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!

There’s a difference with Spain, where people could be forgiven for not expecting the rules to change so fast, compared to France/Croatia etc where there was warning it could happen. Now anyone travelling anywhere is taking this risk and can’t expect someone else to pay for that.

@Arriettyborrower

I work for an NHS Trust which is usually the most ridiculously lenient organisation, we are saying that anyone staff member who has chosen to travel abroad and then has to quarantine will need to take annual leave/unpaid leave/wfh if possible.

She should have been cognisant of the risk, this is not on you.

This. We are in France and went knowing the risk. I can WFH when we get back, DH is a doctor and will be taking a mixture of extra holiday/unpaid leave/swapping shifts to cover his quarantine period. No way should the employer pay in full.

Having said that, couldn't you just temporarily furlough her and claim most of the cost back?

She isn't available for work. We are not paying anyone who has to quarantine or they take it as annual leave if they have sufficient.

We took legal advice on it is a sound position.

We had this dilemma earlier in the week with an employee who had booked to go to France. Thankfully the quarantine came in before he flew, but we had told him it would be unpaid leave if he chose to take the risk and also potentially a disciplinary.
Everyone would love to go on holiday but there is a global pandemic and any location is a risk. My case worked out ok in the end, he decided to cut his losses and not go. But in your case she took the risk and it hasn't paid off. I don't see why you should at for that in any way

I wouldn't pay her. I'd say it's annual leave or unpaid as you need to pay to cover her hours for the next 2 weeks.

Just gets better...

Racist, Idiot, thick, small minded and live in a small world

What did you discuss before she went? You would have been just as aware of the potential risks and should have agreed the potential consequences before she left.

If she didn't let you know before she went then it is a different situation and telling her to take it as annual leave or unpaid leave would be appropriate

Sorry OP I don’t usually engage with others on people’s threads.

Answering your question, if it was Spain then yes I would have paid as that was a shock, however, since then I wouldn’t pay as they should have realised, from what went down in Spain, that this is likely to happen in other countries.

Did she book it before covid OP? We booked in January to go abroad, for may, had the option of moving it so moved to October so could now be in this situation. I wouldn't dream of booking anything now.

Morally she shouldn’t have gone. I wouldn’t pay her. She knew the risks and she took them and you have to pay for other child care. Live by the sword and all that

Overtherwinbow88 Why did you assume that it was because she was a nanny that I asked if she was visiting family. Rather than assuming it was because we had all been on lockdown away from family for so long? It is really offensive. Don’ t you understand that?

Also if you did pay her she’s had a nice four week holiday and only had two off on top of furlough for months. Life’s a breeze when someone else is picking up the tab!

No I wouldn’t her. Not even big companies or public services are offering pay. She can choose to use up her A/L or take unpaid leave. She should not be paid SSP - she’s not sick - she chose to go abroad on holiday. If she develops symptoms etc - then she’s entitled to SSP. She knew the risks of overseas travel in the current climate.

@YNK

Morally, you should pay her.

Morally she shouldn't have gone on holiday knowing the risks. Now the parents will be out of pocket because she wanted a beach holiday

She surely can't be put back on furlough if she's needed to work can she?

It would probably depend on how badly you want to keep her/what you can afford.

Also when she booked & did she have a chance to cancel?

There must be plenty of people who won't be getting paid.

Just give her the choice of using 2 weeks of her annual leave or unpaid leave or she pays for a substitute - she probably has a friend who could do it.

Lots of us have not gone on holiday (I haven't been all year) due to this and she took this risk.

I am assuming she does not live in but even if she does the way our strange rules work is people she lives with - you - can still go out and about and to work I think.

Her risk, what action has she taken to mitigate the dusruotion (travel before deadline, return earlier so quarantine time at least partly offset by the planned al). You could offer ssp.

She took the risk, and she faces the consequences. No you shouldn’t pay her. I would have loved a holiday, but couldn’t afford to take in paid leave, so we didn’t go, and it was cancelled. Simple.

She knew the risks. I would not pay.

Can she work from home and look after your kids at her house? It's highly likely she doesn't have the virus.

For the record, we paid her full salary when she was in furlough

You didn't claim the government payments for furloughed staff?

When did she book the holiday? Insurance won't pay up for cancellation without the operator/airline cancelling.

The (mixed) government messaging was "travel, travel, its all fine" with the transport minister eulogising about his own foreign hols and those of other ministers. Not surprising that people thought it was ok even if you felt you knew better.

If you don't feel any moral responsibility then consider how easy it is just now to get a job as a nanny compared to the difficulty in finding a good nanny.

She could quarantine at your house? Although then she won't be able to take your kids out anywhere and someone else would have to do the school runs if/when there is an overlap with school. But as far as I'm aware you don't have to quarantine in your own home, just wherever you go your have to stay put.

You will need to pay for alternative childcare. You will be having to arrange this childcare. This is all due to her CHOICE to go on holiday during a pandemic when the risks of quarantine were known by all. This is a risk SHE CHOSE, not you. You should not be left out of pocket. You paid her during lockdown because you are a responsible employer. This is different entirely. She should use her holiday allowance and you use the money you would have paid her to pay for alternative childcare. It is not stingy to not cover someone else's risk bearing choices.

FFS don’t put her only furlough. It makes me want to weep hearing of the many abuses of the scheme. The economy is going to be utterly fucked and people using furlough to cover a couple of weeks here and there is really not helping! Furlough was to keep jobs in existence during the immediate lockdown. It wasn’t to enable a nanny not to be out of pocket after choosing to go on holiday abroad!!