What happens if your children are sick whilst you're at work?

[Ditaditaddddita]

Say if the nursery phone you whilst you're at work and say your child is sick, can you come and collect ASAP. Are you able to leave work for this? What if this happens regularly, would you not face disciplinary action?

I have no children of my own, but this is something I've wondered about and that worries me.

My husband or my mum collect her (teacher so no in reality - would be frowned upon).

Yes you have to go and collect them, where I work I get a few days carers leaves every year but that's not the same for every employer. If I use up my carers leave I have to use annual leave, if I have to leave and there's no one else to collect then I have to leave.

Yes absolutely, I go to my child.

I once got a call from the school about a bang on the head and rang my boss from the car en route. He rang me later on that evening to check on the little one, and that was that.

I would expect my staff to do exactly the same

Civil service - no questions asked here

I was wondering hypothetically what if both parents were working.. and my own parents spend half of the year abroad so might not have other options

Hopefully most workplaces are understanding..

When my DC were young, me and DH would split between us - depends on who is in the country (both travelling for work), if both around who has a key meeting on - sometimes would be one picking but both coming to WFH so that we could balance meetings

Work colleagues pretty understanding that sometimes you need to drop and run

As you can see from the description, office based professional jobs where there is more flexibility - but to the other thread on overtime/TOIL you get on with what is needed so catchup in the evening / weekend if needed

Most places have emergency special leave to deal with such things.

I can WFH if I need to (although I only do for a good reason) so I go get them and put them in front of the TV and carry on working (in same room if small and poorly)

It could be a bit of an issue if both my DH and I were working at clients though as we could take a while to get back - luckily that hasn’t happened yet.

I make it crystal clear that they have to be properly ill for me to do this. No namby pambying 'oh he is not settled/off colour'. Actually ill or I won't be picking up.

You just apologise and do it. It's pretty rare though. Dose them up on Calpol and send them in the next day 🤞

My work I can leave but dh could be hours away.

I'm a friends emergency contact incase she is stuck (type job you can't just leave) and her husband is away

@Ablondiebutagoody Amd if they've vomited?

I'm lucky, have worked for a family friendly employer since before I had children. When the call comes yes it's hard the first couple of times to tell your boss and leave but you get used to it. It helps that you really don't have a choice - someone has to pick them up. I wouldn't face disciplinary action. I can work from home now my kids are school age. I don't work in an industry that is difficult / impossible to wfh.

Children need at least one adult in their lives who is willing and able to do this. I'm a single parent so the default but on the rare occasions I wouldn't be able to get to school quickly I would let my ex and my mum know so someone could pick up if necessary.

I'm also lucky that my children are mostly healthy and are not ill very often (touch wood!).

Yes, 99% of the time I'd be ok to leave to get them in my current role , but I would continue to work from home. This has happened once and I was unable leave work, grand parent collected for us.
In my previous job, no I couldn't just go and DP or grandparents would need to go if they could, before I did. If it happened continuously I'd be brought in for a meeting. It never got to that point though.

Better out than in

I just tell my boss I have to go…and I go. I’m not going to apologise either, it is what it is.

@Ablondiebutagoody Sod the 48-hour policy schools have, right?

Luckily I can go and do go whenever if my kids need me. I'm very thankful I'm in a role where that's possible. I've had this job role but in different teams before where it's been made harder. But my current manager is an all round wonderful person and very much focused on if my job is done, not when I do it.

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

You're entitled to emergency leave to arrange care.

They kinda have to be - both husband and I worked in pretty stressful hands on jobs and had no family support as living abroad - when a call came form nursery, it was just a juggle to see who could leave more easily that day, colleagues often covered and we would do the same for them, you reschedule etc. ultimately we moved home and it’s amazing to have extra back up!

Of course you leave work. Work have to be understanding to a degree, there are usually policies in place for this.

I ended up with a child with brittle asthma. I work part-time partly because I get that call so often. Thankfully my employer doesn’t care when I work. So when I get the call I send a quick email and run to the school, hoping we don’t need to go to a&e this time.

I once had someone work for me who thought it was perfectly OK to leave a couple of hours early at least three times a week because the nursery had called. apparently her husband could never collect because he was at work.
She had the nerve on days she didn't get a nursery call to .say she'd be leaving early because she'd taken a short lunch break.

she then tried to organise compressed hours - ie 4 days working til 7.30, I refused as she was rarely there beyond 3.30
didn't last long. - she left to work for a temp agency where she'd have been on an hourly rate.

@ThinWomansBrain So basically she could leave work every time but husband couldn't because he was at work?!!!!! Ridiculous!! 😄

Why do you have a bee in your bonnet about my child vomiting?