| mintycat - I'm sorry if you've chosen to read my post that way.
if you only want to hear one kind of opinion, then posting a question on a public forum isn't any guarantee.
Of course, I am sorry for your daughter. I do not think your helper's attitutude is acceptable. How you run your family and your household is your business, and you did ask "So I am wondering if I release her immediately, do I still have to pay her one month even though she caused an injury to my baby?" This is the question I was responding to. And, (I'm not 100% sure on this - you may want to check) I think that unless you have the police charge her, that you do have to hold to the contract and give her the month. To point this out isn't 'taking the helper's side' - it's simply pointing out your (legal?) obligations to your employee. In your second post, you've said that you won't fire her yet, but your original post made this seem like a possibility.
I'm not a fan of comparisons between the relationships between helpers and their employers, and between the employers and their own bosses at work. Helpers are generally more vulnerable to exploitation (not that I am in any suggesting that you are exploting her - I am just making a general point about the legal protection and resources available to helpers as opposed to other contract workers). Your relationship with your own boss is bound to be more professional - that's the difference between working in a business, and working in someone's home. The relationships are completely different, and bound to be frought with many more complications and subtleties.
Just for the record - I did not mean that if you had been looking after them that it wouldn't have happened - I just mean that accidents happen to everyone. I worded it badly.
I'm sorry that you're in this situation. I hope your duaghter's hand heals up OK.  |