AIBU to think working from home with chickenpox child is unfair?

Well... tell them that, not us.

this is what my employers always did when my kids were sick & I needed to stay home with them - before WFH was a thing.
Small company, very accommodating & family friendly & I never had to take annual leave to cover these days.

Some employers are like this & understand how much everyone benefits. I still had to do the same work on return to the office - its not like anyone else covered it while I was off.

OP - just do what you can, while looking after your child.

We have no detail that says any such thing as OP has been so vague and unhelpful. It's just as likely they offered her the chance to WFH rather than pushing it and were doing so to be as flexible as possible. OP has not returned to clarify if any other options were on the the table. Including possibly unpaid leave, short-notice annual leave, paid leave for dependents.

Im confused do you want your employers to pay you for not working and looking after your sick child ?

What do you mean? The usual - that the rest pick up for her in the office. That is part of the reason I went freelance. I was young, before children and this was a daily occurrence - to pick up after women and men with children who have 'to attend little Sophia's play', 'take a child to a dance class', 'take them to an appointment'. They were the ones leaving on the dot, we were the ones picking up their slack.

First step in grievance process is informal, OP entitled to raise (simple email suffices) that when she advised child sick she was advised to wfh which she found and is finding difficult and stressful.

If the child is ill and sleeping a lot you could some work in between times. It sounds like they are trying to be nice knowing you probably won't be able to do as much as usual but not wanting you to have to take leave or worse unpaid leave.

If you want to say no I really can't work at all, I'll take leave, I'm sure it would be fine. Then you can fully concentrate on the sick child.

A poorly primary school child isn’t a distraction. Get them set up on sofa with drink and snacks and favourite tv on and they’ll probably not move.
You’ll still be expected to work but with understanding. Give and take goes a long way. If employer is flexible with things like this then most employees will reciprocate.
If you can’t wfh then you need to say. I think I usually say something like are you ok to work.

HSE don’t recommend caring and working at the same time, during C19 we had a colleagues toddler for example chew a cable, +working from home an extension of the workplace and for H&S, insurance purposes etc not ideal. OP shouldn’t of been instructed to do so, option for unpaid leave, negotiate a day of paid A/L and/or offer to make up hours.

I think your managers are on to you.

This
I would have far sooner WFH than had to use annual leave to care for a sick child but it wasn’t possible in my employment. Employers are doing you a favour surely??

It’s not clear what you’re expecting OP.

What did you want to happen?
they tell you just stay at home and not worry
they say you can take a day holiday/parental leave

What was your preferred solution?

Could you not have said no thanks you need to take some leave? If you do wfh in these circumstances you can't be expected to do a good job, though, so they can't really blame you.

@RedRock41

she may be entitled to dependants leave but may also not be paid. Surely it’s better to wfh and be paid than not?

that said she can always speak to her manager about it to move to unpaid

@Wfhsucks
This is the thing because people work from home they expect to do less work

you have a very skewed view of wfh. As someone who does I assure you I work very hard to get my work done as do the great majority of others.

having also worked in offices as well there are plenty who don’t do much work

You do realise that the point of leave because your child is ill is so you can arrange for cover for any other time that maybe required not to just take it to look after a child

as to your child they have chicken pox you can work round it. If you don’t want to wfh tell them you will take it as a days unpaid leave and will sort something out for the rest of the time they are ill

I work from home when my child is unwell. Legally you are entitled to unpaid dependent leave days. I would rather work and be paid. They will surely understand that you wont be as productive. If you don't want to work request it off unpaid or ask to use annual leave.

They obviously should have given you a week off with full pay.

That's what you were hoping everyone to say, wasn't it?

So, because you know that due to your very specific circumstances your productivity for the next few days at home will be low, you think that all people who WFH must be working at low productivity all the time? What a bizarre argument. I suggest, since you have already decided you're not a suitable person to WFH, you ask to take unpaid parental leave instead.

A grievance?
Theres no suggestion the employer is forcing them to work.
If op wants it off unpaid I’m sure it would be granted. Or employer will probably allow annual leave to be taken at short notice in circumstances.
Most employees with a wfh desk job would be pleased an employer would let them wfh and child lie on sofa watching tv/tablet and not need to use leave or be unpaid.

Because he’s contagious
Because many offices are not insured for children to be in them
Because offices are not set up to cater for children.

I get it…. I have a job and 2 dc, both who have had chicken pox. If you can’t manage both work and child, then you need to take some form of leave.

Or, some employers treat some staff as sensible
professionals and trust them with some flexibility.

Quite a few people could fudge their way through some useful work stuff and keep the essentials ticking over with a primary school age child on the sofa watching tv and catch up the more attention demanding stuff and work some longer days the following week to catch stuff up. Some employers are comfortable with people doing that.

It doesn’t mean working from home means doing that all the time, but it can add some flexibility for some people. And some people find leave allowances really restrictive so would rather do the catch up than take unplanned leave.

If you’d rather take the time off and concentrate exclusively on child then just say that.

There’s nothing with contacting manager and changing your mind. You’d hoped to be able to juggle but dc is quite poorly so you’ll need to book time off as unpaid or annual leave. Speak to your manager.

Raise a grievance, dependent leave a statutory right:

https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

I would take this as my employer being accommodating. The alternative is you take unpaid parental leave.

You can’t take him in because he’s got a serious illness for other people around you. Either get on with it or take leave.