Nanny Ante Natal Appointments

[Jorior]

Hey ladies,

Our nanny's pregnant and needs time off for ante natal appointments. I know she's entitled to paid time off for these appointments but her upcoming appointment is in the middle of the day and rather than give her the whole day off, which is impractical for us, I was wondering if anyone knows how much paid time off is reasonable/required by law.

Also, is it unreasonable/illegal for us to ask her to try to schedule appointments outside of working hours (she finishes at 3.30 every day).

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jorior

when I worked as a nanny, I tried to keep all of my AN appointments during school hours when my charges were at school.

This was easy for me as the midwife came to my doctors surgery every wednesday, 1 - 3 pm.

You can ask her if it is possible for her to work around you and your needs but she may not be able to due to the restrictions of the midwives and doctors

By law she has to have paid time to get to all the appointments and back. Bear in mind scans and mw appointments can involve waiting around. Some mw appointments can be manipulated for convenience but scans. Not a cat in hells chance.

Oh btw aquanatal and ante natal yoga are now classed as maternity care. Sorry.

I wasn't working as a nanny but had to schedule appointments where possible for either the beginning or end of the day which might have meant me leaving early or coming in late.
It depends on if she's coming back and if you want to keep her as to how accommodating you want to be, plenty of employers aren't at all.
My friend is a nurse and was expected to nip down on her lunch breaks.

Aquanatal, really, where's the legislation on that ?

Yep apparantly so. I suppose if the mw recommmends it as beneficial then there it is.

Mind you I couldn't have done aquanatal and finished a shift. I had to lie down for the day after it.

I know she's entitled to reasonable time off for AN appointments but is she really taking the whole day off? That does seem a bit much, especially as my appointments only used to take about 20 mins.

I know MW appointments can be tricky to arrange but I used to have mine as early as possible in the morning so I could get into work afterwards and do a full day. Have you spoken to her about it? Could you say to her that you'd like to discuss how her appointments will fit in so you can arrange cover and then see what the situation is? I know my MW appointments were always Thursday mornings only so if I booked far enough ahead I could get an earlier time.

I find that hard to believe boysrock, there were questions asked about the necessity of an adult sized chair being provided at my neighbors work place, she's a nursery nurse. I cannot believe for a moment paid time off for excerise is becoming the norm and if it is it'll be another nail in the coffin of women of child bearing age.

I dont know if its thw norm. I went to aquanatal outside of work time and quite a few women there went straight back to work. It was they who said that it is classed as antenatal care.

I was quite surprised myself. But then isnt it billed as useful for strengthening muscles and quickening labour. So I can see the logic.

I think they were lucky taking the piss tbh

Possibly. I dont think i would have got that pazt my managers. It was a mad dash to get to mw appointments. Although I managed to arrange the day off for scans~ you can never be quite sure what they'll tell you so it qas easier.

qas? was.

If a MW or doctor prescribes or recommends it then yes.

Checks, scans, prenatal exercise, parentcraft classes...see here

'Antenatal care may include relaxation or parent craft classes as well as medical examinations, if these are recommended by your doctor. If you can, try to avoid taking time off work when you can reasonably arrange classes or examinations outside working hours.'

I had very little choice about what time my appointments were - if it's a busy/over-stretched midwifery service your nanny might just have to take whatever appointment she is given.

How old are your kids? Would she consider taking them with her? Or, as has already been mentioned, make appointments whilst they are in school?

I think all you can do is ask that the appointments be fixed at the end or beginning of the day, if they absolutely have to be made during her working hours. Midwife clinics and hospital clinics and scans aren't necessarily available all day every day and some only run on certain days at certain times. If they can be made outside her working hours, then they definitely should be. If they can't, she is entitled to be paid for the time it takes her to get to the appointment, attend the appointment and travel back to you (if there are any working hours left after that). I say this as an employee and as a nanny employer.

Our previous nanny was pregnant. She worked 3 full days a week for us. Her clinic only had a midwife there one afternoon a week, and it was a day on which our nanny worked for us. So we gave her the time off for her appointments and didn't ask her to come back to work afterwards, even though I suppose she could and should have.

Ishani, my friend is a teacher and she used to get time off to go to aquanatal :) It was on my day off during the week so i didnt have to request the time off.

our midwife appointments are only available on a weds morning between 8.30am and 12pm so when i was pregnant and working as a nanny i would book them for the earliet one in the morning i could get and then go onto work
i manangd this with everyone except my 36 week appointment but the only slot left was midday so had o take it and it was a real pita as had to go to work then go to appointment and back to work - i worked 20 miles away from midwife

Another example of those hard working teachers eh polly ;-)

Thanks for all your advice ladies. I guess all I can is ask for her to consider our family's needs and hope for the best!

Ill just add that i have no choice what so ever in my appointment times.

I can only see my midwife on a friday morning as thats when she's at my surgary.
You get given the next avaliable slot at time of booking, with no ability to be able to choose, later / earliier, in lunch hour or whatever..... you get it in order of booking, probably so if the midwife surgary is not fully booked she can get on with her home visits ASAP?

I had no choice at all about day / time of 12 weeks scan, but i could choose the day / time of my 20 week scan.

You can ask her to consider your family yes , but her appt time may be out of control. Regardless of the time you are well within your rights to expect her to work before and after the appointments and she doesnt have a right to the entire day off.

Would you / she be happy to take your children along with her to routine appts? I know many nannies who have in the past done this, and if i was still nannying i wouldnt mind taking my charges coming with me.