Au pair sick pay?

[Cornwall73]

Our au pair went home for a long weekend last week but ended up getting and infection and doc recommended her not to fly until she finishes her 6 day term of antibiotics. Therefore she is still at home with her parents and I have had to juggle full time work and make arrangement for wrap around care for the kids.

My previous au pairs have been ill before but just the odd day. This is the first time one has been off sick for a whole week.

What is the concensous about her pocket money for this past week? I don’t know what to do.

Whatever is on her contract.

Previous au pairs have always been paid for the odd day sick by the way it never occurred me not to. This one isn’t even in this country

Does she get sick leave? I didn't when I was a nanny.

I think it depends on how the family have made the arrangement. When I was an au-pair, I had a contract which did give me sick pay, as long as it was certified by a doctor's note after 3 days of self-cert.

I'm surprised nannies don't get sick pay- I thought it was only au-pairs where there was a grey area.

If she is at yours and sick, yes I would give her pocket money. If she is at home, I wouldn’t to be honest. It is not a salary, it is money for her day to day expenses while she is at yours, so doesn’t apply here.
Interested in other responses.

Au pairs are not usually classed as an employee and don't have employment rights in the same way, so I don't see an obligation to give sick pay. But I probably would anyway, if it is only one week, and she has been otherwise reliable and a good fit.

I'm surprised nannies don't get sick pay
They do! At least SSP, more if specified in the contract... nannies are employees like any other employees, same rights.

Nannies’s do get sick pay, they are employees and we have paid SSP before to our part time nannies when I worked for a few days a week.

Yes, that's what I thought.

Has your au-pair brought up the question of money? Are there any terms in her contract, or did you give her the odd day as a goodwill gesture? Do you pay her weekly or monthly?

In all honesty, she's probably just fancied a bit more time at home- we all know that, and I find it hard to believe that unless her illness is serious that for a course of antibiotics she's been told not to fly- so I'd just keep schtum for now and see what happens when she gets back.

If it was your teenage/early 20's daughter what would you expect the host family to do? Perhaps look at it from that view point.
As they are not an employee no legislation will apply, though you could apply the principles of SSP so they get used to that when they do get their first employed job.

As they are abroad you want them to return, you don't want the hassle of finding a replacement on a long term basis.

She hasn’t brought up the question of pay. Hasn’t been in touch since letting me know she won’t be back this week and she is off sick. She has only been with us 7-8wks.
Checked our contract and it says that in the case of illness we will continue to provide board and lodging and give all appropriate care. No mention of pay. Would you interpret ‘all appropriate care’ as pay or SSP?

book this did cross my mind. I know her country of origin and they give antibiotics like smarties and children are kept home with the sniffles a lot. I have family from there.

I am considering applying the terms of SSP to this week (we pay her weekly).

Entirely up to you I think.

Surely SSP is pretty close to full au pair pay anyway

If it was your teenage/early 20's daughter what would you expect the host family to do

If it was my teenager, staying at home with me no I wouldn’t expect her host family from another country to give her pocket money

Cornwall - no i wouldn't pay her. I don't think she'd expect to be paid either.

This is what DH has said. If she was here and unwell then no doubt we would be looking after her and she would be paid but given that she is with her parents and at home he feels we should not give her pocket money for this week.

No. She is at home, with her family. She doesn't need to get paid. Totally different if she was in your house.

As others have said, au pairs get pocket money to help towards doing fun things in their host country, it’s not pay. She will have no opportunity to do fun things in her host country as she’s gone home. I wouldn’t pay. I would also assume she may not come back given she’s only been with you seven weeks & wanted to go home and then once home found a flimsy excuse for staying there a whole week.

Well.... au pairs are a little bit of an anomaly really aren't they? Part way between employees, in that you expect them to carry out set tasks at set times, and a child, in that you provide their food and lodgings and give them pocket money. If you like her, expect her to come back and hope the relationship will be a mutually respectful one for the time she is with you, I would pay her for the week she is ill. Respect the fact that she has been told she is unable to return to work and phone her up to see how she is doing. If you anticipate it will be more an adult-child relationship, and you suspect that she is faking her illness as you imply above, then I would probably cut your losses now and find another au pair.

We didn’t pay her and she is back. I must admit that I too thought it was an excuse to get out of being our au pair. She has not been the most engaging person we have met and hasnt really fitted in. However, she is now back but the kids were a bit difficult on the first day. Didn’t miss her like they would with other au pairs but they were better the following day.

Au pairs are a different kettle of fish. If she is always unreliable and unprofessional you should be looking at other childcare options. I eventually found a decent childcare provider for our family. And since I was not impressed with the few au pairs we interviewed I decided to hire a nanny or babysitter instead. Cut your losses now and make other childcare arrangements.