to be p####d off about this?

[babyjane67]

im a school lunchbreak supervisor at my dds primary
shes5&a half so in reception
in early hrs of mon morn she woke with tummy ache&was sick
shes also had an awful barking productive cough for last wk or so
anyway shes been off school yest&today due to the sickness which has also turned to diarrhoea a few times since yest
I rang in yest saying she wouldnt be in&neither would I&cuz of the48hr 'law'the school has that the kids arent allowed back in til after last incidence of it didnt ribg in today as assumed theyd expect me to ring again tomorrow which I will
anyway school rang me this pm&asked when I'll be back in&i said well dds still not well
so she said well cant you arrange for someone to look after her?
I said no ive only got my ellderly mum whos got copd&has her good days&bad.plus I wouldnt want her to catch it
she said well isnt there anyone else?
no I said there isnt
so she said well can u ring in morn pls&let us know if youll be in
so I explained I will but didnt yoday cuza48hr thing to which she said yes for the children!
so it left me thinking wtf??
do they really want me to spread the germs around even if I did have someone to leave her with which I dont!
thought work place are sposed to be more flexible about this now?
especially as its a school!

In which case Jane some serious engagement with your employer to full explain that, along with some acknowledgement of the inconvenience caused to them would be in order. Particularly as opposed to not phoning in, though I appreciate there may have been some confusion there. As I said before, if genuinely there are no options and it's not a regular issue then with the correct approach I'd expect you to be accommodated.

*fully

Oh whatever. Yawn.
Of course ppl make decisions based on what works best for them.
It would make no sense for me to cancel a mornings work to "cover" at home. It makes much more sense for DH to do it. Usually. There are times when what he is doing can't be moved and vice versa.
one of them has to do it. Why not the op?

A lunchtime supervisor isn't likely to be in the refectory. It's playground duties, isn't it?

Whatever? OK, glad you can justify it so comprehensively.

I don't think you should be upset; it seems that you didn't follow the rules of your place of work. If you're going to be off more than one day, you have to call off every day, unless it's been pre-arranged for some reason.

I don't agree that you're being unreasonable to take off with your daughter when she's sick, but I think things work differently here. I get 80 hours of sick time a year, and I can use that for when I'm sick or to stay home with my kids if they're sick. If they have to be off for three days, I can take off for three days, for instance. My husband and I do try to take turns, though.

Did I read correctly that your shift is 1.5 hours? If that's the case, I can see why your employer would be upset. Surely your husband or a friend or someone can sit with your daughter for that short period of time?

Yes. Because "whatever" is all I said.

"They are in the wrong, you are entitled to parental or careers leave your employer wil be your local council, ask them,or look on their website for info."

A number of people have mentioned emergency (unpaid) leave whilst you arrange alternative childcare. It is not however an entitlement to be off fr the duration of each bout of illness your DC comes down with. OP will need to find back ups (or return to the previous school which had an unusually generous policy).

I know usual it beggars belief really.

Usual yes, we know that. What's the problem with the employer actively monitoring and managing attendance though?? They don't just have a right but a responsibility to all workers to ensure obligations are abided by as fully as possible and that others are not unfairly burdened. If it's a one-off then I have plenty more sympathy for her situation, but none whatsoever for the attitude that the employer somehow shouldn't really try to clarify what's going to happen or has happened.

I gave the facts as an HR manager. Some of this has been out of order. I have a dp but when the dc were little and I worked part-time, he wouldn't have been able to cover because he had the full-time main income. Of course he took time off in the absolute emergencies when one of the dc was being hurtled to hospital in an ambulance and he could because he wasn't in court. He certainly wouldn't have for dv although he could and did work at home if he had no meetings, etc.

The only mistake the op made was not phoning in this morning. She knows for next time. And for those who have suggested nannies for 1.5 hours on minimum wage my first ever I think

Hope your dd is feeling better tomorrow op.

thwrealamanda, usualsuapects&any ive missed
thanks for your support
I work at the same school I worked at before
some of the ppl I work with were there when I was there before so know me well
theres only a couple of teachers still there from before though&both the secretary&ht are new

Op. it wasn't ok for them to pressure you about the child care issue.
YANBU to feel a bit pissed off, but they were probably stressed. People sometimes lack the imagination necessary to consider that one persons situation (no reasonable alternative childcare) might be different from another's (reasonable alternative childcare)
So, I'd not stew on it tbh.
Maybe it would have been a good idea to call them first to be clear that everyone knew what was what IYSWIM.
But if your chil is sick then your priority is carved out for you.

You should have let them know, but it's laughable that people think you can just find emergency childcare for a puking child. I wouldn't take a friends puking child and wouldn't ask anyone to look after mine. And this government is forcing parents to go back to work but not providing the legal back up to do this without this insane idea that if your kids are ill you should be able to magic up childcare!

Yes, dinner ladies work in the school hall supervising lunch as well as supervising the playground.

Dinner ladies earn very little so I highly doubt her DH will want to stay at home (if he is even able to). Why do you think he can 'pop home' to cover? He may not work locally.

A dinner lady's pay would nowhere near cover emergency childcare. I live in a village and doubt that it's even available. We don't all live in cities.

Who has friends that would cover for illness?

Why can't MNetters actually appreciate that some families have absolutely no back up. I certainly didn't.

Schools do not give any parental leave (bar one day) for illness usually and obviously the OP has no holiday she can take.

The only thing the OP did wrong was not keep the school informed.

thankyou nearthewindymill so do I!
hope she sleeps better tonight too bless her

thankyou unusual
yes I work both in the hall&in playground
I accept I was stupid not ringing them again today&certainly wont make that mistake again!

To be honest, the part that bugs me most is the fact that this whole thread is based on being 'pissed off' that the school called and checked for an update and, gasp, dared to ask if there were other options available. They were told no, after which according to OP all that happened was that they asked to be kept updated. Now seriously, why on earth is that unreasonable from the employer?? The being 'pissed off' sounds warning bells. They didn't sanction her, they enquired about the situation.