Au pair advice wanted! (Contract)

[wren23091]

So I'm in a bit of a conundrum...

I'm currently an au pair in France (originally from UK) and found my current family on Au Pair World. They've been great so far, but at the time I started (Autumn last year) we didn't put a contract in place. This hasn't been a problem, except with summer coming up I've been wondering what to do about holidays.
I've been looking at some other threads which discuss au pairs and holiday pay, but that mostly seemed to be to help draw up a contract.
My family and I haven't discussed whether I will have any paid leave time, and I'm wondering how would be best to go about it? They took one week during February half term to go skiing (I had the choice between going with them or staying home alone, I chose to stay) and wasn't paid for that week - I also had 10 days at home for Christmas, which wasn't paid either.
Are paid holidays for au pairs a legal thing, or is it at the parents' discretion whether they want to offer it? And after being with the family for 5 months, is it too late to talk about writing up a contract just so we all understand each other? (Not just in terms of holidays, but notice period etc)...?

I am not sure about au pairs in France but in the UK it is a recommendation that au pairs are provided 20 days paid holiday per year although this is only a guideline, not a requirement. I know of other families in the UK who have the same terms as you. When the family are on holiday, you are also expected to take holiday and are not paid.

It sounds as though they have already set expectations by not providing holiday pay and you accepting this to date.

It may be too late to negotiate this point but a good place might be to start with the aupairworld contract? You can document both parties expectations including working hours, time off and notice period:

www.aupairworld.com/en/au_pair/au_pair_contract

I was a live-out nanny years and years ago whilst I was looking for a job after university (but had had childcare qualifications already) so slightly different from an au pair but the way we did it was if I went on holiday I wouldn't get paid, if they went on holiday I would still get paid.

It seemed to be industry standard at the time.

This is taken from the AuPairWorld website but as you don't have a signed contract you will need to talk to your host family as only they can answer your question.