to want to take nanny to court for £40.25

[VentiPeppermintMochaWithWhip]

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?

I always feel like I'm in a parallel universe when I read a nanny thread. Thank God for UA and mathanxiety and the one or two others that think this OP is unreasonable.
Can't you just imagine the other side of the story?

"I have lost my job due to stress and hormones. I was unprofessional leaving my employer in the lurch but I just couldn't face explaining to her the details of my miscarriage/antenatal depression/horrible ex. She has been so sneering since I told her I was pregnant. I have tried to apologise and offered to work my notice but she just went on about keys and holiday money in this lecturing tone. I feel so sad that I looked after her kids for months and it has ended this way. Am I being unreasonable in wanting to shove her £40 up her judgemental arse?"

Exactly.

From what I read the OP isn't so bothered about the money per se just wants to make a point to the nanny.

I think the OP has every right to be pissed off - what if she hadn't got the text in time? Her DC would have been left uncollected at school. For that alone I would be furious.

OP I think that people have been a bit harsh on you, but I think you've got to let it go.

LOL elinorbellowed and well said !

I enjoyed being a nanny to two families, and loved the children.

I wish I could have left both jobs on better terms, though it was nothing terrible.

From talking with several nannies I know I've found that few placements end on really good terms, which is a shame IMHO.

I'd still like to call round, perhaps with a phone call first, to visit those families and children with my own two DC's, especially as I took my DD to work with me whilst looking after the children of the second family.

I think you will spend far more time and money on getting that £40 when really what you are wanting to do is prove a point and make her realise how annoyed you are (justifiably) at leaving you in the lurch with no notice... having to leave the lecture that very minute to collect the kids.

Instead of proving a point about the £40, consider how awkward she will find the next 18 years of her life looking after a kid on her own. She'll soon be in the situation of being left in the lurch by a babysitter or nanny herself, and she'll realise then how annoying it is and your point will have been made.

UA yes I quite agree. Pissed off is reasonable. All the other stuff is just horrible and unnecessary.

Not all nanny employers are evil btw. Some of us try to do our best by our employee and although I doubt she'd be a perfect fit with some of my more uptight controlling friends she is great for us.

jugglingjo take your point about it not being a normal professional relationship, of course it can't be.

But I think I would really struggle to maintain any kind of friendly relations with someone who had left my children somewhere without bothering to check if anyone could collect them. I think I would feel that any kind of relationship was severed at that point, by her choice. She may have had a mc or something, but how is OP to understand and sympathise if she's not told?

OP is within her rights to be absolutely bloody furious about that, and it's possible that the (admittedly not pleasant) terms she's using to describe the situation are not the ones she'd use once she's had a chance to calm down.

I'm with UAmazonian.

For a start what a truly awful opening statement and phrasing. How could you blame anyone for wondering how the nanny was treated?!

If I were in OP's shoes I would immediately be very concerned for the nanny and wondering what on earth must have happened to elicit such an urgent decision by her. The poor woman sounds as if she has suffered some kind of trauma or is having an acute crisis. People don't just quit jobs like that, especially these days.

She may well be regretting the decision. She may now feel desperate. Who knows? Has the OP bothered to ask?

Court for 40 quid and teaching lessons to pregnant women in trouble? Get a grip!

If the OP hadn't chanced to see the text, one hour before the end of school, the result would have been some very upset and confused children (which they no doubt are anyway, having had their nanny leave without notice or goodbye), and if there was no one to collect them after an hour or so social services would have been called.

Save your sympathy for someone who deserves it. Unless the nanny was in hospital or similar there was just NO excuse for that. It's not just unprofessional, it is nasty to the children she has had care of for 9 months.

You can't unilaterally decide what is or isn't a breach of contract and expect your pronouncement to stand. The contract needs to be examined. The nanny didn't announce her retirement and then stay away forever leaving only the sound of screeching tyres in her wake. The OP demanded the keys while the nanny made it clear she expected to work for her four weeks notice.

The fact that she took three weeks extra holiday (and the suggestion that her holiday pay should suffice as compensation for those four weeks notice) is not her fault. The OP has been very careless and the nanny should not be penalised for that retrospectively.

And I don't think this was 100% to do with the one incident described. Why regale us in such repugnant fashion with the details of the nanny's personal life unless the two incidents were somehow linked in the OP's mind?

We don't know she would have just left the kids if she hadn't got a reply. Maybe she was in hospital.

"And I don't think this was 100% to do with the one incident described. Why regale us in such repugnant fashion with the details of the nanny's personal life unless the two incidents were somehow linked in the OP's mind?"

Exactly.

Well she probably isn't allowed to quit on the spot so you can sue her for breach of contract. Problem is its not worth it, its £40 just walk away.

Provincial lady, you write tosh on this matter.

what a lot of silliness, bitchery and pseudo-legal claptrap.

OP, obviously you were furious and would possibly admit to a slight overreaction concerning the £40?

However, the rights and wrongs of the termination of the employment are a matter for the OP and the nanny, based on their contract.

Nowhere did the OP ask for contract law advice, particularly from a group of women who seem to be seething with issues and resentments, whose knowledge about employment law could, mostly, be written on the back of a stamp.

OP, you have your answers regarding the £40. I suggest you frun for the hills before this gets any more out of hand.

run, obv.

stupid name

Oh not just this matter but many others!

Suing for £40 is just plain ridiculous but in the absence of any actual evidence that the nanny was suffering miscarriage or some other devastating fact, I would be feeling the same way too. If someone did that to my children, I would be supremely fecked off, not looking for ways to justify her actions. We have nearly ALL been six weeks pregnant but not behaved badly to someone else's children as a result.

"what a lot of silliness, bitchery and pseudo-legal claptrap."

welcome to the old bailey/any court in the land.

Provincial, have ever read any of the threads in relationships?
(I know you have)

I am sure someone will come along soon and explain.

Nannies really are the lowest of the low are they not? with their bloody nuisance pregnancies.

They don't know how bloody lucky they are, do they, to have a decent employer.

Ventipepper might be at a cocktail bar?

She aint swilling out the potty that's for sure.

I don't think OP needs to worry about unfair/wrongful dismissal etc, the nanny resigned (OP make sure you keep the text) - therefore there is no dismissal unless the nanny can make a case for constructive dismissal (ie the OP had had behaved so badly that it would have been unreasonable to expect her to carry on working).

OP: as many have said, not worth the expense, stress and hassle of pursuing £40 and somewhat inhumane to do so.

I am imagine she's gone to do something more exciting than get abused by a bunch of opinionated harridans with nothing better to do on a Thursday night.

Night night, don't let the bedbugs bite