Do you give your au pairs holiday pay? Post Reply

[coolmum]

Hi,

Just wondering whether you pay your au pairs holidays and I'm just interested to see what the average weekly spending money is for how many hours?

Many thanks.

[SBagnall]

Why would you not pay them holiday pay?? Why wouldn't they be entitled to that? I am a nanny, but when I finished college at 17 I took au pair roles to get experience. Au pairs earn so little anyway, the least you can do is pay them all year if they are only going away for the standard holiday leave duration.

[wildatheart]

European Law states that anyone working in the same place, same job for 13 weeks becomes an employee with employee rights. After all, a cleaner or gardener who works a regular day/hours can't earn other money in this allocated time. This includes sick pay and holiday pay would be equivalent to what they earn for a week.

It used to be 5 weeks but would need checking out. It's usually a good idea to draw up Terms of Agreement when someone starts working for you regularly, whatever the job.

Young people and foreigners could be frightened of arguing for any of this and losing their jobs and many employers would "let them go" and find someone more amenable - meaning they could be denied their rights

Hope that helps

[coolmum]

Can I just note that au pairs are not employees.

[coolmum]

When we go away then we always pay but she's only been with us 2 months and want to go back home for 2 weeks. Husband thinks she shouldn't get paid.

[SBagnall]

Well she can always leave if she's not happy about it

[wildatheart]

Sorry to say that anyone is an employee who works 13 weeks in a row. You still would only pay holiday pay according to what they receive pro rata.

Like any job, you can't take holiday ahead of what you have worked in time. 2 months work does not qualify for 2 weeks holiday unless you had a prior arrangement.

[Muddlemoo]

Of course she should get paid. Au pairs don't really earn enough as it is and she'll be looking after the house etc. why don't you get her to do a few jobs around the house - cleaning the toys, sorting clothes etc. we've had 3 au pairs and have always paid them throughout the year.

[wildatheart]

I suppose the bottom line has to be "do unto others..."

Nobody I know would like to be in/or could afford any job without holiday pay. If forced to accept the deal, of course they can leave or work with resentment which would impact on the children.

You would essentially be getting rid of them for financial reasons and not because of the quality of their work in the house and with the children. It would therefore still go wrong with the next au pair!

[nvmof3]

The agency I find my au pairs through always says one week paid leave for each three month period worked. If she wants a 2 wk holiday only two months into the job, the agency would normally advise you to pay her for one of the weeks and explain she cannot have another paid week off until she has worked another four months. I think most au pairs are on £80-120 a week in London depending on hours worked and experience.

[millymoo]

I don't have an aupair but agree that you absolutely should pay her holiday pay as presumably you want her to be there when you get back? even though you may not have an official contract with her as such she has got living expenses whilst you are away.

[nvmof3]

Sorry Millymoo. I had understood that the original OP was talking about the au pair taking holiday. If the family is taking holiday without the au pair, then of course full pay is the only fair course of action.

[coolmum]

Thanks for all the info.

So if its our choice to go away then we would pay her and regards toget holidays. 1 week every 3 months?

Thanks for this.

[mia_h]

Hi,

Yes you need to pay her if you decide to go away.

You should also have a contract stating her hours, holiday, sickness pay etc. We give our au pairs min 5 weeks paid holiday per year and I think it is pretty standard.

And they do need to be treated as employees for the purposes of holiday/sick leave.

[mollys]

You definitely have to pay her! Our au pair gets 20 days holiday per year (paid) and when we go away we also pay her the usual amount. She usually does a big spring clean when we're not there, so she's still working hard!
I agree that she technically shouldn't take 2 weeks off after only 2 months, but if I were you I'd let her. She might be really homesick and you don't want her to be unhappy.
If you need any guidance then I think aupairworld.net has a standard contract you can look at