To be sacked due to sick children?

[Spamup]

Regular user but have NC for this!

My children, DS and DD both under 3 have several bouts of sickness before christmas and today my DS is not well which has resulted in a hospital admission - my employet has casually mentioned before about how i would probably be better off not working but nothing has been written down regarding this - ff to this evening, it has been sent to the HR department for formal disciplinary process to start and i am in bits - i am a lone parent and no family or friends to support me with emergancy childcare as they all work full time - can i really lose my job over this? I have bills etc to pay and worked a long time in this field to get to where i am now :(

It depends on a number of things, notably how long you’ve been working for them and how often you’ve been off work.

Ultimately you need to refer to your contract and see what it says about parental / unpaid / emergency leave.

Depending on circumstances, you could lose your job or you could not. However given they’re only starting a formal disciplinary process right now then you’re unlikely to be fired immediately. Again, your contract should have details about what a formal disciplinary involves.

Your best bet would be to go in and see if you can find a solution together as to how you can make up the hours if you need to miss work. If they see that you’re willing to work with them then you might be treated more leniently.

One has had chicken pox plus x4 hospital stays for bronchilitis, the nursery have called me when i have been at work also to say one of them has had a temp/upset stomach so they have to stay off for 48 hours. Currently it is a strange sickness/flu like virus- nursery said they wouldn't be prepared to take DS as he looked far too unwell when i took DD in today.

It sounds as though you are at the beginning of the disciplinary process, so there's opportunity for you to address the situation.
But I think that the level of your absence is extraordinarily high, so I imagine your employer will want to see significant change,

Just because you took the leave unpaid, it doesn't mean that your employer wasn't greatly inconvenienced or service disrupted.

I think 8 weeks is excessive from your employer's point of view (it doesn't matter whether you're 2 days or FT) and whilst they might want to be sympathetic, that really is alot of time. It must be very hard. As a pp says you're unlikely to get sacked at this stage but they will want to start the process so they can sack you if it continues.

Is there a reason they're prone to sickness - have you spoken to the GP about it?

That's a huge amount of time, nearly 50% off the time period. With previous time off before you can't really be surprised they aren't happy and are going down a formal route. You needed to show willing and offered to work other days or ensured you had other childcare in place.

Yes - nursery costs are high due to their age so hourly rate is higher and includes breakfast lunch and tea and care from 8am to 6pm.

So you've previously had a complete year and now 50% of the last five months, is this two bouts of dreadful attendance? What about the rest of your employment?

8/9 weeks since September 2018? That is a lot but what can you do. Usually, you wouldn't be sacked in an initial meeting with HR. Are you in a union?

Have you looked at a childminder? They would be cheaper and depending on illness may be more flexible to take the children when under the weather.

If you only work 2 days a week then you should definitely offer to make up the days when you can. It may mean rearranging nursery (or, given the high costs, would a childminder be cheaper?) but it would mean you might keep your job.

//www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

Could you suggest making up the days you miss on other days that week, or working from home when you can't make it in?

Agree with a PP 8 or 9 weeks off since last September is a lot! I’m surprised they haven’t begun the processs sooner. Is this due to a medical condition with DC you have made them aware of?

Can you get a nanny instead? For £1300 a month for two days it should be affordable. Then no time off needed

I think with that attendance record you will be on pretty thin ice. When will you qualify for 15/30 hours? If you want to keep your job you will have to throw £££ at this problem until the free hours kick in.

Eeek, in the five years you have been there you have had two maternitys, a year off sick and now 9 weeks off in the last 5 months? OP surely you can see their point. When you add in annual leave, they really mustn't have saw much of you over the last five years. It is very unfortunate and I really feel for you when you are trying your best to work and support your children but surely you can see this just isn't sustainable for the company

This is so difficult for you

DD was born prematurely - also has issues with ongoing condition which she is under the consultant at the hospital for. I know 8 weeks sounds excessive however if i was full time 6 days in 5 months would be deemed a lot less from a total number of hours perspective.

From trawling through my emails the last contact inhad from HR was an email requesting i replied to say i agreed with the content of our previous discussion - i did not reply to this email.

Feeling all of the shite right now - returning to work had a positive impact on my mental health and i really want to work - i dont have room for an au pair sadly and i feel like a failure i should have stayed with their dad and then everyone would have been happier :(

If you had a year off with PND and DV, given the ages you say your DC are, this means that with maternity leave you were off for 2 years or so?

And now you’ve missed 8/9 weeks due to child illnesses? Surely you can see their POV and understand why they are now formalising things? It’s not sustainable for any business to have somebody there so infrequently. Are you offering to work different days when your DC are sick, at the very least?

I do get it’s tough OP but ultimately, your employer doesn’t have to tolerate such poor attendance as it does impact on your colleagues. If you’ve been there 5 years then I would resign before formal procedures have started so at least you have a clean reference.

After i returned from.my maternities and sickness i recieved a lump sum payment for my annual leave accrued to date instead of physcially taking the annual leave.

If you were full time it wouldn't be 6 days (Or is that 16?) in 5 months though. With hospital admissions and chicken pox it would still be in full weeks surely? Although, if I'm honest, I consider 16 days in 5 months for a full time employee a lot as well - it's almost a full working month.
Is a child minder an option?

Afraid I too can see your employers pov. In five years employment you've had (I presume) 2 x mat leaves, 1 year for pnd / dv and 8-9 weeks since September for children's sickness. That potentially adds up to more time on some kind of leave than actually there doing your job. It's not that any of your reasons are not good reasons. But surely anybody would struggle to do a good job with so much time off, and depending on your role the uncertainty may impact on others too. What do you think a fair and reasonable solution would be?

I know 8 weeks sounds excessive however if i was full time 6 days in 5 months would be deemed a lot less from a total number of hours perspective.

So are you saying your kids were only ill on the 2 days you usually work? So if you were full time, you'd have only had 2 days a week off for 8/9 weeks? If so, why didn't you offer to work on different days to make your hours up?

Are you in a union? Definitely read all your HR policies regarding absence and the disciplinary process. Don’t go to formal meetings unaccompanied (usually a Union rep or colleague is allowed - again check policies). Good luck and don’t do anything foolish (like resign when you’re upset and aggrieved).