Au pair holiday pay is compulsory?

[Mposh]

Hi all,

Just a quick question, our Au Pair is leaving soon. I just wanted to know if we are obliged to give her the 2 weeks holiday pay after bad behaviour. You can skip to the last paragraph to hear my point if you have no time to read the background.

Long story short, After spending a good year with us she just developed an attitude. I have 2 kids, one goes to nursery now and a baby) We had overlooked a few things namely, she is a slob and lazy, however she was looking after the kids well. Gentle with them and doing as per instructions as well as teaching them another language. She just leaves the house a mess,her room too, I did all the cleaning up including making the kids beds, cleaning their toys, packing up their laundry etc. infact she never touched a thing as I was home with the youngest who just turned 1. She was also partying excessively but that is all in her time (evenings and weekends).

I told her that I might go to work in the coming year and would need a nanny this time, but will ease myself slowly starting with a part time temp etc. She volunteered to change her role to nanny. But as a test run before xmas I payed her extra to look after both kids while I did the xmas shopping. This was when the trouble started as she felt too much pressure with both kids, but instead of just saying that she is not cut out for the job, she pretended that we just made her look after 2 kids all the time as if I never explained it was for temp. I told her that is what it will be like if she wants to be a nanny and I go to work - no free mornings or evenings. (mind you in the test run, she still got lots of free time as I looked after the kids some times). She then told me she was leaving and would go back to her country for a real job (not nannying). She has carried the cool attitude towards us since then. My husband suspects she takes drugs in the clubs cause now she goes atleast 4 nights per week, also met a boyfriend there - but that is another story.

All in all when she was in good behaviour we had had promised her 4 weeks paid leave and we already paid her 2 weeks. Now there are another 2 weeks for us to still pay. She took the holidays, but not the money as she only takes it when she needs it. That was the agreement. I think we will pay this money and get her out of our heads, but it's rather annoying that she has this attitude and still have the cheek to ask for the money.lo. What would you do or feel?

Have you ever given her any formal/written warnings??

If you have just let things slide and not pulled her up on it then you are going to have to pay what you owe.

If warnings have been given AND you have made it clear that it will impact her pay then she doesnt need to be paid. If no indication of docking pay then you cant.

I would pay it and get her out of the house as soon as possible.

Good luck with it.

Behaviour is irrelevent. She is entitled to paid holiday.

She in entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday.

Think about it in your work - if your boss thought you were lazy and didn't like your attitude, could they dock holiday pay from you?

I would pay her just to make sure she has enough money to get on a plane and leave.

Au Pairs are entitled to a week's holiday for every 6 months worked - they are here for a cultural exchange rather than being standard employees. We do give our Au Pairs more than that and are flexible but you are under no obligation to pay her more than that.

However, what did you put in the 'invite' letter or handbook? We were urged to make it very clear what the holiday arrangements were. You need to stick to what was agreed when she started with you.

Vicky

Pay the money and get her out of your home ASAP - as scurryfunge said, make sure she leaves permanently. She's an accident waiting to happen IMO and you don't want your family involved.

Au pairs that are EU nationals are employees with all the normal employment rights, but you tend to pay them below the PAYE threshold. So they are entitled to 28 days holiday per 365 days which can include bank holidays. All of this should have been detailed in her employment contract.
I have always treated mine in the spirit of the original AP scheme, but have paid them holiday etc in accordance with UK employment law.
As a pragmatic attitude I would just pay her the holiday, chalk it all up to experience and get some really good employment law advice before employing another AP or Nanny.