Do we pay a nanny who must self-isolate when she returns from holiday? What does the law say?

[ParentOfOne]

Our nanny went on holiday to a country which was in the safe corridor list (or whatever it's called) when she left, but now has been removed, so she must now self-isolate for 2 weeks when she comes back. Which of course means we have to arrange childcare for 2 weeks and we have no idea how, but that's a separate story.

The question is: do English (we are in England) employment law or government regulations dictate if she is entitled to her salary?

For the record, we paid her full salary when she was in furlough, but by going on holiday abroad I think she was reckless, she knew this might have happened, so I don't see why I should be paying for a risk she was aware of but decided to ignore.

Thanks!

@Sarahlou63

Morally, you’re a tit. HTH.

Seriously?! An immoral tit because she doesn’t want to pay twice over for two weeks of childcare that’s needed because the nanny decided to risk a foreign holiday during a global pandemic. Ok

I also cannot underhand this pay an employee who decides to risk this situation mentality to keep them.

You will have no issue replacing and any nanny who decides to leave their job because ether employer followed their contract perhaps isn’t the right nanny anyway. The nanny world is full of eager nannies right now looking for positions as many families have had to let staff go.

Definitely not obligated. Anyone in our company that finds themselves in this position has to take unpaid leave even if they could work from home.

annual leave if she wants to be paid in full. Unpaid leave if not.

I wouldn't pay her, and I think your offer of one week paid and one week SSP is fair, but I would be prepared for her to start looking for work elsewhere. How valuable is she to you?

As far as I understand you don’t have to pay her

That’s why people are so upset about quarantine, it affects their pay

I did not go abroad myself, even though I have family abroad (parents) who I’d love to see, because I KNEW quarantaine rules could change any moment

She chose to go abroad and take the risk, so she takes the consequences IMO

If she’s sour about it, maybe look for a new nanny

I definitely wouldn’t pay her, I would have had this conversation with her prior to her booking a holiday abroad. Everyone is aware of the risks involved this year.

I wouldn't pay her. Our au pair travelled to France and then came home early when she knew that she'd be subject to quarantine if she didn't. That's an au pair, not a professional nanny.

I wouldn't pay her a bean. It's reckless going abroad at the moment.

OP, you should furlough her for the 2 weeks and pay her the amount you can claim back from the furlough scheme. (I think it's about to go down to 70%. Personally I wouldn't top it up to 100% although you will have to pay tax, NI, pension, if/as required.)

I believe you can furlough her temporarily if you already furloughed her previously during lockdown.

You could give her the option of either furlough or taking extra annual leave (if she wants full pay for the 2 weeks) but that depends if she has enough annual leave to extend it.

You would be within your rights to say it's unpaid leave and not pay her at all but in the interests of the relationship I don't think you should do that.

My company are insisting on annual leave or unpaid leave to cover quarantine even for those of us who can WFH (to make it fair to everyone, some people have to be on site).

She knew the risks and went anyway (although did you not have the conversation about what would happen if she had to quarantine before she went on her holiday?).

I wouldn’t pay her, she made the decision that the holiday was worth the risk, so there are consequences.

Even after the ash cloud, families were told if they risk going on holiday and can’t return the kids will miss their exams and won’t be able to resit them.

@YNK

On reflection, I've changed my mind about you being morally responsible OP and I apologise. I was feeling sorry for anyone left in a position of being abroad when quarantine rules change. Now I agree that travel abroad is undertaken in the knowledge that these rules can change without notice for public health reasons.

For this current situation, that is very true. Anyone who booked out of UK travel after this all started was taking a massive risk

I would require her to take A/L or unpaid leave for the two weeks.

Was it a holiday? Or was she seeing family/going home?

was she seeing family/going home?

Yes because a nanny must be foreign 🙄

@HollowTalk

No, I wouldn't pay her. Every single person who's gone abroad this summer has known the risks. She has been paid for no work for months. I'd say that ends now.

Fully agree. She took the risk. Why should you pay, especially when you didn't take the risk yourself.

I expect that the posters calling the OP a 'tit' and saying this is 'morally wrong' are nannies themselves.
Entitlement mentality reigns supreme.

She took the risks, she has to take the consequences. The only options I can see are annual leave, unpaid leave or WFH. Obviously she can't WFH, leaving her with 2 options.

@Shesapunkpunk

Wow straight for the name calling.... maybe you’ll be interested to know that not one member of my family is English. And yes it’s annoying that people often think ‘the help’ is foreign.

Interesting what other employers are doing. If someone travels to a quarantined area in full knowledge we are asking them to take annual leave.
If the rules change while they are out there we are working round it with a combination of working from home, possibly a bit of leave and then some extra duties. Our NHS staff are knackered so there is a bit of leeway if the rules change unexpectedly.
Appreciate you can't easily care for children in quarantine though. Maybe some pay/some leave??

Idiot, thick, small minded and live in a small world... wow aren’t you pleasant!

I don’t think legally you have to. I was talking to a somebody the other day who’s employer has told them that if they choose to take the risk & have to quarantine they won’t be paid. I think it’s going to be unsustainable for businesses to keep having to pay out.