Major home repairs/au pair

[emilybella]

Hey - desperately need some advice, we've discovered we need to move out of our house for 2 weeks to have some urgent repairs done to our plumbing. During this time we will have no water, sanitation etc. Came as a surprise and we have been told it needs to happen ASAP, the latest we can hold off until is beginning of July. This means we have 2 weeks to find somewhere to stay, we have a holiday booked for a week anyway but the other week we intended to get an Airbnb and just extend the holiday - however our au pair has been quite unpleasant about it, i appreciate its an awful situation and the last thing any of us need but my hands are totally tied. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we should do for the au pair? Am I unreasonable to suggest she goes on holiday for a couple of weeks/goes to see her friends - we've said we won't count it as holiday etc.

All advice appreciated, perhaps I'm being unreasonable but need some solutions.

Emily

If you pay her for the inconvenience then fair enough. The same more or less happened to me when I was an au-pair. The house had complete new flooring going in, for one week they were abroad anyway, and paid me as usual but also gave me money to pay for food etc in another flat they owned that I moved into for the two weeks.

It really depends on if she has anywhere to go and stay locally, none of my au pairs would have had somehwhere to go fir two weeks.
I don't think she should be paying for flights etc if she can't stay in the house, it's not of your making, but board and lodging is part of the deal when your an au pair.

If she has no-where to stay maybe pay for a flight home.

Will you pay her whilst she’s off and will you oay for her travel expenses to go to a friend?

I appreciate it’s a total PITA for you all and I hope it gets resolved quickly but your au pair shouldn’t be out of pocket

In what way was she unpleasant about it? There’s nothing you can do about the situation!

Are you saying you aren’t providing accommodation for her during this time and she has to sort something out herself?

I’d be pretty pissed off if that was me too.

Assume you are continuing to pay her and provide, or at least offer, accommodation? If you are insisting she takes it all as her leave then yabu.

Provided that you pay for alternative accommodation if she needs it then I don't see the problem.

Ah, I re-read the OP and it seems like the OP is asking her au-pair to sort out her own accomodation! And whilst the two weeks are not being counted as holiday she may not be paid for them?

You need to provide her with somewhere to live and food for the time she is not able to be in the house.

Could you pay for her to come along on tbe holiday? Or rent an Air B&B for her and give her a supermarket voucher for food?

Can you claim on insurance?

You need to sort out accommodation for her, it's your issue not hers. Can she come with you?

When I was a nanny (many moons ago now) the family I worked for had a burst watermain and it leaked into the basement and caused a lot of disruption and there was a situation a bit similar to this

They paid for me and a friend to go on an all inclusive holiday for 2 weeks and didn't make me use my holiday allowance

I was very happy with that!!! It was a good solution

our au pair has been quite unpleasant about it

How has she been unpleasant?

As PPs have said. You will need to continue to provide food/lodgings/spending money as per your contract or come to some other arrangement. If that is all she asked for then she's not being unpleasant.

How old is she? Where is she from? My solution here would have been 1) Booking an AirBnB large enough to house all of us together 2)to suggest that she goes home to her family for the two weeks with us paying for a roundtrip ticket. If you are going on holiday yourselves option two may be the most practical. TBH - it is probably what I would have suggested first.

If you've offered the above two options and she prefers to stay with friends, that is her lookout. You could book her a BnB for the week you are away and then expect her to move into your BnB when you're back.

But you absolutely can't expect her to fend utterly for herself for two weeks. She won't be able to cover her costs with the au pair pocket money.

You need to pay for her accommodation, food and her usual wage. That’s the minimum, surely? You can just expect her to be homeless for two weeks!

Sorry, but you are being massively unfair.

Firstly, it’s much too short notice for her to organise a holiday or friends to stay with.

Secondly, her friends may not be willing to have her for a fortnight.

Thirdly, that’s a lot of unplanned extra expense for her.

You should pay for alternative accommodation for her, plus help her find it and you must ensure that she is safe and housed and with enough money to feed herself before you go on holiday.

Whoa I'd have been furious if I were your au pair - I'd have had to fly home (expensive) or sofa-surf (horrible for 2 weeks). Pay for a hotel or Air B'n'B.

You need to pay her her normal
wage and sort her out (and pay for) somewhere to stay. That may mean paying for flights home. This isn't her fault. If by "unpleasant" you mean she has expressed her dissatisfaction, that is normal.

Sorry I went so quiet - I fully offered to pay for accommodation for her wherever she wanted to go as I didn't want to limit her to staying nearby if she wanted to visit somewhere else.

When I say she was being unpleasant she as grumpy and snappy about the whole thing since I told her and I've woken up today to find her having packed up her stuff and instead of going on holiday to Ireland she's gone home. She didn't even want to think about where she wanted to stay for me to find her an Airbnb so I couldn't win, trust me moving out of our house for 2 weeks is a huge pain but I can't just not do it.

And yes of course she would have been paid!

in that case she's being unreasonable. have you asked her why she was being so snappy about it? we're you expecting her to be gone today or has she just left you in the lurch with childcare

just reread. do mean she's left as in quit

She just got up and left so I am totally in the lurch for childcare and little time to arrange which is a nightmare. Everyone tells me about their au pair horror stories, guess this is mine - the au pair leaving in the night 🙈

is she coming back?

I'd probably get a new au pair either way. she's behaving terribly

Nope! Definitely need to get a new au pair now - looked on her au pair profile and she's been logging on and is searching for a family in Australia! Seems like she never had intention of staying