Anonymous wrote:Of course I deduct them from her sick days. Figuring out whose fault it is that someone got sick isn't really a game I want to play.

Doing your job of taking care of your sick brat because you're too lazy and she gets sick and you add insult to injury. I bet you go through nannies like grains of sand.

If I behaved appropriately as a parent and took appropriate steps to protect our nanny from an illness, but she gets sick, yes, I would count them as sick days, which of course would still mean she was going to be paid. As another poster pointed out, you don't want to be in the business of tracking where people get every illness from. That being said, as another person noted, if we got toward the end of the year and the nanny got sick again and was going to go over her days by a day or two, I'd remember this moment and just pay her anyway, life happens.

HOWEVER. I'm reading between the lines here. Your 8 month old got sick on Sunday and your kids seemed fine after 12 (!!) hours. Then you got sick on Monday, and the nanny got sick on Tuesday.

Did you have the nanny come on Monday despite the fact that your baby had a stomach bug that started less than 12 hours before?? If so, you're a huge, huge a$$hole.

My nanny comes when the kids have colds, sure. But a stomach bug? If there's a highly contagious stomach bug going around your house, you tell your nanny to stay home, with pay, until the last kid has been symptom free for a minimum of 24 hours. Duh. And if an adult has it, you keep that adult in their own bedroom and disinfect everything in the main areas of the house before the nanny arrives.

If you had the nanny come on Monday, you owe her not only those two sick days, but a huge apology. YTA.

Anonymous wrote:You are correct OP that getting sick IS an occupational hazard of working as a Nanny.

So for that point alone, I think you should offer her more sick days annually.

This 100%

You sound like a jerk, OP. Obviously you're not required to do something nice to apologize for getting her sick, but this is a lady who loves your children and reliably cares for them even when they're sick so you can maintain your career. She was throwing up. That sucks. Would it kill you to just get her a box of chocolates or something? I do little things like that for my nanny once or twice a month for no reason, just to show her that I care.

And to answer your original question, no I would not count it toward her sick days this time. The next time your family is sick, I would let her know that she can wear a mask if she prefers. If she chooses not to mask and gets sick again, then I think it would be fine to count that toward her sick days.

Dear Lord, for all of you who are so insensitive that your nanny should work when your kids or sick or not pay them due to your stomach bug, good luck keeping a nanny. You might just have to become a stay at home mom and deal with it yourself. GASP the horror I know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if a doctor, teacher, or cashier expected free sick leave just because they caught a bug from a patient, student, or customer coughing on them. Adults come in contact with sick individuals at work all of the time. Just deduct the sick days as usual.

On a side note, not deducting the sick days because the nanny could have caught an illness in your home would also mean that a sketchy nanny could claim that they are sick whenever a member of your household is ill.

Those are a bit different situations, especially a doctor as that is what they signed up for.

How about a teacher? Should her or she have not have their sick days docked for when they catch an illness that is going around the school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if a doctor, teacher, or cashier expected free sick leave just because they caught a bug from a patient, student, or customer coughing on them. Adults come in contact with sick individuals at work all of the time. Just deduct the sick days as usual.

On a side note, not deducting the sick days because the nanny could have caught an illness in your home would also mean that a sketchy nanny could claim that they are sick whenever a member of your household is ill.

Those are a bit different situations, especially a doctor as that is what they signed up for.

Isn't this what you signed up for as a nanny?

Anonymous wrote:Imagine if a doctor, teacher, or cashier expected free sick leave just because they caught a bug from a patient, student, or customer coughing on them. Adults come in contact with sick individuals at work all of the time. Just deduct the sick days as usual.

On a side note, not deducting the sick days because the nanny could have caught an illness in your home would also mean that a sketchy nanny could claim that they are sick whenever a member of your household is ill.

Those are a bit different situations, especially a doctor as that is what they signed up for.

Just know that if you are really strict about sick days, you encourage your nanny to come to work sick in cases where your family hasn't gotten the illness already. That seems like a bad incentive to set to me.

Anonymous wrote:I was with you until I read your follow up posts OP. You sounds like an asshole. And you absolutely could have made the choice to tell your nanny to stay home after this bug had hit ALL FOUR of you - obviously she was going to catch it when she came in.

Sometimes you can be a human being before being an employer. Just something to think about.

THIS - OP, you sound horrible.
I am a nanny and I think this depends on the nanny, the relationship, history with use of sick days etc. In my 8 years of being a Nanny, I have fortunately not been out sick for more than 2 days a year so this would be a non issue for me. However if my employer told me that this would not count towards my sick days, I would appreciate this gesture.

Imagine if a doctor, teacher, or cashier expected free sick leave just because they caught a bug from a patient, student, or customer coughing on them. Adults come in contact with sick individuals at work all of the time. Just deduct the sick days as usual.

On a side note, not deducting the sick days because the nanny could have caught an illness in your home would also mean that a sketchy nanny could claim that they are sick whenever a member of your household is ill.

Anonymous wrote:As an adult, she should have a much better immune system than your children, unless her immune system is compromised for some reason. When my kids get sick, I don't get sick.

Give me a break. The stomach flu is highly contagious. And if she was cleaning up after the children? I don't catch every cold my child gets either, but I've caught the flu. It would be hard not to.

Yes, I would count them. All other people have sick days deducted even if they got sick at work. I would just make sure that you are offering adequate sick days for how often your kids tend to get your nanny sick because nannies are certainly likely to get sick more often than most office workers.

I was with you until I read your follow up posts OP. You sounds like an asshole. And you absolutely could have made the choice to tell your nanny to stay home after this bug had hit ALL FOUR of you - obviously she was going to catch it when she came in.

Sometimes you can be a human being before being an employer. Just something to think about.