nanny holidays Post Reply

[Jellybeans]

Dear Nannies and Mums,
I am a full time nanny and need advice on paid holidays.
I have 20 days holiday plus all bank holidays.
Im allowed to choose 5 days and my employer 15 days.
My employer already choose 8 days.From which 1 day was when grandma came and I had to take the day off(taken from my holidays)
In the summer they are going to take another 8days .So 1 more they can choose.
I asked them to be able to add to these days my chosen 5days for health reasons.
To cut it short,they were quite unhappy with my choice but at the end they agreed.
Im afraid they wanted me to take my days between Xmas and New Year,but that is not much of a choice..Although I understand I need to take days off that period.
My concern is,they told me as I used up than all my holidays and they have more holidays anyway.they asking me to babysit for free in return.Do I own days for them?
If I do ,Im more than happy to compensate and babysit.
However,in my 14 years nanny career if the family took more holiday than I had,that was paid leave as I was available to work.
.Or do I need to babysit just for the xmas break?I dont want to take advantage just would love to know what is the right thing to do in this situation.
Any advice welcome
many thx

[petit]

hi, no, you don't have to babysit for them for free on other occasions! If the family decides to go away more than you'd agreed on (on top of your holiday entitlement) and you're available to work at that time then they should either pay you in full and you're simply off or if they have an issue with you getting extra (and paid) days off then they could ask you to maybe housesit, water the plants or sort out children's bedrooms, etc.

[charlottelbb]

Do you have a contract? If all this information is written down on paper then there should be no mis-understandings.

Firstly, I would say as a professional nanny for many years you are entitled to choose half your holidays and your employer half holidays of their choice. Only 5 days holiday of your choice is totally unfair.

Unfortunately if this is what you have agreed then not alot you can do about it, other than to re-negotiate at the appropriate time. However regarding extra holiday they have taken and asking you to repay by free babysits, it is definitely not the norm.
If they choose to go away on holiday and don't take you with them, and all your holiday is finished. You are entitled to still be paid as this is there choice to go away.
Alternatively my advise would be to take this extra holiday as un-paid leave. I wouldn't be prepared to make up this time with free babysits. If you are not happy with unpaid leave, then you could always consider a temp job for the extra days they are away to make up the income.

If you would like more advise then I'm sure a child-care agency would happily give advise.

As a nanny you have to be flexible to the needs of the family. We all understand that sometimes it's hard to have holiday of your choice when they are working parents. However, you shouldn't be taken advantage of!

[daddy72]

Most nanny's I know get to choose 2 weeks and the Family chose 2 weeks. If the family choose more than those two weeks then that's not really your fault.

No contract or agreement can legally over-ride your statutory rights with regards employment law - including holiday entitlement. so you would be within your rights to play hardball and take 4 weeks of your choice...

....which is why most family's and nanny's compromise on 2 weeks each.