Nannies/employers - do you get paid/pay your nanny for holidays that go over the nannies annual leave?

[NannyR]

I was chatting to another nanny at the park this afternoon, we got talking about Christmas plans and she was saying how the family she was working for were taking a two week holiday over Christmas, for which she wouldn't be paid as it was in addition to her annual leave. Apparently this happened in the summer as well.

In my job, if the family choose to take extra holiday, I still get paid as technically I'm still available to work. On occasion, I've gone in and given the playroom a good tidy or done batch cooking for the freezer, but most of the time it's just bonus time off. There is no way I could afford to just not get paid for two weeks.

Is it actually legal to not pay an employee like in the other nanny's situation? She has brought it up with the parents and although she doesn't have a contract , they showed her the previous nanny's contract which had this written in.

I'm just shocked that some parents treat nannies like this when they wouldn't put up with their own employers treating them the same way.

What do other nannies/parents think?

Not on. I can't see the nanny's employers accepting it in their jobs! They could stipulate the nanny takes her time when they do. You normally share the choice though but it would need to be agreed up front in the contract.

She needs a contract, that's how you have these discussions and get to agreement. It should be 2 way not dictated though.

In my last job I had that if they went over they'd give me 80%, I took it as I knew that the experience would be good. I wouldn't sign a contract if it said that I wouldn't be paid in full for anything over now though!

She shouldn't be working without as contract though, why did they give the previous nanny one and not her?

More fool your friend for not having a contract - plus if been there over 2mths it's illegal

I've always had more holiday then my usual 2 weeks employers choice and always had time off and paid

Have this written in contract

Last perm job I had 12/13 weeks paid holiday

2 weeks my choice
2 weeks Xmas
3 ht terms
2 weeks Easter
2/3 weeks summer

I pay my nanny if she goes over her leave allowance although if I go over my leave allowance in my job, it would be unpaid.

The reason why I pay is because it's likely that nanny has to take leave at a certain time, taking her over what leave she has.

I deliberately give our nanny less leave than me (I have 30 days, she has the statutory minimum) so that we have the flexibility. This means she generally gets the leave she wants as do I.

The diff is steam is that you chose to take extra if go over the 30 days off

The nanny doesn't have a choice and if employers want to go away extra then the nanny still has bills /mortgage to pay and that's why the nanny should still be paid

Is this where agreeing an annual salary vs an hourly salary makes a difference?

nick I should think so.

It's apparently legal for employers to do this but I think it's taking the piss a bit. In that case is rather agree to not choosing any holiday, although that's obviously not ideal either.

Thg employer should give her a contract, and should write in that she may have to take some of her leave at a time stipulated by them. Then she would have to take leave during those two weeks and it would be paid for, if they gave her the appropriate amount of notice.

Our nanny has 4 weeks holiday (plus bank holidays) of which we pick 2 weeks and our nanny chooses 2 weeks. If we go over our 2 weeks (which we often do) then of course we pay our nanny for the extra days since it was our choice not to use her rather than her choice not to work. I probably wouldn't sanction our nanny going over her 2 weeks unless there were exceptional circumstances, but if she did go over then I would not pay her. It's all in the contract and agreed and understood by us and her.

life too short, you sound like my ex employers ie normal and fair :)

Exactly as LifeTooShort says here. My nanny and I both work 50% part time. I give her the statutory minimum (as that is what my employer gives me.) I give her half of that at my choosing, the other half is for her to choose. If we are on holiday and our nanny is supposed to be at work, she either gets a paid day off (even if it is over her annual holiday allowance) or she comes in and potters round doing some batch cooking and clothes/toys sorting. I generally take my holidays in my part time days off, so it hasn't been a problem so far.

I get 6 weeks for my employed job and usually take 6 weeks from my self employed work too. Our nanny has 6 weeks a/l written in to her contract however if there are odd days where I chose not to have any s/e work and I decide not to use her of course she gets paid (much as she's contracted to work til 7pm but if I get home at 5 I let her go home anytime after that but always pay her til 7 because it's not her fault if I come in early)

Our nanny gets four weeks paid leave per annum plus public holidays. Of those 4 weeks, she chooses 2 weeks that she wants to take and we choose 2 weeks that we want her to take. We always give her another 2 weeks paid leave on top of that, with the dates being of our choosing. She has never asked for extra leave on top of the 2 weeks that she can choose. Maybe that's because she hasn't needed to ask, as she knows that she will be getting time off soon enough, but if she were to ask, I would do my best to accommmodate her. I would say that this extra leave at her request would be unpaid though.