Nanny furious after mum makes her pay $700 for an old coat she shrunk in the wash

A hard-working nanny feels jittery after her boss demanded she cough up $700 to replace an old coat she “ruined.”

The young woman explained that she takes care of the woman’s three sons all day, who are under the age of five, leaving her exhausted.

Sometimes her boss asks her to do some chores while she watches the kids – which she does despite feeling rushed.

She was recently asked to do laundry and threw the expensive, five-year-old coat into the machine without “checking the label.”

The coat was in the hamper with the rest of the clothes she had to wash, so she didn’t think about it. Until she took it out.

‘The label says dry cleaning only. I didn’t realize because I was very rushed. Usually I check. I shrunk the jacket,” she said in a frenetic post on Facebook.

Now her boss wants money for the coat.

She says it was $700 when she bought it 5 years ago. She wants $700 for it. She says I can pay off the debt,’ she said.

The nanny doesn’t want to pay full price for the old coat – because it was well worn, but her boss won’t budge on her demands.

Now she is afraid she has to pay or she risks losing her job taking care of the little boys.

“I can’t afford to lose $700, but I can’t afford to lose my job.”

She found the same coat, in the same size, for $55 online and is considering buying it for the irate mother.

The sitter further asked if there is any way to “unshrink” the wool coat.

But hundreds of nannies, babysitters and mothers came to her aid and told her not to pay a penny.

“You don’t have to pay for the coat and she doesn’t ask you to,” one mom said.

“If it can only be dry-cleaned, it shouldn’t have been in the same basket of laundry as she wanted you to.” I would tell her that and if she wants to take you to court, she can try,” said one babysitter.

“I’ve been a nanny for 20 years – if something breaks while you’re at work it’s covered by your employers – it’s illegal for them to ask you to pay,” said another.

Others said the mother is to blame for the confusion because she left her jacket in the laundry basket in the first place.

“I’m sure she’s disappointed with her coat, but if someone other than her does her laundry, she doesn’t need to put woolen garments in her hamper. It’s actually up to her. Don’t pay for the jacket. That feels like a total power play and I don’t think it will improve from there on,” said another.

The nanny’s primary responsibilities are to look after three children under the age of five (stock image)

Many even said that she should demand money from her boss for the chores she has done since it is not considered part of a nanny’s job.

“Laundry shouldn’t even be part of your job description unless it’s for the little ones. Caring for 3 boys under 5 is hard work. I hope they pay you fairly,” one woman said.

Many others told the nanny to find a new job.

“To keep the peace, maybe you could offer the eBay option… if they don’t agree, find a new family,” said one woman.

“I would hand in my resignation – many families need help right now,” said another.

A third added: ‘You should find another job. There are many beautiful families out there who wouldn’t think of making you feel this way. You deserve better than that.’

Honest work have previously taken on cases where nannies have been mistreated or underpaid. In one case, a nanny worked 80 hours a week for an annual income of just over $13,000.

Fair Work found that she was underpaid by more than $90,000 for her efforts.