$4k pay-out for local nanny

A mother from Tauranga has been ordered to pay her former teenaged nanny more than $4000 after unsuccessfully trying to alter timesheets to get more WINZ subsidies.

The Employment Relations Authority ruled the 17-year-old was constructively dismissed by Leanne Jamieson after looking after her two sons on a daily basis while she was at work from February 10 to April 4, 2014.

The ERA have ordered Leanne Jamieson to pay over $4000 to her former nanny.

The teenager was hired at an agreed rate of $14 an hour after registering her interest with Quality Kidz, a home-based childcare agency.

She had recently completed a certificate-level course in early childhood education and care at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic

The working relationship ceased when the nanny said she couldn't keep working unless Leanne paid her in full for the hours she worked. During an eight-week period she was paid two-thirds of the wages she was entitled to.

After five weeks, she had been paid just over $1200, but was around $700 short. This was not remedied after Leanne received $1200 from a Work and Income New Zealand childcare subsidy on March 18.

Leanne initially blamed Quality Kidz for the shortfall in funds, saying it had not claimed and passed on the right level of money due under the childcare subsidy.

She also believed she was entitled to receive a subsidy for 50-hours a week even if the teenager worked less than this, which she did. She told the ERA that Leanne had asked her to sign timesheets showing longer hours than she had worked.

After the 17-year-old raised a personal grievance, Leanne sent an emailed reply denying any employment relationship, describing the arrangement as 'casual babysitting” she was entitled to end after a 90-day trial 'situation”.

The ERA reports states discussions between the two, along with Quality Kidz education team leader Marlene Beech, marked the employment relationship as 'continuous”, not as Leanne alleges.

An ERA investigation into the claims on October 20 wasn't attended by Leanne after she told ERA officials she was a single mum on ACC due to a back injury, and couldn't return to Tauranga for the meeting after moving to wellington on September 22.

The teenager and her father both gave evidence at the meeting after seeing Leanne by chance while walking along a street with her children in Tauranga on October - two weeks after claiming she was moving to Wellington.

The ERA ruled Leanne to pay the nanny $1395.10 in wage arrears, holidays and Kiwisaver, a further $2726.75 for lost wages and compensation, and $71.56 application fees – totalling $4139.41.

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