Hiring a nanny with a drink driving offence

[littlelongstockings]

I interviewed a lovely nanny yesterday who I liked overall, however she has a DUI on her criminal record from 9 years ago, she is in her 40s so not young.
the position will not include driving my child around as she doesn’t currently have a car and isn’t open to using one of our cars, she will transport my child by bus or train.
would you employ a nanny with a background offence of DUI?

This.
Just because she won't be driving DC around doesn't mean she's a safe bet. Your child is too precious to take a risk on someone who may have changed their ways. It's a red flag you shouldn't ignore.

The lack of honesty at the interview would be the main reason I wouldn’t employ her! She KNEW you’d see this on her DBS yet said NOTHING! That’s actually worse than lying in my book and she’s clearly not trustworthy and certainly not with my kids!

That amount shows it’s either not her first time being caught or the levels of alcohol in her system were so high the judge wanted to make an example of her

I would ask her what happened - if she drinks now -

tho equally she isn’t a nanny. Doesn’t haven’t nanny exp so I would look at employing an actual nanny

I wouldn’t have even had her over for the interview once I saw that conviction

No. I'd possibly overlook it if she'd been 18 at the time and was now in her 30s. Not if she was in her 30s when it happened. We make stupid decisions in our teens - we shouldn't still be doing something so utterly irresponsible in our 30s.

It would make me question not only her judgement but her moral values and so I wouldn't want her left in charge of my children.

I would ask about it. DUI isn’t always drink driving. You can get a DUI for driving while taking a prescription medication that no one told you was not safe to drive while taking such as is anti seizure drugs or prescription pain relief.

You wouldn't get an 18m ban for an innocent accident.

You most certainly can if that is how long you need to take the medication for.
I am on a lifetime driving ban due to medication I take needing to be for the rest of my life. I’ve never hurt anyone and I was wrongly advised by my doctor that it was ok for me to drive when it wasn’t. It was ultimately my mistake.

Just don't, not worth the risk, many more fish in the sea.

They're a difference between being banned because of a medical condition (eg epilepsy) and a court imposed ban following a criminal conviction.

If it was due to incompatibility with medication, then yes the courts could ban for drug driving, and would impose a notional ban (6m-3y usually) but would also remind the person that they are not permitted to drive as long as they remain on the medication.

The courts are not going to impose a lifetime ban on YOU driving, only remind you of your legal responsibilities to not drive whilst on medication where it's prohibited from doing so.

You know the answer is no.

She didn't offer an excuse or a lie, she ignored the huge grey trunked creature in the room.

Would you be calm about her driving your kids about with drunk or drugs in her system?

I might, but I'd want to talk about it and see what her mindset on the matter is like now. Also, I would only do it if she wasn't driving my children anywhere at any point. What about if you actually require her to drive one day though? Perhaps it would be better to find someone else who could do that.

Having read more posts. I don't think I would. She doesn't have an employment history in the UK and that's a bit weird if she has a husband here. I think you could find it hard to trust her and regret hiring her.

Has she ever worked in the UK? Where did the DUI happen? What were the circumstances? Did she get into the car straight after drinking? Or was it the next morning? I’d be wary. Even the not working in the UK would put me off.

That might be in your experience but mine is very different.
I know of teachers who have lost their jobs and been unable to work as a teacher again due to drink driving. It is inexcusable.

No, because of all the other stuff. Too many questions/ red flags. Definitely not.

She has no nanny experience in the UK and you want to hire her? There are plenty of nannies in wirh over 20 years experience in this country looking for work with clean Dbs why not hire of them?

You seem to be very certain she won't get a job as as a teacher. Out of curiosity, what makes you so certain?

I’m not sure of a lot of the outraged posters realise, but it’s illegal to discriminate against someone with a spent conviction.

This doesn't apply to excepted jobs including Working with Vulnerable People: Roles involving children, elderly care, or working in schools/hospitals.

Thankfully.
Otherwise a convicted paedophile could be hired as a nanny.

It's also not the dui on its own. It's the lack of employment record, messaging in the middle of the night, not wanting to drive...

For that exemption the conviction has to be relevant to the role and that doesn't apply when there is no connection between conviction and the role.
Drunk driving and she’s not expected to drive in the role.
it’s not the case that you can discriminate against any spent conviction as long as there is a vulnerable person involved.

I agree, if she was the perfect candidate apart from the DUI and wouldn't even be driving for the role.
But there are other issues as well and it's reasonable to take it all into account to judge if they should have sole charge of a child.

But the OP can't possibly know for a fact what her character and judgement are like now. What she does know is that this woman has a DUI.