I get sick pay if I am sick. If my child is sick I take it as holiday or unpaid. Why should I get paid for not working when my child is ill?

There is no way I could take my children into work, ill or not.

DH has been known to take them in the nick on the odd occasion (not when he's on shift, but if he's had to call in to tie up loose ends, etc).

It is hard for teachers though, there isn't the option to work in the holidays. Ultimately staff at a school are employed to teach or support teaching staff. There is no doult that children do suffer academically if they have a string of supply teachers.

Prehaps schools and local authorities need to be a bit of creative how they use teachers returning from maternity leave. Its hard to balance children's right to an education with employment rights.

The school I work at allows staff up to five ocassions/days for children hospital appointments, sickness etc. After that you have to take the time off as unpaid. Support staff are sometimes allowed to accue time off in lieu, but not teachers. I am quite lucky in doing IT support there are loads of opportunities for over time.

Its daft suggesting bringing a baby into work. I would not bring my sensible six year old to work with me on health and safety grounds.

When DS was a baby I was told very nastily by my boss that it was up the discretion of the employer whether I got paid for taking time off if he was sick and to remember that he was being kind enough to pay me.
I hated him - he was a tosser. This was the same boss who suggested I brought DS into work if he was sick. ROFL - I was a teacher FFS!

Jimmy. We are 'allowed' to have a certain number of days sick over two years (think it's 12 days). They don't count any 1 period over two weeks but after that they do (for example if you broke your leg and were off for six weeks it wouldn't go against you but if you) . If you apply for another internal post or promotion the first thing they check is sickness levels and if you go over it you are automatically disqualified from being considered for the job/promotion.

We also get a monthly 'competancy related pay'. You have to fullfil certain criteria (the first being that you have reached the top of your current pay scale). Having a sickness level within the permitted amounts is another criteria. Also certain sectors of the organisation can be considered for a yearly bonus. They will automatically not be considered for the bonus if they have gone over sick levels.

I do think on the whole it's fair. There are certain people in any organisation who will just take sick leave as if it were in addition to annual leave.

It is unfair when someone has some sort of condition which goes undiagnosed for a period of time. A colleague of mine had an horrendous sick record but was eventually diagnosed with a particular condition. He applied for a job and was turned down due to sickness despite a note from his Dr to explain the issue. He did appeal the sickness but was still turned down and had to wait nearly two years until his sick level was at the accepted level.

Message withdrawn

Fairly standard in a lot of the public sector.

robo - how can being sick too much affect pay and bonuses?!!! I mean what if you have a condition of some sort! That is wrong imo

Same here...except we get no bonuses.

I have also never phoned in sick. However that is more to do with the fact there is a very strict sick policy where I work and if you have too many days sick it can affect promotion and bonuses. Also I know if I take my sick days for a sick child I can gaurantee I will be really ill myself and need it genuinely for myself.