DH holiday/vacation pay

We agreed with our DH that she could go back to the Phil'pns when we went to OZ for a couple of weeks to see her family. We never made any expectation of who would pay for her flight (she has been with us for 3 months) and I'm trying to determine a couple of things.


1 - When a DH has been working for less than 3 months and goes on leave - is this paid holiday leave?


2 - Also, what about paying part/whole or nothing of her ticket? Given that she has no expectation.


Thanks

H

1. It is not paid leave - she needs to work for 12 months to get 7 days of paid holidays.


2. Have her pay for the whole ticket - she has not worked for you for long - I wouldn't appear too soft at this point. That way she will be keen to return to make up the money. There may be another time in the future when you would like to pay as a bonus for good work or something - if you pay now she may expect it all the time.


Would your employer pay for your airfares above your entitlement?

An alternative is to pay for her to stay in a boarding house. I have done this before. My helper said it was $30 per night, I also paid her return bus fare and gave her a bit of extra money for food (in addition to her food allowance).


I agree with dimac4, don't be too soft so early on in the relationship. There will be plenty of other chances for you to treat her if she works well and that's what you'd like to do. For now, if I were you, I'd send her to a boarding house and get her to sign for the holiday days she's having.


Alternatively, if she really wants to go back to the Philippines, she can pay for her own return ticket.

I think it says in the contract that the timing of the helper's holidays should be mutually agreed. In reality, however, the helper needs to accept that she cannot demand to take her holiday at a time which is awkward for her employer. If she does, the employer may not renew her contract and may look for someone a bit more understanding.


I personally think it is reasonable for the employer to wish the helper to take their vacation time when the family is going away anyway. Many employers have constraints (which is why they hired a helper in the first place): they may have disabled / dependent elderly relatives to be cared for, 2 or 3 very young (read high need) children and if the employers both work, how can they release the helper for a holiday except when they are on vacation themselves?


Many (most?) companies these days place restrictions on when employees can take time off. I know my husband rarely has time off at a convenient moment: he didn't get last Christmas off, nor Chinese New Year and he can't accompany me and the children to England this summer either. If we book a vacation and pay for it, his company has the 'right' to retract permission for his holiday and we lose our money. I could give loads of examples - in fact I hardly know anyone who can take time off when THEY want it. It's just a fact of modern life, not very pleasant, but we all have to accept it, including helpers.


Of course I'm not saying I WANT to inflict this on my DH just because we have to put up with it. I'm just thinking that helpers don't have the right to take their holiday any time with no reference to their employers convenience. If the family is going away, I say this is a perfect time for her to take a break, too.


About the boarding house, my helper actually likes going there, so it's not an issue. But I would no way want her staying in my flat if neither my hubby nor I were there. So if she did refuse to go there (assuming I'm paying), again I simply would not renew her contract and would look for someone a bit more cooperative.

there are a couple of questions that need to be answered here...

Is she taking time off because it's convenient for you? If so... you pay. I'm not sure that you have to pay for her air ticket, unless you are going to count this as he annual leave, and she is agreeable to this being her annual leave. And I mean really agreeable, not just saying "yes" because she think you'll fire her.

If she is going home because you don't want her in the flat while you're gone, you pay.

Lets think about this from another angle. If your employer says "Sorry, we're closing for a week, go home and come back next week" do you think you should get paid? That your airfare should be paid? Of course. If you didn't have to go home, the employer would onlly be responsible for maintaining your wages.

I'm in a similar position as Hehyde.

I interviewed someone I quite liked yesterday, but she's bascially already told me that she want to take her holidays to visit her family at Christmas time. My husband and I will be away for two weeks during Christmas anyway. I don't want her to think we're being so soft already. I am so confused as to what to do to.

xox, how about being sensible. It works perfectly for both of you.

jbebeb,

thanks for the advice....

I'm very new to this, so is that two weeks in december actually her annual leave?

if the DH works for less than 1 year and we ask her to take 3 weeks holiday before the end of first year because we go home for holidays. We will pay her salary during the time off but she agree to pay for her own tickets because she wants to go home too.

Questions:

1. can this be treated as annual leave?

2. She sign a letter to agree to deduct from annual leave, ok?


Thank you for any input/reply