Would you fake a cough to get time off from work.

[MerinoFroggie]

Would you pull a sickie in the middle of a pandemic?

My employer denied me time off this year. The last week off I had was back in summer of 2019. I'm not a nurse or a doctor working the front line and even if I was, I would probably be allowed time off. I am a nanny for a family and I worked throughout the lockdowns too so I never had appropriate time off so far this year.

The only thing on the parents minds now are Christmas parties and meet ups and generally going against the public health guidelines and really they are putting me at risk. Not only that but there's two sets of grandparents due to visit and stay over Christmas with them and I'm shocked how they have increased their contacts and social nights instead of limiting it to reduce the chances of picking up a virus infection and passing it on..

I'm thinking if I was to develop a fake temperature and cough over the weekend, I could get time off in isolation?

I do fear the only bonus I'm going to get this year is covid.

You have been complaining about this family you work for for years, are you actually legally employed by them or working cash in hand?

I do have a contract but its an old contract and many aspects have chopped and changed in the years since then but they never gave me a new contract. I'm still working full time hours and it says 4 weeks holidays a year.

Usually my time off corresponds with the childrens school holidays or mid term breaks but that never happened this year in 2019. The parents took time off from the or work alright but they continued to have me in work.

Are you in the UK? I think you need legal advice regarding your rights to paid annual leave @MerinoFroggie