Caregiver who extended her maternity leave contrary to her commitment
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Question
A question in monetary law.
At the beginning of the year we wanted to place our daughter with a caregiver.
A woman we know and trust, who also lives very close by.
At the beginning of the year she told us that she was due to give birth during the year, but she committed that it would be a short maternity leave of only two months, and that she would find a suitable substitute.
A written “contract” was also drawn up regarding payment matters and everything else: 800 NIS per month (half‑day), and if one gives notice of leaving, a certain sum must be paid according to the number of months, and it is forbidden to leave in the months of Adar and Tammuz (in order not to benefit from the vacations in Nisan and Av).
In the middle of Kislev she indeed went out on maternity leave; the arrangement moved to a more distant place and to another caregiver. It is less convenient in every respect… but we knew this in advance, and we knew that it was for two months, so that around Tu BiShvat everything would return to the way it was.
What is happening now is that she decided to take a longer maternity leave than she had promised, and she will return only at the end of the month of Adar… (much more than two months…)
We are not willing to go through another such month at that place with that caregiver…
According to her, a rabbi permitted her to extend it, since it was a verbal promise.
She does not deny that she indeed promised this… and on the basis of that we started the whole process with her!
Can we take our daughter out in the month of Adar (which is two weeks after the two months she promised, because she gave birth two weeks after she went on leave, so we are not being petty… but another month is already too much for us). To keep her at home until the caregiver finally returns, even if that happens earlier, but to terminate the arrangement as long as our daughter is with the substitute, and not to pay for that time??
In the contract it is indeed forbidden to leave in Adar, but I am not talking about leaving, I am talking about a suspension, and a suspension of payment as long as she has not returned.
At the beginning of the year we wanted to place our daughter with a caregiver.
A woman we know and trust, who also lives very close by.
At the beginning of the year she told us that she was due to give birth during the year, but she committed that it would be a short maternity leave of only two months, and that she would find a suitable substitute.
A written “contract” was also drawn up regarding payment matters and everything else: 800 NIS per month (half‑day), and if one gives notice of leaving, a certain sum must be paid according to the number of months, and it is forbidden to leave in the months of Adar and Tammuz (in order not to benefit from the vacations in Nisan and Av).
In the middle of Kislev she indeed went out on maternity leave; the arrangement moved to a more distant place and to another caregiver. It is less convenient in every respect… but we knew this in advance, and we knew that it was for two months, so that around Tu BiShvat everything would return to the way it was.
What is happening now is that she decided to take a longer maternity leave than she had promised, and she will return only at the end of the month of Adar… (much more than two months…)
We are not willing to go through another such month at that place with that caregiver…
According to her, a rabbi permitted her to extend it, since it was a verbal promise.
She does not deny that she indeed promised this… and on the basis of that we started the whole process with her!
Can we take our daughter out in the month of Adar (which is two weeks after the two months she promised, because she gave birth two weeks after she went on leave, so we are not being petty… but another month is already too much for us). To keep her at home until the caregiver finally returns, even if that happens earlier, but to terminate the arrangement as long as our daughter is with the substitute, and not to pay for that time??
In the contract it is indeed forbidden to leave in Adar, but I am not talking about leaving, I am talking about a suspension, and a suspension of payment as long as she has not returned.
Answer
Shalom u’vracha
Answer of a dayan from the Beit HaHora’ah:
Both sides must be heard. The answer, according to the wording of the question, is:
It is possible to leave in Adar; one must only calculate and pay proportionally for the vacation according to the time worked, as is customary that each person receives for the vacation in accordance with the preceding months.
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