To wonder if this is a valid reason to be off work for the day

[Louiseeel]

That your Dparents car was broken into the night before so you had to be with them

7 or 8 days off since late November is a piss take. They would be out the door in my work.

If it was one of my staff it wouldn't have gotten this far and probation would have been ended and they'd have their p45 by now. Definitely not a reasonable excuse and your employee is unreliable.

On the facts you’ve given it would be ridiculous to take leave. This employee should be encouraged to explore other work opportunities. Denying them the leave may do just this.

No.

Parents can sort out their own car issues at that age so no, not a reason for adult child to take time off work.

At least yours is keeping it interesting by coming up with new and random excuses. My lot seem to suffer excessively with food poisoning on a Monday.

Parents in their 50s?! Of course not. They can easily sort themselves out.

They’re taking the piss. Employer needs to take action as they’re obviously getting away with it so will continue.

No. Your parents are adults and they have each other for support.

Definitely not, especially with your update. I had a team member who started off with a few requests here and there, promising to make up the hours (not really appropriate to our job where we need meetings in work hours). It soon escalated where she was getting huge amounts of time off and flexibility to be a carer. If other team members found out they’d all start bitching about it or start coming up with their own excuses. It’s one of the problems with management, I had to spend so much time negotiating about what was acceptable I just wish we’d never hired them - I spent far longer managing them than it would have been to just do the work myself. I do think some people think they are doing you a favour by just coming to work and that you owe them a job.

I’m that age, if my car was broken into overnight I’m 100% capable of getting myself to work and phoning the insurance company without involving my adult dc. I also don’t take the piss at work, what were the other 7/8 ‘emergencies’ that prevented them (both?) working over the last 2 months.

Utter piss take. Grounds for disciplinary action for poor attendance during probationary period.

They’re taking the piss

Absolutely not. I'm sure this person's parents are perfectly capable of handling their own personal business without an adult child hanging around.

No.
This is a weak excuse - ‘very dog ate my homework’.

No, and time to let them go with that kind of absence record in three months.

DH would possibly be able to take leave at that sort of notice - tho he probably wouldn't.
Not a chance in hell I'd be able to get it off.

I think your worker needs a "return to work" interview with the leave policy and expectations outlined to them. It appears they are taking the piss - especially given the cover requirements.

This is a no.

if theyd been with you longer I'd say find your company policies re absences and start issuing warnings with a view to them getting with the program or exiting the business.

Buttttt
They started late Nov so I'd fail their probation no questions asked.
This is them AT THEIR BEST. 😵‍💫

Is this a colleague or an employee? If it’s an employee I’d be sacking them forthwith. Possible for any reason within 2 years as long as it is not for something covered under the equality act.

It would appear this job and employee are not a good match

My recently widowed and unwell father would struggle. There is a huge spectrum when it comes to the elderly.

Please get rid of this person before the hardworking members of your team get sick of having their rota changed all the time and find new jobs.

Absolutely not!, if they have the capacity to drive , they have the capability to sort any issues that arise with their vehicle!

So their parents are late 50s-early 60s. Full capacity. They started the job in late November and have had 7 or 8 days off so far so it’s getting. A bit of a pattern

What in your sickness and unpaid absence policy?

They’ve been there less than 4 months and had 7-8 days off… it’s time you had some serious chats.

I was going to say if I was going to take a day off for that, and I wouldn't, I would have requested it as unpaid leave.

In light of the further information, I would tell her she can have as many days as she likes and set about getting rid of her.