To think that most people wouldn't be able to cope financially if their income stopped today.

[Endofteathernearlyreached]

My eldest child is ill, seriously properly hospital ill.

My work have said if I choose to spend time with her that's my job gone now.

As a mother that's a no decision I can make, my child needs me, my main role is my child.

I have no income then. I can't get any form of benefit for 3 months. I don't have any savings.

I have no income, no benefits, no savings.

My dh will have to pay for everything, but his salary doesn't cover our outgoings, so not only am I dealing with an ill child, I'm dealing with financial worries.

I'm posting this to make others think if you have any way to save 3 months of income, do it now because your life can be turned on its head in a flash of an eye.

Are you in the UK? How long have you worked there? You have the right to dependent's leave - look on direct.gov.uk for more information. I'm not convinced your employer can do this to you.

So sorry for what you're going through.

As altinkum says they can't do this. Repost in legal for more solid advice.

That's awful, OP. Really, really awful :(.

Isn't it against the law for a company to act in this way? Might it be worth posting in the Employment Advice section? It just seems so wrong!

I hope your DC starts to feel better soon.

I would repost in legal quick for some detailed advice on your rights. They can't just do that, I agree with alt.

If your child is in hospital there may be a parents' service that can point you towards more information on benefits, etc. What I would say is it's better to be upfront with people you owe money to, eg your bank if you have a mortgage, contact them ahead of time - don't wait until you've gone into three months of arrears.

I truly hope someone will be along with better advice but please, I understand your overwhelming need to be with your child but you can't let your employer away with it, you need to stand your ground.

(((hugs))))

Haven't they ever heard of parental leave, I would repost the in legal and or call acas

www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2042

I'm so sorry to hear about your child being so very ill - I doubt your job can get rid of you like that and offer no compassionate leave at least!

you don't choose to spend time with her for fun,so I'd say this is borderline discrimination or more!

can you try to talk to a lawyer or gp or social services and find out what's within your rights in your case?

I hope you can find a solution rather than being fired due to a serious illness concerning your child!

I mean this is the 21st century, you must be able to achieve some form of protection!

I'm so sorry this is happening and hope your daughter gets better soon. I don't know about employment law but I hope the others are right as your boss's attitude stinks. How dare they land you with all the extra worry as if you haven't got enough on your plate already! And whatever happens now you're still going to have all the stress of knowing that your boss is a shit without a heart.

Sadly ... a lot of people can't manage right now even when they're in work. Of course you're right and anyone who can save should do but for many that's a pipe dream.

Sorry to hear about your ill child.

If you are in the UK and your child is under a certain age - and you need to take time off for caring duties - you have employment protection.

Re-post this in MN Legal or MN Employment.

The nurses should be able to advise on extra help you could receive. look into legal advice too. So sorry to hear such sad news.

I'm not sure about the employment legal stuff but I do know a bit about benefits. It is not necessarily true that you wouldn't get anything for months. There is a form you can fill out to state your reasons for 'voluntarily' leaving your employment. You have to give as much evidence to support your case for immediate benefits as possible. In your case you could get a letter from your daughter's doctor. It is unlikely that you would not get benefits months. They will check the information with your employer too but this will be factual not personal.

Wishing you and your daughter all the best. Your employer is a bas*d.

I'm so sorry OP. I wish your daughter a swift recovery xxx

I had a child fall suddenly and seriously ill and the advice I got was that I didn't have any right to leave beyond emergency leave for long enough to sort out another arrangement.

It was the most hellish time imaginable. Although other worries paled into insignificance next to the fear we were going to lose DS they were definitely there.

Some things I found helped:

I have quite a big entitlement to sick pay. My GP was willing to sign me off sick with stress without even seeing me on the basis of knowing about DS. Any chance this might work for you? If not:

We bought a mobile dongle thing so we could work at the hospital. It set up a 3g wifi network we could both access. It was so hard to work but DH is self employed so some things he had to do or we risked losing his business and we had to think we had two other children, mortgage, school fees etc. I did critical bits when i could to keep my job ticking over and work were grateful. Of course whether would help depends on the nature of your work - not useful if you are in retail for example.

Its very expensive living in a hospital. Make sure you get a car park pass - a nominal amount to pay per week rather than £1 per hour or whatever. Should be possible as parent of a sick child.

People will want to help. I barely managed to sort anything out and spent a fortune in costa which was the easiest thing. When people ask what to do get them to bring you food in.

Hope your DC recovers quickly.

So sorry to hear about your DC, OP.

As for the legalities, I thought you were entitled to take up to 4 weeks in a year for this sort of thing and have to give 3 weeks notice before the requirement?

It's awful that your employers are being so unsympathetic towards you. It's support that's needed, not more bloody stress!

I hope you get it sorted out quickly.

So sorry op. is there anyway you could get signed off for stress? Would your employers then have to keep your job open to you for a longer period of time, or at least longer than they would for carers leave? Hope things work out for you.