child sick at nursery home from work at short notice

[vanillacinamon]

if your child is sick according to the nursery (not vomiting or temperature but loose nappy which has lasted 4 days or so) and you have to collect early. you are working from home doing emails / phone calls and have booked as annual leave, are you still a liability to your boss / team. no one in your team is affected by your absence (you are still covering your files) but boss bitches openly and regularly about working from home being skiving hence annual leave. how do other mums deal and at what point do i resign rather than ignore the intense bitchy atmosphere (everyone else in the team is fairly elderly, single & child free)

[frgr]

you are working from home whilst using part of your annual leave, regularly, because of pressure from your boss?

i would not work from home in that case, since you don't have the support from your boss. stick to the rules - and if it HAS been officially okay'ed I'd request an informal word asking if there is a problem with the arrangement.

i wouldn't work on my annual leave days unless there was an emergency

[rookiemater]

I think you are entitled to emergency leave for such a situation for a day or so until you could reasonably get alternative care sorted out.

I would definitely not be working and using up annual leave, thats not fair.

[northerngirl41]

Ask your boss what they would prefer? Sometimes having someone partially working rather than definitely out on leave is more hassle - e.g. asking people to send you files, diverting your phone, checking in with the office etc.

It also sets a precedent which is difficult to cope with in some offices. What would happen if say one of the other staff members said they were "working from home" after a particularly heavy night out, for example? Or someone who needed to look after an elderly parent?

Some companies are set up to have family friendly working policies in place, others are not. And if you are a good worker, it truly is their loss if they force you out of a job.

[vanillacinamon]

thanks for replies
it is not to do with what the rules say. there are plenty of rules at my workplace about what i am "entitled" to. it is the atmosphere and being frozen out within my team. i try to rely on the rules. actually i am happy to use my annual leave for this purpose. genuinely i dont want anything different from what everyone else gets. but cannot win. if i take it as annual leave it is special treatment because i am taking it on "short notice". if i try to address the problem with taking leave on short notice namely working from home so no one is affected by my absence that very confusion you are outlining arises. it is only because no one else in the team might have to take their annual leave on such short notice that I am singled out. uuurrrggghh
in real terms at the end of the year my boss will be "up" in so far as i wont have taken my full annual leave quota i guess (how much sickness can my children have?) but she will just ignore that small fact

[Abbicob]

I have had this problem recently with my boss and I eventualy documented everything that was happening and then went to see HR. I explained what was happening, showed them all my evidence and they had an "informal chat" with my boss. Initially I thought this would make it worse but it did not, and we get on a lot better now.

HR advised that if it happened again they would take my complaint formal as it is a type of bullying.

HR were really good about it all and I feel loads better.

[vanillacinamon]

thanks Abbicob
it is good to hear it works out in other situations
unfortunately the hr department here is totally ineffective so cannot see that happening here
i guess its just give 120% and get out asap as soon as the right alternative opportunity arises
in the meantime I am getting my head down and working as hard as i possibly can