Making Nanny redundant, she owes us holiday time... what happens?

[llamallama]

Hello all

We are making our Nanny redundant and I have contacted Nanny payroll who have informed me that she has overtaken by 5.5 days holiday.

So what happens normally?

We need to give her 1 months notice. So would this 5.5 days holiday owed come out of her final pay check? Is that the best way to handle this?

Also... our contract says 1 months notice so we are happy to pay her for this notice period as normal. However if she wants to leave sooner (say in 2 weeks) if we are both in agreement would that be ok? And I assume we just pay her for the days that she works if she decides to cut her notice period short?

(She will owe us 4.6 days holiday if she leaves in 2 weeks, so same questions applies as to how to manage that best!)

Any ideas?

The holiday which she "owes" you will be taken off her final salary payment by the payroll company. It might be worth mentioning this to her so it doesn't come as an unpleasant shock on her last day. It's amazing how many people don't realise that they can end up owing their employer money when they leave. The payroll company can probably already give you a figure for her final salary payment.

If she leaves early, then yes you just pay for the time worked (assuming her early departure is mutually agreed). You can't just decide to make her leave early so you can save money.

Is she owed redundancy pay?

We had to make our Nanny redundant a few years back. If you can possibly afford it I would urge you to consider writing this owed holiday off. After all, she presumably took the holiday in good faith that she would have ongoing employment. Plus, I'm guessing some of this holiday was taken over Christmas when you didn't need her anyway? So it seems rather unfair to make her pay it back (which is what she'll be doing, even if you get round it by cutting her notice period short)

Sorry if this comes across in the wrong way, it's a horrible situation to be in. I know, I have been there!

No redundancy owned

NeverQuiteSure - Totally understand what you are saying. Problem is that we have actually had a lot of problems with her taking copious amounts of days off sick (14 since mid September) and except for the last 3 days (which will also come off her final pay) we have paid her for all sickness as a gesture of goodwill, so I kinda feel that I have used up all my kind gestures on her!

(We are now changing our childcare arrangements due to these issues, so not employing another nanny, so our reasons for making her redudant is that we are going to use a childminder instead)

I feel bad for letting her go which is ridiculous considering I think she has really taken the p over the past few months.

Annh - Thanks - Any early finish will be mutual, I am happy for her to stay for a month but she may wish to finish early.

Erm... you better be careful about who you tell that you are letting her go because she took too many sick days...

I think let the payroll company work out the final paycheque and you just pass on their calculations. I mean that is what you pay them for, isn't it?

Thanks all for your help.