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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Self isolated cleaner, WWYD?

63 replies

BurningRed · 21/08/2021 13:16

Hi MNers,

Quick poll please. Cleaner has been self isolated and will miss one cleaning date for our home.

Would you pay her still?

YABU - Yes
YANBU - No

Thanks!

OP posts:
Curiosity101 · 21/08/2021 13:39

I went for no, but only because I'm making a couple of assumptions.

The first is that you're in the UK and that she hasn't tested positive, just that she's been pinged.
The other is that she's had enough time to have been double jabbed, and therefore able to ignore being pinged.

At this point as an adult working in other people's homes if you have chosen against getting vaccinated and are self-employed I think that the loss of earnings risk sits with you, not your clients.

DGFB · 21/08/2021 13:41

I don’t pay my cleaner sick pay or holidays so no. I pay her a higher rate week on week though

insancerre · 21/08/2021 13:43

I would suggest paying her still and asking her to do double next time
That way she still gets paid and you get extra cleaning

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 21/08/2021 13:49

No, I’d not pay for a service I hadn’t had. There could be many more periods of isolation.
Self employment rates should include an amount for holidays and sickness as pay for those is a perk of being employed. Just as there are many different perks to being self employed.
If you really need the missed session you could book more when she returns to work.

KateTheEighth · 21/08/2021 13:52

No

Original poster
BurningRed · 21/08/2021 13:53

@Curiosity101 an excellent point - she has refused to be vaccinated so therefore has to self isolate - completely hadn’t thought of this (I’m double jabbed!)

@insancerre there isn’t enough to clean tbh to do that. I only got her in, as during term term we are out of the house 6-6 every day as a minimum. Over these holidays, I actually could have done without her but, we have continued to have her in (she is fantastic) and have, of course, paid her.

OP posts:
HangingChads · 21/08/2021 13:58

Can you ask her to move her usual slot to the day after she's free from isolation, and then pay?

DifferentHair · 21/08/2021 13:59

I usually believe in paying people as scheduled if they've missed work for something that isn't their fault.

But she's chosen not to be vaccinated, and missing work in these situations is a consequence of that decision.

Personally I wouldn't have unvaccinated adults in my house if I could help it and I'd go with a different cleaner.

SpaceBethSmith · 21/08/2021 14:00

Yes, I have and I will again.

I also pay her when I’m on holiday and don’t need her, or when I’ve had to self isolate.

She’s very much appreciated by me and deserves to be paid.

PivotPivotPivottt · 21/08/2021 14:02

I'm a cleaner and wouldn't expect to be paid. Same as I'm not and wouldn't expect to be paid when one of my clients cancels for regular hospital appointments.

subsy1 · 21/08/2021 14:02

Unfortunately, I voted "pay her" before seeing that she has chosen not to accept vaccination.

Aprilx · 21/08/2021 14:02

@SpaceBethSmith

Yes, I have and I will again.

I also pay her when I’m on holiday and don’t need her, or when I’ve had to self isolate.

She’s very much appreciated by me and deserves to be paid.

You being on holiday and you self-isolating are very different scenarios to the one posed by OP.
tkband3 · 21/08/2021 14:13

I voted to still pay her before I saw the comment about her not being vaccinated - I'm on the fence now tbh. As a one off I'd probably still pay her, but I don't think I'd do it more than once...

Biker47 · 21/08/2021 14:20

Nope.

Imnothereforthedrama · 21/08/2021 14:21

Unless you can’t vaccinate for health reasons It’s just simply refusing . Id say you can do the extra shift when you’ve finished isolating but no I wouldn’t pay her for isolating unless she’d tested positive.

Sunshineboo · 21/08/2021 14:25

@Curiosity101

I went for no, but only because I'm making a couple of assumptions.

The first is that you're in the UK and that she hasn't tested positive, just that she's been pinged.
The other is that she's had enough time to have been double jabbed, and therefore able to ignore being pinged.

At this point as an adult working in other people's homes if you have chosen against getting vaccinated and are self-employed I think that the loss of earnings risk sits with you, not your clients.

hi - just a quick one. isolation is to stop covid from spreading.

the jab stops you getting really ill.

the jab does not stop people getting covid or passing it on.

Waspsarearseholes · 21/08/2021 14:25

Nope, not if she's refusing to vaccinate. She has to accept that her work will be impacted by this decision. This could be the first of many isolations, where does it end?

DontDrinkDontSmokeWhatDoIDo · 21/08/2021 14:28

OP,

I pay my cleaner when she's on holiday, when we are on holiday, when she is sick and when we are sick.

I paid her all through lockdown.

I didn't pay her when she had to self isolate because at that time, I had no idea how many times it might happen.

It's no longer an issue though as she is double vaccinated so doesn't have to self
Isolate, and we have all now had Covid.

In you case in particular, i would definitely not pay if she refuses to become vaccinated.

Merryoldgoat · 21/08/2021 14:29

If no vaccine through choice then I wouldn’t. And I pay mine holiday and paid through lockdown when she didn’t come for months.

Normal sickness I’d pay.

fluffi · 21/08/2021 14:34

If she’s chosen not to have vaccination, then as other have said she’s made choice to risk isolation and loss of earnings. I wouldn’t pay.

If she can’t have vaccine then I would pay.

welcome2021 · 21/08/2021 14:35

Nope.

MadeOfStarStuff · 21/08/2021 14:36

Assuming you live somewhere that double jabbed people don’t have to isolate if they’re a contact, no I wouldn’t pay. It’s a situation that could’ve been avoided if she’d chosen to have the jab. Natural consequences of being an anti vaxer

CallyWW · 21/08/2021 14:42

Nope.

olympicsrock · 21/08/2021 14:55

On mums net people always talk about being hugely generous to cleaners. At the end of the day they are self employed and the usual thing is that they only get cleaned when they work.
I have had a lady clean for me for over 10 years. We have a great relationship. If she is on holiday or unable to work she tells me and I don’t pay. If we go away we tell her and don’t pay. Very much 50:50 , everyone happy.

alphabetspagetti · 21/08/2021 15:08

I treat my cleaner as I would any other self employed person.
If she can't provide the service - for example, she is on holiday, ill or self isolating - she doesn't get paid. If she can provide the service but we can't take advantage of it or I didn't think it fair to take advantage of it - for example, one of us has D&V or was self isolating - then she still gets paid. She continues to come whilst we're on holiday doing a deeper clean than usual so still gets paid then.
If she can't provide the service on the scheduled day but can on another day that week, then I always accommodate that if i can. If she has to leave early having started or is delayed in turning up for a genuine reason (for example, she has been at ours for about an hour and had a call from school that her daughter had been sick and needed to be collected) then I pay her for the full amount of time.

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