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

Annual leave or emergency dependents leave yes, sick leave no.

They are skivving

Just to add another no 🤣

She is clearly taking the piss and if she's still on probation, all these days here and there that she's taken off, are reasonable enough grounds for termination of her probation. She's not dependable. And if you're short staffed one day when she pulls a "sickie" then it's the children that will suffer. She needs to find another job.

I'm 57 and if my car was broken into, I'd report it to get a crime number and then call the insurance people, or get whatever was broken fixed if the cost of that was less than the excess.

There is alot of infantilising functioning grown up adults these days, and I'm not ok with this. It needs to stop.

OP whoever this person is, they need to have their employment terminated as they are unreliable in a business where you need reliability.

Nope, I can't imagine there's anything they would have to do that would add any value. Surely a drop in after work is sufficient but if it's a pattern it's unlikely the day off is genuine. I think I'd be raising formally for so much time off in a short period.

I have a staff member like this, off for any minor reason- recently it's been too cold in the office they needed 3 days off, didn't sleep well and needed to nap, felt no one had asked how they were emotionally for too long and needed a mental health day and their mum retired and they needed to 'process' 🙄.

That's not a reason to have a day off.

Sounds ridiculous

Nope. Fire immediately. You need reliable people for nursery work.

It’s absolutely bonkers excuse unless it’s a massive car crash (hope it’s not)

I'm glad I don't work where you do - nobody cares the reasons why people are off where I work. Gently, it is none of your business.

If they were elderly then it would be counted as carer’s leave (and probably fall under discretionary payment, it would be paid unless person had previously taken lots of time off). If not elderly, probably person would be given the option to flex their time/wfh etc.

^In my workplace

Except it’s a nursery.

So if people take 7-8 days off for this sort of reason since November, the nursery may have to up their fees to allow for extra staffing.. or close for the day.

So you can’t work

So lucky that you / your employers are happy to take the hit of a days pay!

My short answer based on what you’ve said is no, it doesn’t seem like a valid reason to take a day off.
Longer answer involves asking the question: what does your workplace usually do in these situations? You mention that AL has to be booked in advance, but there must be occasions (such as this one) where someone needs to take a last minute day off? Or are they given a ‘free’ day off? If that’s the case it’s unfortunately not that surprising that a staff member might stretch the boundaries for what constitutes a valid reason to take a last minute day off. Or is it unpaid leave?
Either way, it’s more about how it affects you and your colleagues than whether it’s a valid reason to take the day off. If it’s a pain for you but your employer has agreed it, you can complain to management but don’t get into the nitty gritty of whether your colleague is giving valid reasons, but word it that last minute holiday requests that are granted are making the rest of your colleagues’ work life difficult.
If the staff member is taking the piss generally (you mentioned lots of days off- I assume you mean sick days or last minute holidays rather than planned leave?) then that’s a separate issue management/HR need to take up with her/him.

No. It’s a stupid reason.

No, it isn't.

I assume at that age the parents are not snowflakes. Hand hold a 50 year old couple for this reason 😂😂

Yes but that was a drip feed on the part of the OP. With the context given in the initial post it didn’t seem UR.

No, that's not a valid reason. But if this person has already taken 7 or 8 days off in a handful of months for spurious reasons I would think that they're lazy and not that committed and that they need to go.

Are you his/her manager?

Do you have an attendance management policy which is shared as part of new employees induction. This sets out expectations and response with clarity for all.

If you are the manager, you follow it when dealing with your staff.

If you haven't an attendance management policy, this is where to start.

My attendance management policy ( public sector) includes that attendance management is required with two absences within a 6 month period. An absence is from half a day.

You may also have an induction policy which includes expectations under probation.

@Louiseeel definitely not!! if they are fit enough to drive then they are able enough to deal with insurance company and police!!

Some people find these sorts of things intimidating.

No and 7 or 8 days off since November - I've not had that many days off sick or for no good reason in 20+ years. Get rid.

This is not acceptable.

If they started in the last week of November, that was 12 weeks ago, 1 week closed for Xmas, so in 11 working weeks, they've had 8 days off with rather flimsy excuses.

It not on, it's not fair on other members of staff etc so either fire them for unreliability or tell them to buck up and extend their probation.