aibu to call in sick when baby ia poorly?

[steppyhen]

DS has been up all night barking cough , high temp, has a cold and just wants his mum, hes 9 months old.
was due to be working a 4 hour shift today and called to say i wouldnt be in as ds was poorly and i had made him a doc app foe when i was due to be working.
My manager sounded really pissed off at me. Will i get the sack? Should i have went in?

Theas - i didnt say i was sick i explained the situation to employer and said i didnt want to leave him being so young. I maybe worded the thread wrongly.

Legally, you are allowed enough time off to arrange your emergency childcare (which it is assumed you have lined up). You are not permitted to simply stay off with your child until they are better. If you do then the employer is fully within their rights to discipline you.

Fortunately many employers will be more flexible than this and allow you to take a limited amount of time using your annual leave allowance or as unpaid - assuming it isn't happening all the time.

Chicken Pox (or similar) is obviously particularly awkward.

ThinkIveBeenHacked Work don't generally care - you will usually find that you are contracted to turn up unless YOU are too sick to do so.

If you have dependants it will usually be written into your contract that you are entitled to so much time off unpaid to deal with emergencies.

Beyond that time you are expected to turn up at work. It is your responsibility to make sure you can do that before you take the job on.

Though lots of people wing it, taking time off on leave, on sick and generally giving working parents (who am I kidding - working mothers ) a bad name.

Steppyhen, to be honest, if I had just started the job in December and only worked two four hour shifts a week, my 9 mth was normally looked after by a relative but had a bad cold, I would have gone into work. Providing of course the relative was happy to have them!

I just think for the sake of four hours, your DS would probably have been fine, but the inconvenience to your employers and colleagues may have been considerable. As you have only just started the job, you really need to make the best first impression you can and you need to keep your powder dry for more serious illnesses or situations, which probably will arise!

I know it's hard, I know you would have felt bad leaving him but for this amount of time it might have been better to go into work. Sorry, but you did ask

I hope he feels much better soon.

It's a bit of a bummer for the manager, I'd be pissed off but understand there's nothing else to be done. I'm sure next time your in it'll be fine.

Depends on your workplace. The last place I worked was ok with up to 2 weeks a year unpaid leave for sick etc, dependants.

My manager was pretty good about allowing me to swap working days (part time) to cover child sick days so I could still get paid. Maybe I just got a workplace with a good policy or a good manager. I think the fact I only ever took 2 days off sick (for myself) in 8 years went in my favour as my manager knew I wasn't at it.

I would have a look into your staff handbook and HR policies OP so you know for next time.

Yanbu at all. Children come first. This is why work and human life and families don't mix. We are not units of production although often treated as such. It is ridiculous that one can be disciplined simply by being ill as well. Yes some people take the piss but some just have shit luck!

As for finding alernate childcare for a sick baby, who would want to catch a bug themselves! My parents wouldn't look after mine when they are sick nor would I expect them too!

There should be better policies etc for families and employees.

my relative who ds was going to has only had him once so i didnt think it was fair on her or my son for him to be their ill. my dad would normally have him and has done the past 5 weeks but unfortunately his shift has changed.
all sorted im going to cover a girls hours on sat as well as mine and shes gonna do my 4 hours today.

I think YABU to call in sick but not U to take time off. You are entitled to emergency dependent leave, although unpaid or you could take it as holiday which is what most people have to do.

I'm not sure you're in the right mindset for a permanent job.

There's nothing 'emergency' about this situation. You have a baby with a cough who'd be happier if he were looked after by you, but he won't come to any harm if your relative looks after him.

There will be many coughs. Even a SAHM would be wondering whether he needs a doctor's appointment at this point. You could arrange one for tomorrow, when you're not working. The chances are that the doctor won't give you anti-b's so early anyway.

I agree with Yes. Especially since you've only been working for this firm for such a short time. It gives a v bad impression.

I save emergency parental leave for actual emergencies.
I wish everyone else did the same