As nannying is an industry dominated by women it’s inevitable that each year nanny employers will find themselves dealing with a pregnant employee. However delighted you may be for your nanny on a personal level it’s entirely understandable that you might be feeling anxious about your new responsibilities as an employer. We have previously looking at managing pregnant employees and what might happen about your nanny returning to work, so let’s look at some less likely scenarios – when your nanny suffers from some kind of pregnancy related illness.
You must remember that pregnancy related illness cannot be used in any disciplinary proceedings. It cannot count towards any kind of absence management system that you have from the moment that your nanny discloses her pregnancy. Your nanny may tell you early if she is suffering from severe morning sickness to benefit from the protection. Any sickness, even if pregnancy related, before she tells you about her pregnancy is managed as usual.
Sickness is separate to time off for antenatal appointments. The usual rules around Statutory Sick Pay apply, except when your nanny is past her 37th week of pregnancy when any kind of illness will trigger maternity leave.
You have a responsibility to look after your nanny’s health and her unborn child. This may mean taking extra precautions when your own children are sick, but also accepting that she will be off sick when at other times she would have worked through the illness. Some people find that their immune system is less effective when pregnant and they catch colds and bugs more easily.
Pregnancy can trigger specific health conditions in some people, such as SPD which affects the hips and can make walking or pushing a pram difficult or diabetes where blood sugar is not effectively controlled by the body, or make existing health conditions worse. If your nanny has a pregnancy related condition which affects her ability to work but is not so severe that she needs to be signed off you will need to modify her job accordingly or suspend her on full pay.