Anonymous wrote:This is ridiculous and excessive. At work I think you get 5 days off for an immediate family member.
When my dad died, I took off two days for the funeral (I "worked from home" for a third day), and then took a personal day, then had the weekend, and then was back at work. A month later I still was able to use two days for meeting with an estate lawyer, etc.
Set a limit. You hired her to do a job. If she's not able to commit to the job requirements, then this isn't working.
I don't disagree with you that it's more than a normal employer would give under any circumstances. We made some allowances because she had to travel to another country.
Re: limits, I think it's really tricky with nannies. Our child is bonded with her and she is otherwise excellent (probably the best we've had). Also, the traits that make her loyal to her family in this situation are ones that make her go the extra mile for ours. So when I factor in the time it would take to search and do trials and probably end up with someone not as good, that's an issue. Searching and trials has easily taken me a few weeks every time. I'm hesitant to blow this up over something that is eventually (I am not sure when -- in a month? two months?) going to be different.