Nanny repeatedly sick

[ThinkAboutItTomorrow]

Our nanny started in November and has now had at least 20 days off sick.

She had odd days ill even in her first 2 weeks, then a viral infection for 2 weeks and since that was sorted has had a recurring stomach problem taking about 3 days a month.

We both work full time in 50 hour a week jobs with no family. This is costing us extra for cover when we can get it and too often we can't get it in time so are left rearranging work at the last minute & using up holiday plus working late into the night and at weekends to catch up.

It's so stressful, every morning I dread the morning text.

She is at the dr next week to try to find out the cause but what else do I do?

She knows this isn't sustainable, I'm moving onto statutory sick pay now as we can't keep double paying. But do I have to give her notice? Can I sack her for being unreliable?

If there's a serious issue I can't kick her when she's down.

Always put SSP only into your contract in future and stick to it, unless they’ve proved themselves to be reliable (or one of your children has made them ill!)

The easiest way to do it would be to give notice (although of course if she’s off sick it will only be paid at SSP rate). You can give notice for any reason within the first 2 years. The period will be as per her contract.

Thanks for replying.
The contract says SSP at discretion but our last 3 nannies have been fairly reliable so we always paid normal salary for the odd sick day.

I know I can just give her notice but it feels harsh if there's something really wrong. I think if the dr says there's nothing underlying causing it then we will give notice if she's ill again soon.

Am I being harsh though?

Maybe your problem has been the fact you are paying her for sick days

20 days is 4w and she’s been with you 4mths

Of course all employers want to be fair /nice but I wouldn’t be paying every sick day

You may find that she gets better quickly if paying ssp which doesn’t kick in for 3 days and is rubbish money

They are not reliable, they are causing you difficulties with your job. At some point you will need a frank discussion about how them being off is causing you difficulties. Having a return to work meeting after each sickness period is something you can do but they can't help being sick but they do need to understand that you can't get cover at a moments notice.

Talk to your payroll provider... many have in-house HR or subcontract if it comes to dismissing someone due to their sickness record you want to be sure you have followed procedure as best you can.

ACAS has a guide to managing absence so that could be your starting point: www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4200

**Maybe your problem has been the fact you are paying her for sick days
**

Even if that is the case the problem is still with the nanny for taking the piss

I'm a full time nanny and I've probably had upto 15 sick days in 10 years, with my current job. Is the stomach issue new or did she have it before you hired her? Obviously if she's unwell then I can understand you don't want to let her go, but she's going to cause you extra stress and difficulty with your own job.

Maybe she is actually sick though?! I do understand that it’s a pain for you but as someone who’s autoimmune disease started with random infections that wouldn’t shift from colds etc, I know how crap it is to have everyone thinking you’re a hypercondriac sick-note. I ended up being made redundant through illness and got a decent pay out because I was in a job where that was a possibility, but your nanny may end up ill and sacked. Not saying that’s your responsibility, but a bit harsh on posters saying she’s “taking the piss”.

Though as nannies we are saying that this level of sickness is not normal. So there may be something medically causing a problem which should be investigated - so it's good that the nanny is seeing DR again about that.

The nanny risks being made redundant. It may be more viable for ThinkAboutItTomorrow to use another form of childcare.

I think we'll see what the dr says. Realistically though it will be test etc.

I'd like to try to support her as this is new (she hasn't had these problems in other jobs). I'm wondering about offer 2-3 months off unpaid? Time for her to work out what's wrong but with us able to cover with a consistent childcarer but without the stress.

Or should we just call it a day and give her notice. I'm in London so no issue finding someone else.

Okay, so say she goes to the doctor and she's developed a new health problem, as you said she never had this problem before. This problem is for life. Just saying it could be a possibility. Are you able to keep finding emergency cover or to not go into work, because it already sounds like it's causing you stress. Not wanting to sound horrible but it sounds like this nanny is already causing difficulties with your life. Hopefully the doctor says that whatever it is can be treated/ controlled.

Offering her a 2mth break non paid sounds good. She needs to sort out the medical issue

You need a reliable nanny

And she must reliese having a week off each month isn’t helpful

I'd give notice. I had 3 nannies. First had one day sick in 3 years. Second had 3 days off in first 2 weeks so I sacked her. Third had 7 weeks off in a year. Nannies need to turn up. Harsh but unfortunately true. Paid every single one full sick pay and ended up so resentful.

How are you so sure this hasn't happened before OP? Did you ask about it in references? I am sceptical you'd get a 100% honest answer there. We had a nanny with significant health problems and her attendance was represented to me as fine. She had a chronic health problem which was going through a bad period and she was on the waiting list for surgery. It's a fe clears ago now but she had something like three weeks off in a five month contract.

We hired a Norland student nanny for our baby and she is fantastic … when she actually works. She moved to a foreign country (commonwealth) and we got her her own studio and pay her a nice salary with 10 days sick day and 28 days holiday. Year 1 she used all her sick days and 7 of her holidays as last minute sick days. Our son loves her and we care for her too, but she is so unreliable.
Started year 2 contract January and she contracted covid and we gave her a free week off. Then she said she contracted it a 2nd time a week after recovering because she was in contact with her friends. She had since used her entire 10 days sick day (plus the free 5 days we have with covid).
I had a sit down with her to just share we needed her and asked what we can do to help her get healthy. She said there’s nothing we can do. I asked if she was happy and still wanted to work here- no hard feelings if not… she said she loves our son and loves taking care of him. I felt so re-energized after our conversation. The next week she catches a cold and left sick and called out sick again tomorrow. She has used all of her sick days by mid March.
I do feel badly for her. Perhaps she had a medical condition she hasn’t disclosed. But that doesn’t stop the fact that we need childcare. We invested so much to fly her here, house her, pay a firm to handle payroll so she can live and work here legally…. But we are tired! My husband has a huge job and I work a lot in the afternoons. It is difficult and we thought by investing in a certain level of care, we would get that.
What can we do?? Anything?? Is this normal??