Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

about the nanny's sick days

36 replies

deliverdaniel · 15/09/2014 19:55

Genuinely don't know if I am BU here and also heartless so please be frank. we have a nanny who looks after our baby 4 days a week. She started in late February this year. Since then, she has taken 10 sick days for things like headaches/ stomach aches. today it was for a swollen insect bite on her foot (she texted me a photo- it looked uncomfortable but the kind of thing that I would have definitely stuck on a pair of flip flops and gone to work.) She has also had two days off for car trouble/ break downs. She also gave me two weeks notice that she was taking the entire month of July off to care for her grandmother after she had an operation, leaving me no time to find a replacement. She is also regularly 10 sometimes 15 mintues late, which amounts to around 3 hours a month, sometimes more. I have spoken to her about this, and it got a bit better, but still happens regularly. I work freelance so I can be more flexible than if I had say, an office job but I still really need the childcare, and also often schedule meetings etc which i then have to cancel.

This morning I told her I was concerned about the number of sick days and late days and said I really needed someone that I could rely on. SHe replied that she was committed, but these things were unpredictable/ out of her control. AIBU to be annoyed/ to say something or am I being totally heartless? (I pay her for sick days, but more worried about the lack of reliability than the money.)

OP posts:
Primafacie · 15/09/2014 21:27

Ditch her. It doesn't have to be like this - our lovely nanny has taken 1 day off sick in the last 5 years. Good nannies know about the importance of reliability. You can find better out there.

CountessRosinaAlmaviva · 15/09/2014 21:36

You know when people complain that when they work from home/for themselves/freelance that other people tend not to consider it 'real' work and therefore they are free to interrupt you? Do you think that your nanny might think that about you, that she is free to take sick days for minor matters or take time off at short notice and turn up late regularly because what you do isn't 'real' work? So you tell her that she must not be 10 mins late and she thinks to herself that you're making a fuss over nothing because it's not as if you have to clock into the office at a particular time. If that is the case then she has to go because I don't think that sort of underlying attitude can be changed, especially given she may not even be aware that she has that attitude.

raspberryslush · 15/09/2014 21:37

Definitely sack her. She is taking the piss. Who misses work because of an insect bite?

bebebringingup · 15/09/2014 21:42

Im a HR/employment law specialist. It depends firstly on what her contract says about disciplinaries and absence if anything. If it says nothing then you have to follow Acas guidelines, which are about being reasonable. You need to stick to whats in her contract as wrongful dismissal doesn't need 2 years qualifying service.

Doesn't she has a probationary period in her contract?

Her absence isn't reasonable, sorry a lot of my clients would have sacked her after 3 incidences provided none of the absence were protected by the equality act.

She can't claim unfair dismissal as kentishgirl said.

Mandatorymongoose · 15/09/2014 21:46

I had a horrific insect bite a couple of weeks ago on my foot (I'd post a picture for evidence but I don't want to put anyone off their dinner). I actually thought it was turning in to cellulitis for a couple of days - had to circle it with a marker pen to measure the spread Grin.

I still managed to get into work on time and stay for 4 *12.5 hour shifts most of which I was in my feet for. I did pop to the walk in center on my break though.

She's taking the piss. Find someone you can rely on.

vivaden · 15/09/2014 21:49

Mention to her that perhaps you are not willing anymore to pay her for her sick days...watch her attendance improve then!

CromerSutra · 15/09/2014 21:57

Londonrach. , that is a really unfortunate situation for you and your employers but that is completely different. Someone having an accident is a one off event that can happen to anyone. Taking as many sick days as this nanny has since Feb for separate , non serious health issues suggests someone who is highly unreliable and a bit of a shirker. Sorry Op , I would get rid of her, she is taking the piss and you need someone you can count on .

I worked with a woman like that , she never improved and eventually left, good job too , everyone was sick of doing her work as well as their own.

PeachyParisian · 15/09/2014 22:04

Send her packing!
As a nanny I would only have taken a day off if I had something contagious that I didn't want to pass onto the kids!

I'm a bit of a martyr though and appreciated the fact that my employer relied on me so they could go to work.

deliverdaniel · 15/09/2014 22:09

oh thanks so much everyone. So glad to know that I am unanimously not BU!
We live abroad, and there are no laws re unfair dismissal here (I don't think this is a good thing btw) I will speak to her about it and give her one more chance I think, but if it happens again then I will find someone else. IT's a real shame though as she is very good with the kids otherwise.

thank you.

OP posts:
Bulbasaur · 15/09/2014 22:35

I know this is a bit of a rare case since we live here in the US where spiders are poisonous, but DH had what looked like a zit. He kept moaning how much it hurt. We thought he just didn't like our plans and was trying to get out of it by hamming up a bug bite.

We got some drawing salve.

This little zit swelled down and showed two purple bite marks. Then it turned into a crater 2cm deep. It was horrific.

Sometimes "bug bites" are not a small deal.

whois · 15/09/2014 22:38

Get rid. She's unpredictable.

Plenty of great nannies out there.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page