can i be fired for this?

[bishbashboosh1]

i had to call in sick last week because my childcare flaked. boss said i ruined her weekend away and wants a meeting. i have a 0 hour contract and she’s taken me off the shifts i was meant to be on this week. have a feeling if she’s taking me off the rota that she’s going to axe me. not sure what i was meant to do though? leave my 1 year old at home on her own?

im also 25 weeks pregnant and now worried about smp, will i still qualify if i can push it to 26 weeks?

probably outing but i don’t care. fed up of everyone praising working mums then giving them no leeway when they’re stuck for childcare. what is the point i feel like i might as well be a stay at home mum until kids are in school

I suppose the key is having backbup childcare, or reliable childcare. Sounds like your using a nanny, childminder, or friend? Maybe consider a nursery setting where you're not going to be put in this position. I can understand their frustration as you absolutely can make sure your child has a more reliable source of childcare which won't impact on the company.

What?!! Maybe dad isn't in the picture!!! And it still doesn't solve the problem of somone being impacted!

Meanwhile in the real world people do have childcare issues and have to take time off work. Most of them lie to avoid this sort of situation. But on MN of course you have to have three on-call nannies waiting to take your kids while you work for minimum wage or you're just not trying.

meh. Of course it happens, and the best employers are the ones with loyal staff who go above and beyond when required in turn. These employers are few and far between i think.

The point isn't that this happens. And the point isn't that, as in this case, the backup sometimes fails. It is the sense of foot-stamping cries of "it's not fair". Life, as we know, isn't fair, you have to roll with the punches. It is a shitty part of life, especially for OP who is pregnant and on a zero hours contract. Perhaps we need to readjust society?

Employers expect you to have reliable childcare yeah. If your family is not reliable you should have used a professional.

To be honest, from your employer's perspective your childcare arrangements are entirely within your control

If thats the employers perspective, the employer is an idiot, aren't they? Any number of things can affect your childcare that you have no control over. For example, last month I had to leave early to collect DS from creche as they had a flood and had to close midday. Was that somehow in my control?

but my family usually is reliable. usually her dad has her but he was hundreds of miles away so my parents were having her. there’s no way i would have a nanny or anything for this job as a) it’s minimum wage so i would barely break even and b) this is the first time in about a year of working there that i would’ve needed them - what professional childcare option is there for that?

I think that some people are getting very confused here. OP is on a zero hours contract. They are a worker and not an employee. Therefore the employer doesn't need to offer any hours at all, and doesn't have to provide any explanation for the lack of hours. So we can all agree that the employer is s**t, we can all agree that zero hours contracts should be made illegal, and we can all agree that employers ought to realise that people have lives and other priorities. But in this case the employer appears to consider turning up to the allocated shifts to be their only priority and as the law stands they are allowed to think that. There is a difference between what we might wish the law says and what it actually says.

So on the basis that the employer appears to have already withdrawn shifts and the OP needs the pay, I think that however much it might stick in the craw, humble pie and an apology would be the best strategy. I'm all for fighting if you have some cards to play - there doesn't seem to be a good hand here for the OP, so instead of fantasising about reading them a riot act and threatening them with legal cases that you know you aren't going to fight, it's probably better to say sorry and it won't happen again.

Because the maternity pay and the decent job won't come overnight, and if you can't afford to fight then don't pick one. And I say that as someone who would always prefer to fight, but I can afford that stance. The OP obviously can't.

This is a bit misleading because you also have to earn a certain amount during those 'qualifying weeks' to get SMP. £120 per week I believe it is but would check.

If you don't then it's likely maternity allowance you need

I'm sorry this happened. Things like this are so hard. People being harsh - what about if the child was sick and couldn't go to nursery? There are lots of reasons why a parent might have to take time off that aren't 'in their control.'

In future you could try the Bubble app for last minute babysitting. It was really good for me when I needed to go to A&E with short notice and had no childcare.

Good luck

The boss sounds unprofessional & immature

OP I'd look for another job x

They are still an employee. "worker" doesn't mean anything at all. She's an employee.

This sounds like a dreadful place to work and she sounds an awful boss.

I'm sorry this happened. Things like this are so hard. People being harsh - what about if the child was sick and couldn't go to nursery? There are lots of reasons why a parent might have to take time off that aren't 'in their control.'

Things like this are hard. And people are being "harsh" in that they are pointing out the realities of OPs life: zero hours, single parent and pregnant. I have been on demos, fought the fight, had to walk the walk and all that in all my years of being employed (in relatively good, well-paid jobs - i could afford to do these things because of my priveleged position)

But the reality is: employers who employ people on Zero hours contracts hold ALL the cards. So if OP has any chance to just suck it up, humble pie, profuse apologies and sincere promises to do her best and more that it never happens again - that is the reality of her position.

Nobody is saying this is ideal, right or not morally bankrupt. Now, how do we go about changing things?

If you didn’t call in sick did you just call and say that you weren’t coming in to work?

As understandable as it is to need to do this you are on a zero hours contract so don’t need to be sacked, you can just find that your hours are dropped to zero.

”Fair” doesn’t tend to butter any parsnips as an adult. There are some legal protections around discrimination, but outside those “fair” isn’t often a thing.

Why can’t people be bothered to read the OP’s posts and instead make stupid comments or ask questions designed to be cutting, that nave already been clarified. It’s easy. Fuck sake.

That is incredibly shitty by your parents, unless they had a major health crisis, or were both stuck down a crevasse.

But the time off was not related to pregnancy.

Your advice is terrible not only for the OP, but for all women who suffer when managers take the rational view that employing a pregnant woman is a recipe for a nightmare employee who’ll lie and sue.

I’m a bit concerned that you don’t realise the difference between why you were off and ‘calling in sick’. You worded it that way again whilst mentioning your colleague that has no childcare worries. Maybe if you’re ‘calling in sick’ when you’re not then that’s got your bosses back up.

It is discrimination if you are let go because of childcare issues when someone else isn't for far worse transgressions.

Those saying emergency parental leave, this is not supposed to be for you to take the day off it’s supposed to be for you find alternate childcare arrangements.

And will likely remain one, albeit one with minimal or no hours coming their way in the future.

I feel for you. It sounds like you were genuinely stuck in an impossible situation. I hope you don't get fired, I'm not clued about this. Hope your LO is doing better though.