying)

I'm not too bothered how people say they're pregnant, but the way you said 'Nanny of 9 months announces she is 6 weeks up the duff to the guy she broke up with late last year...' just sounds really nasty.

She wasn't on just dropping you in it though.

I think it costs £25 to take someone to the small claims court, so if you did it'd be for the principle.

Which I probably would tbh, she sounds a cheeky mare and needs taking down a peg or two, especially if she's working with children.

AgentZigzag · 12/05/2011 17:24

I thought you couldn't give someone a bad reference tatty?

You can refuse to give one, but not slag them off.

Might have got that wrong though, maybe it's an urban myth.

BecauseImWorthIt · 12/05/2011 17:25

I think you're right - don't think you can give a bad reference.

TheFlyingOnion · 12/05/2011 17:25

It will cost you £30 to issue proceedings in the small claims court, then you will have six months of paperwork and stress, another £75 pre-trial fee and then your day in court, when you will either get your £40 plus costs, or the judge will take one look at you, tell you that you have been unreasonable to drag this woman through the courts for a measly £40, and give you nothing. It will also look as if you have been somewhat spiteful and vindictive to take it all that way.

YABU - alright, you're angry, but you don't want to take her to court, it really isn't worth it.

TattyDevine · 12/05/2011 17:26

Seriously? So you can't say "she was fine with the kids, but she rang me at uni one day and told me she quit on the spot and left me high and dry"?

Seriously? Even when it definitely did happen?

The world has gone mad.

Bogeyface · 12/05/2011 17:27

You are wasting your time. Chances are she was banking on a months wages after quitting and has now found out she wont get them, so the chance of her having the £40 she owes you is miniscule, add in the fact that she will struggle to get another job while she is pg, and you are on a hiding to nothing as a court would make her pay a minimal amount if she is unemployed.

Let it go and consider it a lucky escape.

TattyDevine · 12/05/2011 17:27

I'd be saying it anyway and let HER see ME in court if she had a problem with it.

I wont be censored like that!

MollyMurphy · 12/05/2011 17:28

You are not being unreasonable to WANT to take her to court but its not worth the work, stress and frusration IMO. What an inmature moron of a nanny - your better off to just ditch her and move on.

Needanewname · 12/05/2011 17:28

I wouldn't bother about the £40, though I know its tempting, with everything else going on is it really worth the hassle and a refernce along the lines of :

I confirm that nannyx worked for me between xx date and zz date

will speak volumes.

NoCarbsBeforeMarbs · 12/05/2011 17:28

She did behave badly, and let you down.
Sounds like she has a lot on her plate right now though, and taking her to court for the sake of forty quid is a bit over the top.

Is the the showering nanny btw?

JanMorrow · 12/05/2011 17:29

Well you can say "yes she worked here, that's all I'm prepared to say as I have heard you can't go into detail if the reference is not positive"

Which is effect is a negative reference..

I wouldn't bother with the court if I were you.

NoCarbsBeforeMarbs · 12/05/2011 17:30

Is she the showering nanny that was meant to be.
Fluffy headed today.

Clytaemnestra · 12/05/2011 17:37

I would fire her for gross misconduct then you won't have to worry about her working her notice.

AgentZigzag · 12/05/2011 17:37

Just had a look at whether you can give a bad reference, and yahoo answers quoted the CAB saying

'Your employer has a duty to write an accurate reference about you, and shouldn't mislead the employer asking for the reference. But some information shouldn't be included in a reference, unless you agree to it. This is information like your medical records, or information about spent criminal convictions.

Your employer also mustn't give information in a reference which is inaccurate, or which is deliberately wrong or misleading. If this has happened, you may be able to take action against your employer.

If you're in this situation, you should get advice from an experienced adviser, for example at a Citizens Advice Bureau.'

So you can say bad things, so long as they're justified, but a lot of employers just refuse to give one instead of saying how shit the employee was.

lesley33 · 12/05/2011 17:43

Of course you can give a bad reference. But an ex employee can sue you if your reference is not accurate. So normal advice is only to give a bad reference about things you can prove. For example if someone is frequently late and you have written them a warning letter, then that would be evidence.

It is a really high percentage of small claims where the court finds in favour of the person brining the case, but they still never manage to get the money owed to them anyway. I wouldn't bother going to court.

When you employee someone again, phone up their referees before you offer someone a job. People ime are always much more honest over the phone than they will be in writing. I always do that even though I need to get a written reference as well.

PaisleyLeaf · 12/05/2011 17:47

I would be tempted to just do the solicitors letter, but not actually chase it up through court. So it is clear to her that your are seriously pee'd off/inconvenienced and it's not worth asking you any favours.

FattyAcid · 12/05/2011 17:48

Bad and highly unprofessional behaviour of the nanny to quit in this way.
Don't have her back
Forget the £40, be the bigger person and let it go