Nanny is sick too often -- WWYD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with finding a new nanny. Reliability is one of the biggest issues for us and I really probe that issue when talking with references. As an incentive not to use sick days frivolously we pay them out in cash at the end of the year if they aren't used.

OP here: Paying out sick days sounds good, except what about illnesses that are contagious: the flu, colds, etc? We don't want DC (infant) exposed, so that might not work for us. At this rate, though, we are burning through our own PTO and won't have much left for vacation or our own illnesses. Previous employers did not mention excessive sick time (we did ask!). I guess we'll have to cut her loose; it's just hard because she is a reasonably good nanny when she is present. Fortunately, our own PTO is calendar year based, so not accruing her leave won't matter as much if we replace her. I'm sorry for her health issues, but we can't put our own jobs at risk. Plus we'd like to take a family vacation in 2019!

Do you have her stay home for a common cold? Is she asking to stay home, or do you tell her to? She shouldn’t be staying home every time she has the sniffles! No wonder she’s burning through all of her leave. Have a conversation. Tell her you only want her to take sick dad when she has a fever/vomiting/absolutely cannot work. That’s what most people do. Otherwise, she should take some medicine and perk up.

OP here: No, I never tell her to stay home, but when she calls out sick, there is always an implied (or stated) "I wouldn't want DC to catch it" as part of the excuse for staying home. DC hasn't been sick with a cold yet, but I suppose when that happens, she'll blame some of her illnesses on that. But a lot of her issues are not contagious at all, more chronic/acute discomforts (e.g. GI, UTI, etc).

OP, just get a new nanny. She sounds awful. We've had our nanny for over 1.5 years, and she's taken probably 3-4 sick days that whole time.