Maternity advice

[suze@junction]

could do with some advice.

i opened a salon in june and and had a girl join me renting her chair. she's now pregnant and due next june. very confused about what to do. she says she is intending to work right up to her due date and only take 6 weeks off after as she is worried about losing her clients. this is her first and i already have a son and don't really feel this is realistic.

what i'm confused over is if she is coming back, which she says just now she is, should i have it in writting? do i still charge her rent? could i get someone in to cover maternity? has anyone else been in similar situation?!!!

just a little worried, i'm a bit of a push over and think she may have already realised this!!

 

[persianista]

Do you have a contract?
Strictly speaking if she wants her chair back guaranteed, she should pay the rent while she is off. Personally, I would advertise the chair if she doesnt agree to that. I know it sounds harsh, but my experience is that most people don't want to come back, especially full time after a baby. If you leave the chair empty for 6 weeks and she decides not to return, you have seriously lost out.
Deep breath and toughen up x

 

[sarahlouise7]

if i was u, i too would explain to her that if she wants the chair for her return then she needs to pay the rent for that time with a notice to quit period of say 4 weeks so that if she did decide to quit, it gives u time to advertise the chair again and hopefully not lose out. i had my baby 7 mths ago and i am only just ready to return to work part time as i would miss him and i dont want him in childcare for long periods of time, even if its with family, and to be a mum and work is hard work!!! has she thought about childcare and does she have a definate childcare plan in place? to return 6 wks after giving birth is very optimistic, what if she didnt have a straight forward delivery? ultimately, its your premises that u rent to her so dont be a push over, be firm but understanding and hopefully she will understand your position too.

hope it all works out for u in the end, im sure it will x

 

[leonnib]

i would also say that she pays the rent if wanting to keep the chair etc as said already.

i went back to work after 2 weeks and people didnt believe i would but this is not my first child so i knew what to expect. if it wasnt her first child also then she would have more of an idea what she is capable of.. so she is being optimistic and not going to know how she'l feel at all.. and you do not want the problems to arise at that time so id be upfront with her now so you both know where you stand... but im surprised she expects you to just keep the chair there for her and she isnt paying any rent for it while she is away

 

[mum]

You haven't answered as to whether you have a contract but my guess is not or you wouldn't be so worried.

Remember that she is self employed and it is no different from renting a premises. Rent MUST be paid to keep the space. If she is worried about clients then she need to put someone in her place until she returns.

Will your landlord let you off paying the rent??? I doubt it. It's a business

 

[suze@junction]

your points are all exactly what i'm worried about.

i really think she is being very optimistic to be returning to work so quick. just judging from my own experience after having my son.

but i think this may be my argument because if i were pregnant again i would still have to pay rent to my landlord.

thanks to all your replies this all helps a lot!! happy new year all!! :lol:

 

[bombini]

I was in a pretty much identical situation to your hair stylist this time last year.

Originally I intended to work as close to my due date as possible then take about 6 weeks off, the salon owner initially said I could have the 6 weeks off rent free as she wanted to keep me. I knew even when we agreed it that I was going to struggle with the arrangement but after a few weeks I knew that I couldn't commit to it.

I ended up telling her that I would love to return to the salon after having my baby but I would need at least 3 months off and I couldn't pay the rent during that time so I understood that she would need to rent the room out to someone else.

She did advertise the room but there was no interest so I returned to work part time when my little boy was 8 weeks old. After a few weeks she told me that the hair salon wasn't making enough money and she couldn't afford to keep my half of the building on unless I returned to work full time and paid the full weekly rent instead of the £25 per day I was paying part time. I decided to work from home as it worked out better financially for me and I didn't want to go back to working full time.

Im not really sure what to suggest as I know if the salon owner had asked me to pay rent whilst I was away I would of just worked as long as I could then either stop working altogether or let my clients know Id be off for a while then working from alternative premises when I could arrange them. There is no way I could of paid the rent and buy all the baby stuff out of my maternity pay.