Au Pair tested positive for COVID

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have taken great care of her while she’s been sick (fever, chills, nausea and more. This has put my kids at great risk, but of course we want to help while she’s sick. Yes she’s vaccinated but got really sick during her quarantine.

If she wants to look for another family that is her prerogative. We’ve hosted several Au pairs and are a genuine family, but she brought this back to our house because she wanted to party on the beach. It will be hard to take nearly an additional week on top of the unexpected additional two weeks that I’ve had to take for her quarantine (plus the other 4 days that she’s getting off over the Holidays).

I talked to my LCC and am going to take two days of the vacation, so she’ll have 5 days over the next few months (Holidays + vacation day) which will still amount to 4 1/2 weeks off.

I think this is the best approach, by talking with the LCC.

Not all host parents have unlimited time off, so you have to balance your work obligations with her time off.

Can you find a temporary nanny/sitter? I would try to build your rolodex (omg, that's an old term) for having back-up care. We found that one problem with hosting aupairs if that you lose that list of available sitters when things go sideways. If you get a list going of vaccinated and safer sitters, than you can call on them when things get tight. We ended up hiring one as our full time nanny eventually because it became too much to host through the pandemic. I think having that list gave me a lot of confidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have taken great care of her while she’s been sick (fever, chills, nausea and more. This has put my kids at great risk, but of course we want to help while she’s sick. Yes she’s vaccinated but got really sick during her quarantine.

If she wants to look for another family that is her prerogative. We’ve hosted several Au pairs and are a genuine family, but she brought this back to our house because she wanted to party on the beach. It will be hard to take nearly an additional week on top of the unexpected additional two weeks that I’ve had to take for her quarantine (plus the other 4 days that she’s getting off over the Holidays).

I talked to my LCC and am going to take two days of the vacation, so she’ll have 5 days over the next few months (Holidays + vacation day) which will still amount to 4 1/2 weeks off.

I think this is the best approach, by talking with the LCC.

Not all host parents have unlimited time off, so you have to balance your work obligations with her time off.

Can you find a temporary nanny/sitter? I would try to build your rolodex (omg, that's an old term) for having back-up care. We found that one problem with hosting aupairs if that you lose that list of available sitters when things go sideways. If you get a list going of vaccinated and safer sitters, than you can call on them when things get tight. We ended up hiring one as our full time nanny eventually because it became too much to host through the pandemic. I think having that list gave me a lot of confidence.

We do have a few back up people to call, but did not feel comfortable bringing anyone to the house while we had someone with an active COVID case at home. The kids did not go to school (until after they quarantined and tested negative), and we did not go in to work. We wanted to make sure that we kept everyone around us as safe as possible too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have taken great care of her while she’s been sick (fever, chills, nausea and more. This has put my kids at great risk, but of course we want to help while she’s sick. Yes she’s vaccinated but got really sick during her quarantine.

If she wants to look for another family that is her prerogative. We’ve hosted several Au pairs and are a genuine family, but she brought this back to our house because she wanted to party on the beach. It will be hard to take nearly an additional week on top of the unexpected additional two weeks that I’ve had to take for her quarantine (plus the other 4 days that she’s getting off over the Holidays).

I talked to my LCC and am going to take two days of the vacation, so she’ll have 5 days over the next few months (Holidays + vacation day) which will still amount to 4 1/2 weeks off.

I think this is the best approach, by talking with the LCC.

Not all host parents have unlimited time off, so you have to balance your work obligations with her time off.

Can you find a temporary nanny/sitter? I would try to build your rolodex (omg, that's an old term) for having back-up care. We found that one problem with hosting aupairs if that you lose that list of available sitters when things go sideways. If you get a list going of vaccinated and safer sitters, than you can call on them when things get tight. We ended up hiring one as our full time nanny eventually because it became too much to host through the pandemic. I think having that list gave me a lot of confidence.

We do have a few back up people to call, but did not feel comfortable bringing anyone to the house while we had someone with an active COVID case at home. The kids did not go to school (until after they quarantined and tested negative), and we did not go in to work. We wanted to make sure that we kept everyone around us as safe as possible too.

Thank you for being so responsible!

[Anonymous]

Actions have risks and consequences, this was brought on by her. I agree with your original post, I would use her remaining days for vacation as pay and the rest as unpaid leave. No work no pay for something entirely preventable. Also I wouldn't never allowed the travel to begin with but that's a different story!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actions have risks and consequences, this was brought on by her. I agree with your original post, I would use her remaining days for vacation as pay and the rest as unpaid leave. No work no pay for something entirely preventable. Also I wouldn't never allowed the travel to begin with but that's a different story!

1. You can’t “not allow” her to travel. You can rematch if you have different priorities.
2. You can’t just not pay her. Again, you can rematch, but you can’t decide to just not pay her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actions have risks and consequences, this was brought on by her. I agree with your original post, I would use her remaining days for vacation as pay and the rest as unpaid leave. No work no pay for something entirely preventable. Also I wouldn't never allowed the travel to begin with but that's a different story!

1. You can’t “not allow” her to travel. You can rematch if you have different priorities.
2. You can’t just not pay her. Again, you can rematch, but you can’t decide to just not pay her.

Yes actions have risks and consequences. If you treat the person that cares for your children poorly, you risk that she will treat your kids poorly. You get what you give.