My cleaner has told me she is pregnant, and I'm not sure what rights either of us have?

[novadandypowder]

We have employed a cleaner for the last 2 and a half years. She initially was working 10 hours a week at a rate of £10 per hour (so, £100 per week). When I stopped working to have my dd I realised she didn't actually need to be there for that long so we reduced her hours to about 6 per week but kept her on the same money. We give her a cheque each week and leave it to her to sort out anything she needs to do for tax etc. We give her 4 weeks paid holiday each year during the summer holidays, and sick pay. We don't have any written contract that details all of this, it's just a verbal understanding. As far as I know she has two other houses that she cleans for.

She told me this week she is 13wks pg. She will probably only be able to do her job for about another 3 months, as physically it will be too difficult with a bump, and I feel quite uncomfortable with the idea of a heavily pregnant woman doing as much manual labour as she does. However, we can't afford to pay her £100 per week for 6-9 months of maternity leave and pay for another cleaner on top of that.

Anyone been in this situation? Any ideas what the best solution would be for the both of us? She told us she wasn't having any more children, so this has completely thrown us, and we don't know what to do for the best.

[fawkeoff]

if she is self employed then you do not have to pay her anything if she is on mat leave.

[fawkeoff]

she must be claiming some sort of benefit unless she is doing cleaning else where as she wont be able to live on £100 that you pay her.

[Skyler]

Er not if she has a partner to share bills etc.

[prufrock]

You are not her employer so you have no legal obligation to give her anything. If she has been declaring her income and paying tax and NI then she would count as offically self-employed and would qualify for maternity allowance (SE equiv of maternity pay)

[TheEvilDediderata]

Bit of a sweeping statement, fawkeoff. The OP already said she has two other cleaning jobs.

nova ... if nothing is written down, then you don't legally have to pay maternity leave. Just find another cleaner.

Your lady will easily find another job when she's ready.

[tortoiseSHELL]

She would definitely be self-employed - you are not contributing to NI contributions or pension, so she is entitled to SMA which she claims herself from the govt.

[novadandypowder]

thank you for your replies. For some reason I feel responsible for her ?? I also wonder if she's expecting us to cover maternity leave as we have been quite generous on sick and holiday pay?