Conflict about sick days
ETA - for clarity, based on comments & update below:
our nanny began July 2024. She used 3 of 5 sick days before family got sick. Sick days 4-5 came from dealing with this cold. Today and tomorrow are days 6 & 7.
I’m a nurse by profession, exposed to sick people as a part of the job.
Update: we let her know sick days 6&7 will be paid. When she feels better, we’ll sit down and mutually create a contract clause re: what happens when the family is sick.
OP:
My husband and I are having our first conflict with our nanny. Our whole house had a cold last week and she came down with it this week, unfortunately. We offer five paid sick days. Yesterday was her 5th paid sick day. She has a doctor’s note to be off work for today and tomorrow, which are her sixth and seventh sick days.
She is upset that we would not be paying her for these two days because she says the cold is something that she got from us.
In my working career, the only time I have been offered extra sick time off for getting sick at my work was during the Covid pandemic. Our contract doesn’t say anything about how sick days are different when it is a sickness caught from the family. It never crossed my mind that there was a difference, to be honest.
Are we being unreasonable? I could really use some perspective from the nanny community.