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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if you take a day off to look after your sick child

127 replies

cuteboots · 14/12/2011 13:37

You shouldnt be made to take it as a days holiday? Especially as I havent got any holiday left this next year so they have taken a day off me for next year??? How does that work when it wasnt bloody holiday and I spent it cleaning up puke for most of the day!! Am I being a bit oversensitive???

OP posts:
molly3478 · 15/12/2011 14:23

I love working in my nursery, and send my own there (which can be stressful at times) However I think its the best job in the world overall. I do think it depends on your area I live in a place down South that if you are in employment at all then you should be glad of it. The only people who get spoilt re public sector employees

LieInsAreRarerThanTigers · 15/12/2011 14:38

! Yeah right!

hardboiledpossum · 15/12/2011 14:42

molly I don't think it's true that only public sector workers get spoilt. My partner works in the private sector and get paid sick leave plus when he has looked after me and our son they have also paid him for this. He also get to take lots of long boozy lunches! As a nursery nurse I've found you get treated much better working in nurseries attached to schools or in primary school. A large percentage of the staff I met whilst working in private nurseries I wouldn't want looking after my children, I found that the best staff normally left to work in different positions in schools, hospitals or children's centres.

manicinsomniac · 15/12/2011 14:46

Wow, I had no idea that people in careers (ie salaried rather than by the hour) lost their pay when their children were sick!

Where I work (teacher) people miss school when their children are
a) sick
b) injured
c) have a doctors appt
d) need taking to/collecting from uni/airport
e) in a school play etc

It is totally ridiculous and really takes the piss. I'm fairly sure they don't lose their pay. I wish they did. Maybe people would think a bit more carefully about whether they really need to have the time off.

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 14:47

hardboiled - Most of our staff are 2:1 graduates and we are phase 1 surestart that has been sold off so I wouldnt say we are poor quality staff tbh Hmm Again mumsnet is not representative of my life as I live in SW and we definitely dont have many jobs available for long boozy lunches thats for sure!

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 14:52

Also we are a childrens centre, with children centre teachers in a surestart council owned building. As with the other surestart within our area we still only get NMW or thereabouts and no sick pay as most have been sold off, but are still classed as surestart due to postcode, and the fact we have teachers.

becstarsky · 15/12/2011 14:54

manicinsomniac I don't think any of my colleagues ever realised that I wasn't paid when I took a day off when DS was sick. Considering how much flak I copped every time, I think they thought I was having a lovely relaxing day off on the company's dollar rather than forgoing a day's pay to sit in A&E panicking or some equally dire situation. But I never said 'This was unpaid time off of course" because that would be an overshare. So maybe your colleagues aren't paid either. It's pretty standard that 'Time off for Dependents' isn't paid.

manicinsomniac · 15/12/2011 15:02

Maybe. Don't think so though. It's hard for me to remember becuase my children are rarely so ill that I can't leave them in the sick bay (and I'm crap at noticing/manageing money) but I have never noticed that my monthly pay is lower if I have to stay with one of them for a day.

manicinsomniac · 15/12/2011 15:02

*managing

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 15:05

Lies - you say yeah right but then you think everyone has a certain amount of sick days a year. TBH if you asked most people that in my area/county they would be surprised. I do think public sector employees (who dont get sold off/contracted to others of which is now much rarer) then they are very lucky and that comes from being the daughter of 2 public sector workers. My parents always brought me up if you want to be treated well by a job work for public sector but its getting harder and harder as you secure one and then its sold off/contracted out Sad

anniemac · 15/12/2011 15:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hardboiledpossum · 15/12/2011 16:24

molly, I never understand why a graduate would work for not much more than minimum wage though? If you're a graduate why work in a private nursery? As a graduate you'd have first pick of nursery nurse jobs with schools and health visiting teams which both pay better and offer better holidays. Or do extra training and specialise as a play specialist, or play therapist or do a PGCE and work as a nursery school teacher. It seems like a waste of a degree.

hardboiledpossum · 15/12/2011 16:27

I meant to add that I never came across anyone with a degree wen I worked in private nurseries, maybe it's different where I live in London. I did however come across teaching assistants with degrees. While maybe 40% of the staff I came across were excellent and passionate about what they did lots of them seemed to have fallen in to childcare and were pretty awful.

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 16:28

hardboiled - I graduated last year in the middle of the worst recession there has ever been!

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 16:29

additionally i have 1 child who was already at my work with me and has been for nearly 3 years and I dont want to move her, also on top of that I am pregnant again.

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 16:41

Also were you working in private nurseries a long time ago? Most have a graduate in nowadays. I graduated with 40 women last year and most are working in private nurseries. I do live in an area though where the average wage is 19k and most people are on minimum wage or below. Also the hospital, college and SureStart nurseries are all privatised/community interest/contractor run. All are near NMW and none do sick pay.

stuffedauberginexmasdinner · 15/12/2011 17:01

Paid carers leave should be mandatory just as sick pay, maternity pay and holiday pay are.

inmysparetime · 15/12/2011 17:02

I work in a day nursery for little over minimum wage, and I have not one but two degreesGrin.
I do get up to 3 days paid "compassionate leave", although I have never taken more than one a year. Last year it was to sit my final exam for my Early Years BA, the year before it was because DH was rushed into hospital with pneumonia and I couldn't arrange childcare that day.
I "waste" my degrees because I love working directly with children and my job gives me the flexibility to spend time with my DCs, and drop them at school etc.
When they are older, then I will use my degrees and set up my own nurseries.

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 17:06

I agree with you inmysparetime research has shown children do better when in the care of graduates. Additionally I work with some of the most deprived in the country and I think they deserve decent care and if everyone just pursued jobs for the money then the care industry would be awful.

inmysparetime · 15/12/2011 17:11

Also, I don't want to be stuck in the office doing managerial busywork when I could be out playingGrin

NinkyNonker · 15/12/2011 17:16

Did you see my earlier post Molly? All private sector firms I have worked in gave provision for child sickness, perhaps we were spoilt. Hmm

I think only some very low level/temp jobs don't get paid employee sickness, it isn't something I have ever come across.

NinkyNonker · 15/12/2011 17:19

When I worked in a school we were even made to make up time for maternity appointments...not just time missed but over and above. Completely against the rules but nowt anyone could do.

manicinsomniac · 15/12/2011 17:38

we don't use substitute teachers, we have to cover colleagues with our own non contact periods. Which is stupid because it cause even more resentment at colleagues who are sick or whose children are sick, especially as they are still being paid for being at home (I think) and the person covering isn't getting paid any extra.

hardboiledpossum · 15/12/2011 18:22

I've have read that research molly and as I understand it that is why all nurseries will be required to have an EYP? who is a graduate? Personally I can't understand why you would study for a degree to be paid little more than minimum wage. Why not do a PGCE? You'll be paid more, still get lots of time with the children and great holidays?

molly3478 · 15/12/2011 19:01

Lots of reasons really possum. I wouldnt have any childcare paid for me and at the moment its all free, if I was a teacher I would have to pay my own. I would be a lot worse off if I was a teacher financially.

Also I spend all my time with my own child shes going to reception in Sept and I will have another one by then, we are also planning another one after that and I want all of them to go to my nursery as it is really good, and I dont want to miss out on seeing them doing anything. Also although we dont get sick pay I get to go off whenever as long as I make back the hours, if your a teacher its not flexible I wouldnt ever miss a play or anything like that. Also I couldnt leave my friends I work with as we have been together 3 years and without them I dont think I could manage.

However the government has scrapped plans now and every setting doesnt need an EYP.