AIBU to think working from home with chickenpox child is unfair?

[Wfhsucks]

So I called work this morning as my 5 year old son has chicken pox and they advised for
me to still work (from home) I am really struggling juggling everything and I don’t think it is fair as I couldn’t take him into the office and be expected to work?

They're doing you a huge favour continuing to pay you while you're WFH as opposed to being off on no pay.

Ask for no pay if you don't want to.

Some do for emergency situations like this. But if you don't want to then ask for annual leave or unpaid leave instead? I often do a mix for multiple days.

You should take a day off because your child is sick, what do you expect your company to do ?

Well plenty of people can obviously. But if you can’t that’s totally understandable, but you need to be clear about that with them and explain you won’t be working from home

You couldn't take him into the office because he is infectious.

The only person he's infecting at home is you, and that's already a done deal.

I don’t see it as a huge favour at all. This is the thing because people work from home they expect to do less work. I don’t agree

Lots of people would prefer to WFH rather than take a days leave or unpaid. Whoever you spoke to probably thought they were doing you a favour.

Why didn't you say to your employer that he needs your attention and you would need to take leave - annual or unpaid? You are unreasonable because you have to speak up. Not because you don't want to wfh with a child at home - I avoided that till my ds was at secondary school age.

You're lucky your employee allows you to WFH with a sick child - not all do, in which case you're expected to take unpaid leave or use annual leave.

If you feel unable to work with your child at home though, annual leave or unpaid may be your only options unless you can get someone (family member perhaps) to provide some childcare.

So why didn't you request unpaid parental leave or annual leave instead? He's likely to be unwell for a week or so, if you can afford a week without pay, or are prepared to lose a weeks worth of annual leave, then call them and say that you'd prefer annusl leave/unpaid leave.

Take a day's leave, then.

So why not just call them now and say it’s not working out and you’ll be taking further time as unpaid leave?

Why are you ignoring the multiple posters saying take leave then? As PPs have said, obviously some people can juggle the two things. If you can't, take leave.

Unless this is not actually happening and you just wanted to start a thread about lazy WFHers?

If you are u happy about their offer, take a days Annual Leave or say you’ll take it unpaid.

What do you actually want them to offer you? A day off work on full pay? If so, then it’s you taking the piss.

Maybe OP was hoping she could have a few days off paid sick leave

I think you are being somewhat precious. Do what you can from home… or take day of emergency leave. Indeed I’d consider it fortunate you work from home now as reduces your need to take unpaid parental leave every time they are off school ill.

Most of the country managed for months doing exactly this during lockdowns, plus trying to box and cox with some sort of home education and more than one child. You and DC will survive a few days.

It is only unfair to other colleagues if they do not get the same perks or for people who have to take annual leave when their child is ill. Also unfair to the company as they know you will not be as productive yet are still giving you the benefit of the doubt.

They are doing you a massive favour and you are being hideously difficult.

I'd have guessed they think you can still do some work whilst having a child with CP in the house, and think you being somewhat useful on full pay is better for both you and the company than being zero useful on zero pay. There are lots of roles that are like that.

But if you don't think it'll be doable, you should say so. Be ready for them to make you take it unpaid if you don't have/want to use annual leave though.

What do you want then? Unpaid leave? Why does the employer lose out because YOUR son caught a virus which is contagious? Ffs op are you being serious. The liberties of some people never fail to astound me. The mind boggles.

How many days are you expecting to be off and how old is dc? They don’t have to pay you if you choose not to work unless the absence policy covers it. How long have you worked there?

Take the unpaid leave then

the company I work for, lets people wfh with sick kids, they know it’s not going to be 100% performance but it’s a win all around, people get paid and some work gets done vs none

In the days before wfh you’d be scrabbling to work out how to balance annual leave with your other half so you could manage a few days work

wfh isn’t ideal but I’m sure they’ve recognised your productivity will be down and it means you don’t have to take leave

or were you expecting them to give you the time off paid?

Presumably given this chicken pox your child will actually be sick/off work for a number of days. Of course your employer is going to expect you to do some work or take leave during that time.

My work were fabulous when this happened to me - way before WFH became common, but bits were possible for me.
They told me to work when I could, add up the hours, and put in leave for the balance.

I think work are trying yo be helpful. If you want to put in some form of leave, just tell them your child needs you and you will need unpaid / dependants / annual leave.

Yes but if it was something else, I wouldn’t be allowed to take him into with me. Same rules should apply with WFH