is this true: a nanny going off on maternity leave has the legal right to return to work bringing her baby with her?

[nowwearefour]

i am just in the process of employing a nanny who i think could get pregnant at some point soon-ish. all fine. but i would not want to employ a nanny who brought her own child along- she knows that as she will not be bringing her dd1 along with her. would i be obliged to let her bring any further children with her if she was pregnant whilst working for me? i cannot believe this could be true but a good friend of mine swears it is the case.

don't think so, all she has the right to is to return to the sam job she had before.

that's exactly what i would have thought too

I am no expert, but I thought jobs had to be offered to returning employees on the same terms and conditions as before. So bringing an extra child with her - essentially sharing her own childcare with you - would not be the same terms and conditions.

Also not sure what rights can be accrued in the first year of employment?

In fact, our nanny did bring her own child and it was beneficial all round - DS had the company of another child, and we did pay her about a third below the 'going rate' (at her suggestion) because she was doing childcare for herself at the same time. i.e she was her own nannyshare.

But one of the factors in that success was that her child was the same age as mine. If you have four children, I agree that 5 is a lot to be caring for and getting a 'nanny' standard of attention!

yes i agree it can work well for some people- our nanny does take her dd along to another job for different days of the week and really enjoys it. but we wanted her sole attention for our kids (we have 2 dds the 4 is made up by me and dh. i could not manage with any more i dont think!)

No, no employee has the right to return to work following Maternity Leave and BRING THEIR CHILD TO WORK with them.

See this guide for information.
Maternity Entitlements: Return to Work
Key point: "An employee who returns to work after Ordinary Maternity Leave is entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions as if she had not been absent, unless a redundancy situation has arisen."

If an employee was to bring their baby with them to work, then that would be a CHANGE to the terms and conditions, thus there is no right to that.

thank you. i did not see how my friend could have been right but wanted to check. all resolved now!!