Letting her go for misconduct

[Mummystar123]

I have a few incidents with my nanny regarding the proper care of my children and do feel the she is haphazard in her approach to watching them. Yesterday I had a call from the nursery to say that my son had a head injury that has become apparent over the day.
When I dropped him in the morning his eye looked puffy but he had a hat on and had fallen asleep in the car so I didn't think much of it. It transpired that he had bange his eye on a shelf while in the care of the nanny and while she had given him a cold compress ( and put sudocrem on it) she didn't tell me about the injury when she handed over to me. Nursery were of course concerned that my son had a black eye with no explanation as to how he had sustained it.
The nanny text me this morning to say 'sorry I forgot to tell you he banged his eye, he hit it on the shelf so I applied sudocrem and a cold compress, It slipped my mind'.
I was livi and explain the severity of this an she just denied responsibility, said she wouldn't class it as a head injury and would consider not telling me any form of misconduct. I'm gutted to have to do it as she is a friend of the family but I sacked her. This is filling previous verbal warnings about watching the children and making sure they are safe etc.
have I been too harsh, my friend says no and that the kids are paramount.

I would call bumping your eyes head injury in the sense of concussion. Unless it was from a major fall where brain brushing could have occurred. But not telling you is a bad sign And if it's not a one off and she has a history of this sort of thing you are within your rights to give notice.

I'm not sure employment wise if this would count as sufficient gross misconduct - which would be on spit dismissal but certainly enough as a general not happy let's call it quits- notice.

*woulnt !

If my child had sustained an injury that was going to cause a black eye then I would absolutely want to be told about it.

Sacking?? On its own no but if other issues had occurred then possibly

I'm a bit on the fence. It evidently wasn't bad enough for you to notice and ask her about at the time. Was the knock the day before or while getting ready? Kids do pick up the odd bruise without it being serious or notable and at least she could explain it. How old is your dc?

The kids are paramount...but I'm unsure if this would be gross misconduct, and if it's not, if you haven't given any written warnings, you may have sacked her unfairly.

Do you have a noted disciplinary policy in your contract? It would usually be a verbal warning, followed by a written warning, followed by sacking, I believe.

Hopefully an employment lawyer like Flowery or Atticus will see this and comment on the legalities.

I'd definitely want to know if my child had injured themselves badly enough to get a black eye, but equally, if it wasn't severe enough for you to notice and ask, and she didn't cause the injury and did treat it appropriately, I don't think it'd be gross misconduct - probably just misconduct.

Has she had first aid training?Have you discussed with her what she has to do if one of your children gests hurt? ie do you have a written method of her noting down any injuries? If you don't, then you should. As a child minder, I have these forms and I use them often, for falls, bruises, etc. www.pacey.org.uk/shop/health-safety/accident-forms-body-diagrams/

I sacked her because previous warnings have been for not watching the children, leading to them ripping of the boarder I. Their bedroom, climbing into the tops help of my wardrobe and opening presents for Christmas and despit me asking her numerous times not to let them play upstair on their own I often come home to find her sat on the sofa with the baby and my 4 and 2 year old ransacking the upstairs of my house- thing tooth paste and shower hell explosions, toilet roll everywhere and my bedroom stuff emptied everywhere. Each time one of these in idents has happened she ha either denied it's her fault or said it must have happened before/ after she was there. This was the final straw for me on top of a long list of minor things such as not taking the children out despit me buying her passes to local attractions for a year and not cooking/ cleaning up for children despite it being in her contract. I come home to the house a tip when she had had the kids, she leaves their dirty clothes on the floor of the kitchen an leaves me to sweap up/ mop after they have eaten. She is on £3 per hour more than me FFs and I spend my evenings after work cleaning up after her. This really just topped it off. I don't want her looking after my kids, I'm happy to pay her up to date plus her holiday but past that no way.

Fine your mind is made up and clearly you have made the right decision...

How long has she been with you? Check the contract as she may be entitled to pilon too.

Pilon?

Payment in lieu of notice.

Pay in lieu of notice

If you paid in lieu of notice and they have been employed less than 2 years then I don't think they make any attempt at a claim against you.

Being with you less than 2 years makes it hard to bring any claim, so as long as you handle it in a reasonable manner I would expect it to be fine.

She clearly knows there have been a number of issues and has been given a chance to improve performance.
You should follow disciplinary procedure really. Though sounds like this the last straw. So end the contract.

Being on top of a wardrobe is simply unbelievable!

Is she ofsted registered? I ask because I'm sure she isn't following correct procedures. We have a nanny and she has an accident book where every single accident is logged with a description, date and time. She signs it and we sign it when we get home. It also has a log of all medication given eg calpol, which we must also sign for.
She doesn't sound very professional and I don't blame you for getting rid of her. I can't comment on the legality of it though.

There is no requirement by Ofsted for nannies to have a log for accidents or medication given. Only for child minders. I will make a note of any medication given and would definitely inform the mother of any injuries, at the time by phone or text if a more serious one.
It sounds to me that she doesn't really want to be there and would question if she even wants to be a nanny.

Yes it was wrong for her to not tell you or write in diary about the bang

But

You didn't notice the mark in the morning when you dropped off at nursery - not did the staff notice it when you dropped him
Off

I'm assuming it happened day before - or else if same day you would have been in the house when it happened

So maybe she thought it was a small bang - if I mentioned every time a child fell over /banged head on table etc esp when toddling about ......

She does sound neglectful if can't control the children from trashing your home - tho I also wouldn't expect a 2&4yr to do that - how is their behaviour when you are there?

Hey won't dream of behaving like that when I'm at home, but then I sit with them and do stuff or take them out, I don't just leave them to their own devices