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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

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Original poster

Do i pay our cleaner over xmas?

35 replies

muswell345 · 19/12/2006 13:13

Help. Do I pay our cleaner who comes in 5 hours a week over xmas. She normally works on Tuesdays, but doesn't want to come on Boxing day. She's taking the week off even though she doesn't celebrate xmas (shes taking her xmas of 7th jan off too).We're fine with that, but she's hinting that she wants to be paid for the full week.

Do I give her?20 extra in a xmas card or do I give her the full ?40.

Forgive the scroogeness of this message, but money is tight and we will probably have to stop having help in the spring anyway.

OP posts:

nothercules · 19/12/2006 13:15

Yes, you should. Most people get paid for holidays.

TheBlonde · 19/12/2006 13:17

Mine takes either one or two weeks off
I give her an extra week of money

vitomum · 19/12/2006 13:32

i gave mine the choice of either not coming in and still getting paid, or coming in a getting paid double. She has chosen to come in

hortense · 28/12/2006 13:58

We pay Christmas week and two other holiday weeks per year. How many weeks paid holiday do others give? She can have extra weeks but at the moment they are unpaid although sometimes she works extra hours the week before and after the holiday (pad of course).

justaphase · 28/12/2006 14:09

Cleaners are self employed, you are not responsible for their holidays.

We used to use an agency and paid per hours worked. Now we use a self employed cleaner.

She never takes any holidays but if she did I would not pay her if she did not come in.

However I put £40 (2 weeks pay) in a Christmas card and gave it to her as a present. This is purely a goodwill gesture and nothing she is entitled to.

WideWebWitch · 28/12/2006 14:14

I don't pay mine anything when she's not here but I did give her a bonus of £50, which is a weeks pay and a bottle of Champagne but that was a present to say thank you (we had a misunderstanding earlier this year!)

So in your position no, I wouldn't pay her as a) you can't afford to and b) she is paid for the hours she works, not ones she doesn't and c) she's a bit cheeky to hint at it I think.

batters · 28/12/2006 14:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

SherlockLGJ · 28/12/2006 14:23

We gave ours a box of nice Christmas crackers, which she had never had before. She was delighted with them. We also gave her a bottle of wine.

She works for a lot of the Mums at school and we all agreed to keep it to wine and a gift. Otherwise it gets silly.

I am a contract worker, I don't work,I don't bill, I don't get paid. Why would your cleaner exepct to be paid for work she has not done ?? The mind boggles.

CliffRichardSucksEggsinHell · 28/12/2006 14:24

And a box of Clarins stuff?

mancmum · 28/12/2006 14:27

of course you pay her... I can not believe people would even think of not paying for her... she does this job to live you know, not just keep your house tidy out of the goodness of her heart! You get paid for holidays -why should a cleaner be any different? Money is tight for you --- imagine if your employer did not pay you!!

batters · 28/12/2006 14:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

justaphase · 28/12/2006 14:46

But mancmum thats exactly the point - you are NOT her employer.

Cleaners are either self-employed or work for cleaning businesses. Either way you are not responsible for their holidays, maternity leave, sick leave, tax or pension.

A Chrismas gift as a goodwill gesture is an entirely different matter.

SherlockLGJ · 28/12/2006 14:52

I have had my wonderful cleaner for about 6 months now. In that time, she has gone back to Lithuania at short notice as her Grandfather was ill she stayed there for 2 weeks, she then had a bad back and was missing for another two weeks. She told me at Christmas that she is going home for 3 weeks in January.

My point being if I paid her for all of that she would have had 7 weeks paid holidays.

I agree with JustaPhase, I am not her employer, she is self employed. I do not pay her tax or NI, she is doing that herself, isn't she.

DumDiddyDum · 28/12/2006 15:04

I agree with last 2 posts...most cleaners are self-employed or work through and agency. This is unless u r paying her tax and NI for her. Would you pay her maternity leave?

snowfunwhenyoureknackered · 28/12/2006 15:09

I'd pay her if I valued her.

goodwill and all that.

hoxtonchick · 28/12/2006 15:13

we have given our cleaner the week off & paid her as normal.

vitomum · 28/12/2006 16:03

i agree it is a goodwill gesture. But if you value your cleaner it is one that makes sense. i also know someone else who my cleaner works for and he tried to get me to agree to an hourly rate, xmas bomus deal etc. However i refused and paid what i consider an appropriate value (a good bit more than him). I think it seems a bit mean LGJ to get in cahoots with the other mums to keep her xmas bonus down. Maybe some would have given more and why deprive someone of that - it is a low paid job after all.

jampots · 28/12/2006 16:10

this is interesting as I have a small cleaning company and not one client has even offered a card let alone any money or bottle of wine!

FrostyTheSnowMarsLady · 28/12/2006 16:23

Well my gorgeous cleaner said that Christmas wasn't a big deal to her and that she would come as normal. That would've been Boxing Day (I love this woman) but she came on Wednesday instead (sadly cos the kids are home it only looked beautiful for a nano second). I gave her a M&S voucher and some scottish shortbread all wrapped up.

I don't think that she should have to be paid, because as has been mentioned she is self employed. I do agree that nothing stops a goodwill gesture. I appreciate what she's done for me and so gave her a gift.

tissy · 28/12/2006 16:26

jampots, my cleaner comes from an agency, and I left her a card and a box of Crabtree and Evelyn biscuits- should I have given the owner of the agency something too (have I committed a huge gaffe?)

jampots · 28/12/2006 17:05

gosh tissy no not at all. After all its the cleaner who does the work Im surprised by teh amount of people have have left something.

oxocube · 28/12/2006 17:09

I don't have a cleaner now but used to have someone who looked after my kids in our home outside school/nursery hours (not exactly a nanny as she was a) not qualified but very nice and b)working illegally under another name. I used to pay her if she called in sick which was a nightmare but because of the mutual respect, she only did this twice - 2 days in 2 years and I believe both times were genuine and we gave her a decent (financial) Christmas gift for the 2 years she worked for us.

I did have a cleaner about a year ago and she was so crap that after 2 months, I said we didn't need her any more and I certainly wouldn't have paid her a xmas bonus

SherlockLGJ · 28/12/2006 17:12

VitoMum

I think it seems a bit mean LGJ to get in cahoots with the other mums to keep her xmas bonus down. Maybe some would have given more and why deprive someone of that - it is a low paid job after all.

Perhaps I did not make myself clear, it is the first year we have all had her so we discussed it, we were all loathe to give cash as has been said before she is self employed etc.

I live in South West Surrey, believe me she is not poorly paid.

nothercules · 28/12/2006 17:27

Ahh, I didn't realise they were counted as self employed. I change my original post to giving her a cash bonus at xmas but not as much as she is paid. If you ahvent the money then nothing.

wethreebobkings · 28/12/2006 17:38

Mine left me, thus saving me from making this decision - right after I gave her a pay rise.

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