Au Pair / Easter holidays - what 's fair?

[goreousgirl]

I know that I have to give my au pair Easter Fri and Mon off (and to be fair she deserves it)! However, we are at home (not going away) - over Easter. On Tues-Thurs we have to go away for 3 days to a family funeral.

So ultimately she is going to get a week off....

I am currently freelancing and paying her £5 per hour extra to cover an extra 2.5 hours per day whilst I work from home.

Do I revert to her usual £60 per week or do I pay her the extra money??? What's 'fair'?

bump

Bumpety bumpety bumpety bump

...and one final bump for the evening crowd....

If you're not there and it will effectively be leave for her, I'd pay her the basic for the time you're away/on leave.

Agree with Tanzie... and you could could count it toward her annual holiday time (if you haven't already given it elsewhere). ALthough, even I would regard that as a little bit cheeky on such short notice.

Thanks Tanzie - Do you think she'll resent the loss though? I feel like I'm being mean, but I won't be being paid - so it's hard to hand over the cash, especially when she's going to have such an easy time....

Have a heart, Uwila! Agree that the aupair should be paid basic rather than any additional amount but why on earth should she be forced to take holiday on short notice so that the family can attend a funeral?

If you are not working and neither is she, and you have not made her take holiday or come with you to the funeral then I think the basic rate is fair.

Oh right, I should read a bit more carefully. Missed the bit about unplanned week for funeral. I would probably just give her the time off at basic pay if I didn't want her to accompany us to the funeral.

In fact, I did this on Tuesday for DD's birthday, which was Tuesday. On Monday evening I decided to take the day off myself and spend it with DD. And, so just gave nanny the day off.

What we have done in the past (with nanny so slightly different situ) is pay as normal even when we didn't need her services as it were, and then 'bank' that time with her agreement against future hours, at less than pro rata, so it not just deferring the hours. Everyone wins that way - your au pair gets her normal wage, and a holiday, and feels looked after, it costs you no more than it would do normally anyway, and she 'owes' you a couple of nights extra b/sitting or whatever you agree. We have given our nanny a fifth week's holiday, paid as usual, and then had the time back later in the year as a weekend so we could get away for example. Hope this makes sense!

Thanks everyone - yes Sinclair - think I came to the same conclusion - I'm going to give her a BIT less money - but I've asked her to babysit on a Friday night (even tho there's one a week in her contract - I NEVER ask her), so I think that's fair.

Thanks guys - appreciate the time!

gg