Payment for court attendance

[MrsDe]

Hi all, I have a lovely after school nanny who is usually very reliable. On tuesday afternoon I received a phone call to say that she had been called as a witness for a court case involving a family member and couldn't make pick up that day as it had gone on longer than anticipated. I could get them into afterschool club so that was fine and I then received a further message to say that she couldn't make pick up the next day either. As I say, she's normally very reliable and so I'm fine with the position and totally trust what she is telling me.

My question is whether I still pay her for Tues/Weds when she couldn't make pick up. All is back to normal tonight and she actually has to stay later to babysit. Our contract doesn't cover this sort of eventuality. I'm happy to pay her if that's the right thing to do but equally I've had to shell out for alterntive childcare and this will really leave us quite short.

Any views?
Thanks

As a nanny I would expect to take this out of hol leave or a unpaid time off.

What would you do if she had a hospital appointment or was attending a funeral? Its the same answer.

Personally, I wouldn't pay but in her shoes, I wouldn't expect to be paid.

Maybe you can give her the opportunity to babysit to earn the money if she needs it??

No idea what the official line is I'm afraid. I was under the impression that if you were on jury service they would give you money towards loss of earnings, but no idea what happens as a witness. If you can afford it and don't mind paying, I'm sure your nanny would appreciate it. Being a witness is for the greater good of society. But you did have to pay for alternative care as she didn't work, so I'm sure she would understand why you didn't pay her. I would say it is up to you whether you do or don't pay.

As a nanny - I would hope it wasn't taken out of my holiday entitlement and I wouldn't want to owe the hours ... However the owe-ing of hours would be best in this so paid as usual but she can do 6 hours free babysitting to cover the 6 hours lost.

I would probably pay here tbh. Attending court isn't an option to say no and I believe you ' have' to be there. Ie you can get physically taken there if you haven't shown. So it's not like she could say no

I'm assuming later tonight basically covers tues afternoon so it's just the one day. Then hopefully she can return favour if you have an emergency and need her to stay longer last min notice

Thanks all. If she had a hospital appointment or a funeral then I would expect to pay - but then I would expect to have more notice so that I could arrange to get home earlier.

Part of the expense resulted from the late notice (she called at 1pm - supposed to collect at 3.15). As I say, I totally trust her and am fine with what's happened. Hmm, she is staying later this evening so can earn extra then and yes asking her for some additional babysitting in lieu might be a good way of dealing with it. She has quite a lot of holiday but her contract states that she is to take it in holiday time only and so that doesn't really help me work out what to do.

Thanks again all.

Artandco, I got the feeling that it was more of a support thing once she had done her bit (rather than a summons).

I think I'll pay her and she can owe the hours as suggested. Oh dear, leaves us rather short buy hey ho in the longrun worth it as she is lovely and usually very reliable.

I have been a witness in court. You get money to compensate for loss of earning so she should have used that to not lose out, and you do not need to pay her.

If I were called to court and missed work, I would book it as holiday. And I would expect my nanny to do the same.

When I was called for jury service the max I ( or anyone) could have claimed was £60 a day. Luckily I was excused as having to do that for a week ot more would have lost me a lot of money. ( plus I would have had high travel costs to get there on top). Not sure about witness payments though

You don't receive expenses when you are a witness in a family case. Criminal proceedings are different.

If she takes holiday she will be paid, so she's not out of pocket at all. Much better off than any pittance the court might give her. I'd give her the option of unpaid time off or paid holiday.

Strix- what If she'd taken all holiday?

Can't ask her to take it as holiday - we only need her term time so she has all her holiday in the school holidays (she has about 7 weeks paid holiday over the school holidays).

I'll ask her whether she got any forms/expenses paid by the court - not sure whether it was at the family court or criminal court. Hadn't thought of that.

It depends, how long has she been with you - has she had any sickness, how reliable is she?

If she's been with you a long time, is reliable and has good sickness record, I'd pay her for one of the days in full and ask her to make the other up in babysitting. If she's fairly new, I'd pay minus the cost of the afterschool club. If she has a bad sickness record or is unreliable I wouldn't pay or ask her to make up the hours babysitting.
Good, reliable afterschool childcare is quite difficult to find so if you have a good one keep tight hold of her.