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

Paid time off to care for sick dependants isn’t norm. We have a policy which allows it in very limited circumstances eg accompanying a child for an operation but needs head of service sign off.
We can take unpaid time off or annual leave but most parents would rather try and work and get paid.
I line manage. If someone rang me and said 5 year old is ill with chickenpox I’d say oh dear I hope they feel better soon. Are you ok to work - yes. Discussion re any adjustments eg don’t come into to office, I’ll get x to come in for meeting or ok to work hours more flexibly. Let me know if any problems. They are grateful they can still get paid.
If they don’t want to work they’d say 5 year old has got chickenpox I need to take as unpaid or annual leave. I say ok put it on system and I’ll approve now. Hope they feel better soon. Let me know if you can’t come back on x date.
It’s up to employee, obviously they know how poorly the dc is, their financial situation and what other support they have eg dad may also be able to wfh or take time off.

What are you after from them OP? Just say no sorry it’s not possible, I’ll take annual leave or unpaid parental leave. They can’t make you work. But equally they can’t give you time off for free if that’s what you were hoping for…

Yeah, I think yabu. Your employer is trying to be flexible so you don't lose days pay or annual leave.

most people would be happy to have that option.

if you don't want to work you need to say to them you will take it as annual leave or unpaid.

If you were office based and felt you needed to stay home to look after your child you wouldn't expect to get paid for not working? So why should you expect this if you're already at home?

Put **annual leave or or take unpaid leave if you don’t want to WFH with your poorly child.

Next time be clearer. You cannot work today over I cannot come into the office today.
It’s the better option for you over unpaid leave.

What result would you like to see?

Seems they accepted that this time you have your child there, understand you'll do a bit less of work, and they will pay you for your working day as usually.

It might not be in the sector you work in, but it would be unheard of in DHs or my areas.

Sick leave isn't appropriate either.

Can the dad look after the child and you go to the office?

did you ask for annual leave or unpaid leave?

Jeez, who'd be an employer?

You're not sick. They're trying to help you by enabling you to WFH and not lose a day's salary

It would only be unfair if you would not be able to wfh for some of the time in other circumstances. I had decorators in last week, not in the part of the house where I wfh, and this was accepted.

It’s a massive benefit of wfh and a flexible employer. There’s lots of scenarios where you couldn’t be in office but by being allowed to wfh it means you can be paid and not need to use annual leave. Employers have to trust you. If dc is so ill you can’t work do the decent thing and take annual leave or unpaid leave.
If you complain and they withdraw their willingness to allow people to wfh with sick dependants you’ll be very unpopular.

🤣🤦🏻‍♀️
at home there’s just you, in the office there’s other people!
it’s safer for you to work from home than take him into an office!
He's got chicken pox, so technically you don’t really have to do too much for him, he’s 5 years old so old enough to understand that you’re working and he can occupy himself for a short period of time!

Tbh I don't think they're being unreasonable. Would you not be able to sit him in front of the TV while you work? Nothing's better when you're not well than some good tele, drinks and snacks. You can let them know that you will have to check on him every so often, but you should still get good stretches of time to work. I think that is a great solution.

What was the outcome you were hoping for? (paid leave?)
I suspect they thought they were doing you a favour and gave you this option to save you from taking a day of parental leave (often unpaid) or using up your annual leave?

You could use your holiday? Or get your other half to take it

But it’s a favour your employer is granting you? I’d assume you were telling me as a manager as you were hoping I’d say ok to work but you’d be cut a bit of slack. I’d not allocate any difficult or time critical tasks for example or require them in training.
If you wanted to take it off you’d need to ask for unpaid time off to care for a sick dependant or use annual leave.
Obviously you know your job and how poorly dc is.
We don’t have paid time off for looking after sick children and I’m public sector and pretty generous compared to private.

There offering you an option so u still get paid

So did you tell them you cannot work at home with him and instead will have to take unpaid leave? What did they say?

If you cannot work from home you will have to agree how you will account for your absence.
Your employer may or may not have policies which you can look to.
But they are not going to just say ‘oh dear’ take the day off as in, not recorded as leave in some way.

I get 5 days paid leave per year for dependents, I don’t think it’s that unusual in salaried jobs

Yes, seems to be one tracked. Ignoring anyone who suggests she just call back and take some kind of leave, just wants to insist that people are working from home are not working if their kid is unwell.

It’s give and take, I get to work from home and know I’m not going to be working at full steam as I’ll be popping in and out on them, but if I’ve got deadlines and work to finish then I’m likely to work through lunch or stay on a bit later, I’ve not had to take dependent or annual leave. I’m getting paid and it’s not a strike against me, as you can only go off so many times for sickness and sick kids before they start absence management processes. I don’t know what she’s moaning at

Id be bloody delighted if I could do this! I am a single oarent and stryggle to cover school homudays let alone child sickness. 9/10 i could easily wfh with an ill child but I have to take annual leave

That is very very rare in the UK. My employer is generally very flexible and family friendly and the best it offers is unpaid emergency leave. I think Scandinavia is quite different.