Still Pay Nanny??

[LondonLocal]

Not saying whether I am Mum or Nanny so can get unbiased opinions.

Situation:
Family going away for 1 week (5 working days) and doesn't need the nanny to work. Nanny is saying she believes she should still be paid as 'She is still available', Mum believes nanny uses her Annual leave or makes hours up in extra hours/babysitting. Contract states Nanny picks 4 weeks holiday, so Family have no annual leave to use from.

Should Nanny be paid or is it fine to expect Nanny makes up hours?

Thoughts?

Thanks for all your replies!

I am the nanny, and did think this was the case. I know it is an unusual situation regarding contract. When Mum initially sent it to me I bought up the fact that nanny contracts often go 50:50 with holidays, but she insisted I chose my own holidays, like majority of jobs.

Great idea about going in and batch cooking/sorting, might suggest that. Would be good to get a few weeks ahead.

Thanks!

"she insisted I chose my own holidays, like majority of jobs."

Not the case at all. In most jobs people can request the days they want, but there is no guarantee these will be agreed.

Do you have training needs, would it be a good week to do a refresher first aid course or food hygiene?

Do you have training needs, would it be a good week to do a refresher first aid course or food hygiene?

This is a good idea... As well as child related work in the home. But yes you should be paid. Employer might be rethinking her contract now.

In most jobs you get no automatic right to take holiday. You request time off and your boss either approves or denies the request. The employer has control, so could if they really wanted to upset people, tell them employees when to take all their holiday. In reality bosses will grant holiday if it fits the business.

Do you not want to have the week off? Have you already booked all 4 weeks of your choice this holiday year (holiday year runs from start date of the job, unless contract says otherwise).

Nanny gets paid, employers should read contracts before signing

Nanny gets paid but you can expect her to do things like sort out childrens rooms, sew name tags in school uniform, clean and sort toys, finish any childrens laundry, batch cook childrens food...,,,,

As others have said, of course you should be paid. But something that worries me about your post, is that the mom seems unclear on the terms of your own contract. I do agree you should decide when you want weeks off, but they need to be worked out together, she can't pick and chose which parts of the contract she adheres to when it suits. Either you decide 100% or it's 50:50.

Suggesting extra training or childcare related jobs to do that week, is a good one- mom may not feel so bad for paying you if you do something work related. Maybe it will also provide a good opportunity to review contracts when she gets back!

I thought you were the nanny,London!

No, course the family can't force you to take that week as one of your four weeks' holiday as it is stated specifically in your contract that you can choose all your time off. Likewise, they can't refuse to pay you! That would be very unfair.

As you seem quite happy at the prospect of doing children-related work during that week , that seems like a very good compromise, and one that a reasonable employer would agree to. Sounds like a nice, peaceful week, actually - almost as good as a holiday!

*of course

It depends on the situation. In my nanny jobs I get to choose two weeks of an leave and the parents choose two weeks.

However if parents are choosing to go away and nanny is avalible and willing to work then yes they should still paye Nanny.

Lesson learned for the parents unfortunately.

Assuming they are good employers and you want to continue working for them*, I'd try to find a compromise using some of the suggestions above and offer to vary your terms going forward from a reasonable point where you can both mutually plan holiday leave.

*not that they can sack you over this obviously but resentment in the relationship will make it very difficult working environment.

"not that they can sack you over this obviously"

No "obviously" about it. The OP hasn't said how long she has worked there so there's no way of knowing that.

Er what flowery - the nanny has a clear contract which states she gets to pick her own dates for paid holidays. Yes they could come up with spurious reasons to sack her, but they certainly can't sack her over this.

Nanny definitely gets paid and only complete wankbadgers make the nanny go in to do 'batch cooking' or whatever daft things they think s/he should do. The nanny is available to work, the fact the family are choosing to go away is their problem, not hers. Ridiculous to agree to a contract where the nanny chooses 100% of the holiday allocation though, but they did so they now have to live with the consequences.

As I said, TreadSoftly, unless and until we know how long the OP has been employed by the family, no one can say "certainly" or "obviously" anything.

If she's been there less than two years they can sack her without giving any reason at all if they choose to, as long as they don't sack her for a discriminatory reason or exercising a statutory right, or similar.

I can't see any reason they'd prefer to sack her to avoid paying her, but it's irresponsible to say they "can't" without any basis to indicate that with any certainty.

I seem to have ended up on a thread in childminders nannies etc despite hiding the topic from my active convos, and have been swiftly reminded why I did so...

You learn something new every day. I am somewhat horrified that up to two years of employment that this is the case.

OP I apologise for making inaccurate statements

The contract should say family picks two weeks and nanny picks two weeks...

To late now I know......

For them people that are saying that the nanny could go in and 'sort and do'

Well if I was a nanny with childcare duties only, i would only be going in and doing them...

As well as batch cooking, there's only certain stuff u can batch cook and freeze surely....

The parent said that the nanny is to dictate all holiday.
so if parents decide to go away out of these 4 weeks then it is up to them and should pay the nanny as normal

OP you are obviously right according to the contract.

However it's also pretty clear the employers didn't think things through properly when agreeing to that contract and are probably regretting it. And you're aware the contract is unusual.

If the family asked to change the contract to 2 weeks nanny choice 2 weeks family choice, would you be happy to agree to that?

I agree with everyone that you should be paid.
I was thinking exactly the same as Minipie would you be willing to change to each of you having two weeks choice?This would have to follow on from this years four weeks .Even if you decide to change the contract don't do it before this coming holiday.sorry bit waffley.

Thanks so much for all the replies!

Spoke to the mum today and she's happy for me to go in and get work done, but probably won't take all week as I usually keep on top of those sort of things.

Regarding changing contract, of course I'd be happy, will take some adjusting being used to have my own Choice of 4 weeks. The reason I like chosing is that I spread them out and have a week off every 3/4 months, where if they chose two, they could chose their two weeks together, I then could go a long time without a break, and my job is long hours that I need that time off every couple of months. But I guess that's all part of the job!

I've been there about 15 months now.

By the way OP, if the contract is being changed anyway do point out that the statutory legal minimum for leave is 5.6 weeks not 4 weeks (that's inclusive of any odd days off if they automatically give you bank holidays off)

Sadly long hours are part of nannying and though I agree with what you are saying about wanting a week off spread out over the year I've never known a nanny to choose all 4 weeks in 23years of nannying

Most families tend to go away in the summer with their two weeks so I chose a week in may and then late sept /oct so have time spread out

How long have you been a nanny and was your last job and contract 15mths ago the same?