What happens if your nanny is to sick to work for a long period of time?

[charliecat]

My mums friend has a nanny. For 5-6 weeks she has been off sick. Problems with her sight, been to hospital, had operations.
Now shes returned to work....but she cant drive the kids to school and shes not in a fit state to be doing housework.
She cant sack her(which is what the nanny suggested, obviously she would hit her with a ton of legal disability bricks), but shes not fit to be doing the job for the long term future.
So shes being employed for 8 hours a day to do nothing...??!!! What happens now?

I have 15yrs experience as a nanny but during the last job I had I got very ill.

I spent 8 weeks in hospital and with a really rare neurological condition. I couldn't walk, eat, see properly and had no sense of balance. It was horrible.

When I got out of hospital I could barely care for myself or my DD, going back to work wasn't an option for another 2 months.

My employers cancelled my contract gave me a glowing written reference and paid me 1 months salary. It was probably the only way it could have been sorted.

They were really shite about the way they did it so I have very little respect for them. The mother was a solicitor and handled it in a very harsh business like manner. Which I believe could have been sorted over a cup of tea and biscuits.

In some respect it depends on what the parents want to do. They could place their children in a nursery or with a cm and give the nanny appropriate notice. They are on thinner ice if they just give her notice and replace her. I seem to remember that nannytax also offer legal advice?

Thanks superloopy and ladymuck. The children are all at school, so would need to be another nanny employed.

Sorry to hear that sooperloopy. Charliecat maybe talk to CAB or look at ACAS site. Obviously they want to get this sorted without cheeting the nanny (if you see what I mean) so they need to find out how to go about it. There must be a mechanism otherwise we wo8uld all have jobs for life regerdless of whether we could be a paragliding instructor at the age of 95!!

lol

I wonder if you should get a company to do an ability review ie to see if she is fit for the job and if not then you have an independent view. If you ring acas 0845 747 4 747 they should point you in the right direction. Your mum's friend can end her employment but she has to tread very carefully and within the law. I know somebody whose nanny was preg and she sacked her and had to pay her alot in compensation. Disability can be expensive if a person is discriminated against. Obviously if the person can't do their job, suitable alternative employment should be offered if working in an organisation but as a nanny this is not the case. Your mum's friend needs to be very careful indeed but it can be done. Does she have a letter from her GP to say she is fit and well for work?

Also, if she is required to drive the children to school and can't and can't manage housework, she has cancelled her old contract which can only be done with the agreement of the employer.

why will she not be fit to do the job in the long term? is your mum's friend sure about that? can she not take the children to school using public transport? also small employers can get govt funding to help make reasonable adjustments that enable someone carry on doing their job. your mum's friend could enquire as to whether she could get financial help towards the cost of taking the children to school in a taxi. there is info here (a bit limited admittedly, but a start) on the dda and reasonable adjustments

Thanks for the links. Will look in the morning. She got a sick note for the first week but hasnt since.
Have no idea of the implications of this, or the reasons, but thats whats been said.
Not sure of exactly whats wrong with her eyes either but it doesnt look to be getting better at all.

I have made a full recovery now but the whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth.

Can they not all just sit down and discuss the situation? She might want to leave but doesn't want to put the family out any more...

If she cannot perform in the role which she was employed to do due to illness, if she left she would qualify for incapacity benefits? I wasn't able to get this due to limits on my residency visa.