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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think no one should have to sit in a smoky room for employment?

64 replies

orangegeranium · 20/08/2017 20:29

D

OP posts:
Original poster
orangegeranium · 20/08/2017 20:31

Sorry. Try again.

My sister (22) has a job providing support to the elderly at home.

Last night a woman wanted to sit and chat with her but was smoking so my sister sat in the kitchen. The family have complained about her!

AIBU to think she is in the right?

OP posts:
Slowcookerheaven · 20/08/2017 20:34

What's in her contract?

WinterIsComingKnitFaster · 20/08/2017 20:34

Ooh tricky. Placemarking to see if anyone turns up with up to date knowledge of the law.

SaucyJack · 20/08/2017 20:35

Has she lost her job completely, or just been moved to another client?

The 1st is U. The 2nd seems perfectly fine to me.

MrsTerryPratchett · 20/08/2017 20:35

No one should have to sit in a smoky room for their job. No one should be expected to give up smoking in their own home to receive care.

Sometimes two people's needs come into conflict.

No idea what the law says.

Original poster
orangegeranium · 20/08/2017 20:36

Nothing about smoke apart from no smoking in her uniform and since she doesn't smoke that isn't a problem.

OP posts:
Slowcookerheaven · 20/08/2017 20:36

smtp.nashics.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/16385.pdf

Unison guidance says law doesn't apply when someone is in their own home.

SaucyJack · 20/08/2017 20:40

Also, presumably the family are paying for their elderly relative's care.

It's not U in the slightest of them to want to employ someone who's actually going to do the job.

I don't think your sister has any moral right here to insist on being employed if she doesn't get on (for whatever reason) with the client.

BonTemps · 20/08/2017 20:43

I also work in care, our policy states that even in a customer's own home we can ask them not to smoke whilst a carer is present and they should refrain from having a fag for half an hour before the carer comes in. If they refuse then the management can pull the care altogether but they must risk assess first.

DriveInSaturday · 20/08/2017 20:45

Why was she sitting in the kitchen? (Apart from not wanting to be where the client was smoking?). Had she finished her support task, in which case why didn't she leave? Was she just writing up the notes? Or was she actually supposed to be providing a sitting service?

If it was the last one, then I can see why the family would complain. If the client needs a sitting service, they need someone in the room with them.

PodgeBod · 20/08/2017 20:46

I think your sister is NBU she should not have to work in a toxic environment

NicolasFlamel · 20/08/2017 20:49

She shouldn't have to do it but the woman obviously shouldn't have to not smoke in her home so it's a bit tricky really.
I wouldn't sit in a smoky room with anyone and I wouldn't be able to do that job if that was the only option. Can she be moved to provide care elsewhere?

DriveInSaturday · 20/08/2017 20:50

Bontemps, I wish one of my mum's carers would refrain from having a fag for half an hour before coming to her house! She's great but because she's a smoker she doesn't realise the impact in a non-smoking house.

Original poster
orangegeranium · 20/08/2017 20:54

I don't know if they pay or not but my sister did everything she had to do.

OP posts:
Slowcookerheaven · 20/08/2017 20:58

If your sister had finished, why was she still there?

Original poster
orangegeranium · 20/08/2017 21:04

Because they have to wait for the client to finish food and drink.

OP posts:
Slowcookerheaven · 20/08/2017 21:05

Then your sister hadn't done all she had to do Confused she wasn't finished?

Gwenhwyfar · 20/08/2017 21:09

"presumably the family are paying for their elderly relative's care.

It's not U in the slightest of them to want to employ someone who's actually going to do the job."

So people have to run the risk of getting lung cancer and all the other illnesses that come with passive smoking? Not to mention the stink that'll be on their clothes and hair. If you pay, does that give you the right to endanger someone's health like that?
I realise it's the ill person's home, but workers should not have to be exposed to smoke like that.

Nanny0gg · 20/08/2017 21:12

And what if her next client objects to the smell?

LadyMaryCrawley1922 · 20/08/2017 21:14

Of course they complained about her, she wasn't doing her job! Her job is to provide support, she went and sat in another room and didn't do that.

SaucyJack · 20/08/2017 21:14

" If you pay, does that give you the right to endanger someone's health like that?"

It gives you the right to choose who works for you. Plenty of care staff smoke themselves, and would not have a problem providing companionship to this particular client while she was enjoying a fag and a brew.

Why on Earth shouldn't they have the right to request a different carer?

CatsAreAssholes · 20/08/2017 21:15

Her uniform would have stunk if she'd smoked next to her.

Could they have gone outside or was the patient not up to it?

CatsAreAssholes · 20/08/2017 21:16

This is no different to the woman who wanted to sack her smoking nanny last week.

If you need / don't need a smoker you need to make it clear before you waste someone's time.

They shouldn't hire a non smoker to sit in a house and be smoked on.

Original poster
orangegeranium · 20/08/2017 21:17

The problem is her shifts are made up of groups of different people.

Her tasks were

Give medication (done)
Give snack and drink of choice (done)
Wait until eaten and wash up (done)

OP posts:
PodgeBod · 20/08/2017 21:19

I don't really think you have a right to smoke in your own home if you also require paid help to manage. Asking her to refrain from smoking 30 mins before home help comes, and also while the helper is there is perfectly reasonable in my view.