Nanny Sick Pay

[ChocolateBiscuitCake]

Just after some wise opinions please!

I have the most wonderful part time nanny (2 days a week). We all love her.

Her children are not well and she is feeling under the weather (but probably still able to work). She has called to say she can't work as she doesn't have childcare. I totally understand (and her ill children would no doubt prefer her to be around).

However, should this time be taken as a) holiday b) unpaid leave c) sick leave. Contract does not state contractual sick day numbers but says a note is required from the doctor - she has had other days off (paid) for sick leave this year which I have let slide (1-2, I can't quite remember), so I feel that I shouldn't have to pay for another?

What is normal in this instance?

In one of my jobs I could take two days off a year to look after my own poorly children. Anything more would have been unpaid. In most jobs I think your nanny would be sked to take it as holiday or unpaid leave

Has she called in sick? It doesn't sound to me as if she has. So, strictly, it should be hioliday or unpaid leave. But how I woudl dealw ith it (as a nanny employer too) woudl depend on the circumstances eg whetehr she has been with you a long time, her long term sick record, whetehr she goes the extra mile etc.

either a or b, tho was it discussed what would happen if her kids were ill at interview, this is the downfall of using a nwoc , is she a single parent or is their dad about

depending how ill, could they come to work with her, obv not for sickness

Thanks for your responses.

She has called to give me the heads up for tomorrow. Her DH is around from midday (and usually covers childcare from lunchtime onwards afaik), but no suggestion by her of coming in from lunchtime onwards.

I really don't mind the time off, it is just expensive to have to still pay if she is not here. I would like to think we are reasonable and her children do come to work with her if childcare falls through (obviously when they are well) and there are many occasions of full hours not worked as we are away or home early.

I adore her, so I don't want to seem unreasonable or unkind.

i would be tempted to tell her its not your problem and she can make other arrangements for tomorrow, ie her dh can take whole day off etc, but to come in

why should you lose childcare as her kids are ill, if your kids are ill you have her as your nanny, so really i feel she should make other arrangements and not let you down

Then I think it is holiday or unpaid, and that you should say this now, so that she knows what your position is (in case there is any ambiguity/difference in expectations). My bet is that she will then come into work.

I work part time in a nanny share and have two children at school and nursery. I had a run of illness before christmas where both children got chickenpox ( the second just as the first got better ) then my youngest got a really bad chest infection and was off nursery for two weeks. Luckily my DM and my lovely MIL covered some and my DP did a couple of days and the rest I took as holiday. I hadn't really factored nearly 5 weeks of illness into my annual leave so the time I took at Christmas was unpaid. I'm hoping that's the end of my children's illness as I know a nanny needs to be reliable! I'm lucky in the fact my Mb's run their own businesses so can be flexible. Offer your nanny the choice of annual leave and unpaid. I don't think most nannies would expect anything else.

Offering to let her take it as holiday is being reasonable. Check that they still have enough holiday to take including times you plan to be away.

Blondes
I think that's a bit of a harsh response "tell her it's not your problem and get her DH to cover"
I'm a NWOC and do everything I can not to let my employer down but if my little boy is poorly then I want to be with him, not looking after someone else's child. I love my job and charges but my son is my priority when it comes to his illness.
I should say that the above depends obviously on level of illness - bit of a cold, teething, then fine to leave him with DH if possible but for anything else then I want to be at home with him, not at work spending my whole day worrying about him.
I'm fortunate that my employers are very understanding of this too.

Late to the party but I would just gave said that you totally understand and she's entitled to unpaid tine off for dependants just like any other employee so you'll see her when they're all better.

I'm in a similar position so a bit of placemarking going on here. Nanny has become NWOC

Technically she's not ill, so it's not sick leave. Holiday or unpaid leave it is then in theory.

The difficulty with that is a) she is more likely to call in sick when she is not, but her kids are. b) if you are using a payroll company it's a total admin PITA to start knocking days off here and there. Maybe I am just lazy.

I can totally where Blondes is coming from. As an employer it does grate somewhat to not be the employer of choice i.e. her husband is not bearing his fair share of unpaid emergency dependents leave. This could be because he is a total arse, or is far too important (in his own head anyway), has a job where emergency leave will definitely be holiday or unpaid but he earns significantly more so his wife/partner takes the hit on her salary and attendance record.

In my experience
Lesson 1 - was that I should have established if sick leave for kids would be shared between my nanny and her husband. I don't actually know if legally you can state that it must be. A question for nannytax
Lesson 2 - I should have stated a limit on paid leave for any reason.

I'm going to run it past nannytax employment folks but I'm inclined to put a limit on how much fully paid sick leave I will tolerate [as the company I work for have]. After that it becomes statutory only for a minimum period of 12 months at which point the clock is reset.
If she takes time off it can then be counted as sick leave, holiday or unpaid. In practice though, calling in sick everytime your kids have a sniffle puts you seriously at risk of going straight to statutory pay every time you have a bug for 12 months so the aim is to deter calling in sick when she is not.

Still musing about it though so feel free to comment. There may be plenty of issues here that I haven't thought about.

Personally I have to take a days holiday if my nanny calls in sick. I split it fairly equally with DH though as happily his job is economically no more important than mine and neither of us do a job where someone might die if we don't show up.

Just to say that the OP's nanny is not a NWOC. That is, she doesn't bring her children to work with her, unless in an emergency. It is not an actual NWOC job.

i dont think its harsh at all, the nanny is employed to do a job, if wakes up and finds child ill, then fair enough may need to take day off, but she has warning/notice that will be off the next day and she has a dh/dp, and should find cover whether a friend/gp or the dad

the child has 2 parents, why does it always fall to the mum, and more to the point why does the op on here have to find cover when she pays her nanny a wage to be there, i may sound blunt, but its not the op's problem that her nannies child is poorly

Blondes - there are parents all over the country that have to take days off work because their kids are ill and can't be sent to school/nursery but are too young to be left at home. Plenty of people don't have family or friends who can cover. Plenty of families also survive primarily on the DH's salary and so the default carer becomes the mum, or the party with the more precarious employment position.

It's a fact of life. I've had to take days off work because my nanny is ill or her child is too ill to take to work with her [she is a nwoc] though you can be pragmatic about some illnesses as they'll probably share most of them anyway. My employers policy is that I take it as holiday. My husband gets 5 days paid emergency leave a year, they all do regardless of children or not. Fabulous perk but if you religously took them every year, your attitude would certainly be questioned. Many many people don't work in jobs with the level of flexibilty that my husband and I enjoy.

What I don't know is whether or not under employment law, as an employer you can insist that emergency leave is shared between parents. Difficult to prove in any case unless you do have a NWOC at work without his/her child.

blondiewoowoo I should say that the above depends obviously on level of illness - bit of a cold, teething, then fine to leave him with DH if possible but for anything else then I want to be at home with him, not at work spending my whole day worrying about him. I'm fortunate that my employers are very understanding of this too.

You are very fortunate. I would not be that understanding. I regularly have to go to work, and spend the day worrying about my sick children. I leave sick children at home in the care of my nanny or my husband. They would both be insulted to think that they would not look after them properly.

true tread tho op did say that the nannies dh would be around from lunchtime, so tech she could have come in for half a day and even if the op/her mb worked from home

Save meningitis or something really contagious I'd expect her in when her DH got in. It certainly wouldn't be paid leave unless taken as holiday.

www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights