My Nanny is pregnant

A

amolly

Guest
We have 3 children.
The Nanny (with us 6 months) has just told me she is pregnant. She looks after the children in our own home
We pay her tax and prsi (all above board)and she is full-time.
Am I obliged to keep her job open for her once she has the baby? i.e can she request to come back after her 6 months maternity leave (which I can't afford to top up).
I will need to find a replacement while she is off ?

Also , can I encourage her to leave at around 6 weeks before the baby is due ? I have some concerns about her ability to look after my children.
I'm a mother myself and want to do the right thing by her , but I also need to put my own children first.
Thanks
 
You could try asking over at [SIZE=-1]www.rollercoaster.ie

What is the nature of the contract of employment that your nanny has with you?

Is she your employee or is she the employee of an agency?
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ask her what her plans are, there may be nothing to worry about, she may be worrying as much about leaving you as you are about her staying.

Would be bizarre if she put he kid in childcare to come back to work for you...but stranger things have happened.
 
As her employer, you're not obliged to top up any Social Welfare entitlement she may have (or to compensate if she has no entitlement).

AFAIK, she would be entitled to her job back at the end of her maternity leave (whether paid or unpaid) so it may be that you could only seek a relpacement on a temporary basis.

It's reasonable for you to ask her what her plans are for the period after her baby is born. It may be that she won't want to comeback to you, in which case you can look for a permanent replacement.
 
amolly said:
Also , can I encourage her to leave at around 6 weeks before the baby is due ? I have some concerns about her ability to look after my children
Click to expand...

Be careful with this adn how you approach/word your concerns ...think about how you would react if you were her....
 
amolly said:
Also , can I encourage her to leave at around 6 weeks before the baby is due ? I have some concerns about her ability to look after my children.
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A suitable encouragement would be to pay her for the weeks that you feel she is not fit to look after your children. It's only four weeks that you would have to pay for as she is obliged to stop work two weeks before her own baby is born.
 
If the nanny has to be treated like all other employees, i.e. job kept open for her, etc. Then does that mean if someone decided to stay at home with their kids after having a nanny for say 3 years, do they have to pay statutory redundancy?
 
Also , can I encourage her to leave at around 6 weeks before the baby is due ? I have some concerns about her ability to look after my children.
Click to expand...
The law is 2 weeks minimum prior to the birth, therefore if you want to 'encourage' her, put your money where your mouth is! As a mother, you would be aware that she will require time off after the birth, not an unnecessary 6 weeks prior to her due date.
 
A friend of mine recently was in this situation with an au pair who became pregnant. The advice from Revenue as she was an au pair that effectively her employment was not employment but rather more akin to pocket money and hence the statutory entitlement didn't apply.
 
Hi Queen Sheeba,

If you engage a nanny from nannysolutions.com does the nanny become your employee or does the nanny remain an employee of nannysolutions.com?

aj
 
You have not clarified if the nanny in this case is your employee or a contractor. If she works exclusively for you, you deduct PAYE and PRSI from her wages, and you set her hours of employment, the Revenue would probably consider her your employee. Even if the Revenue consider it "pocket money" (whatever that is!), she may still be an employee for the purposes of employment protection legislation.

I would be very careful about how you broach this subject with her. Ask her what her plans are for after the birth and when she intends to take maternity leave. You cannot force her to take maternity leave more than two weeks before her due date. You can offer her incentive payments to structure her leave in a way that suits you, but these would probably have to be at least as much as the pay she would forgoe (less Maternity Benefit), otherwise it could be construed as bullying.

Then does that mean if someone decided to stay at home with their kids after having a nanny for say 3 years, do they have to pay statutory redundancy?
Click to expand...

Quite possibly. I am not a lawyer.
 
It's interesting that although an employee can be dismissed for pretty much any reason within their first 12 months of employment, pregnancy and anything pregnancy related is specifically excluded (along with Union membership)
Quite good protective legislation
 
ajapale said:
Hi Queen Sheeba,

If you engage a nanny from nannysolutions.com does the nanny become your employee or does the nanny remain an employee of nannysolutions.com?

aj
Click to expand...
The nanny remains an employee of nannysolutions.com.The contracts are initially for 1 year and they do follow up calls to see how the nanny is doing.
 
Thanks Queen of Sheeb,

So anyone engaging a nanny should do so through an agency who look after all the tax and regulatory issues. Should the nanny become entitled to maternity leave then the agency takes the hit and are responsible for providing an alternative.

Is my understanding correct?

aj
 
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