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?

What did you say when you phoned in? Did you say “I have a sick child and will need to take carers leave” and they made you wfh?
Or did you just leave them to decide and this is the outcome as they didn’t realise how unwell child is?

This depends on the level and type of illness, age of child and what your job entails.

I regularly wfh when my children are sick. If they are severe with vomiting etc then no I book off as childcare but most other things (including chickenpox) are manageable.
But my job doesn't involve customers/clients etc and my works policy is basically line manager discretion. Most of us simply explain we have a ill child so may have more short breaks. It stops me getting behind with my case work.

Obviously it's not possible if they are under 18 months old as typically they just want to lie ontop of you!

But what did you want/expect to happen?
Did you ask for dependants leave? Or did you just Hope they would say ok no worries have a paid day off that doesn't come out of your AL?

At my work I've sometimes been at home with sick kids. I usually manage it by taking a half day AL and working on and off and "tending the patient" on and off. I could announce that I can't work and need dependants leave but (a) it is at employers discretion as to whether it's paid it not and (b) it messes up my workloads and targets to have time off when I'm not expecting it.
I totally agree wfh with kids isn't ideal but occasionally needs must.

Think about it this way, if you had no WFH capacity, you'd be stuck at home to doing no work with but possibly losing a week's pay!

Take the day as annual leave or unpaid leave.

If you expect a day off and still get paid YABU.

What did you want them to do / say?

Have you actually asked for emergency leave for a dependent or to use a day's annual leave for this?

I think you are over thinking

if your bosses ever had young children they know what it’s like
you do your best, should be ok to keep an eye on emails at least

however assuming dc will be off all week, you alternate with the child’s df as to who is working (at home or otherwise) and who is looking after dc.

fingers crossed your dc recovers quickly

I think next time word it very clearly

"Sorry I cannot work at all today, my sick child needs me. I will let you know when he is well enough for me to return to my duties"

So were you actually requesting unpaid leave?

Given the nature of my job, this was my only option if I had an emergency relating to my caring duties. (I was once told that I could get my GP to sign me off, but I wasn’t unwell so that really wasn’t an option.)

Are you ever coming back to actually explain what you DID want to happen?

I hope your boss reads this and suggests you take unpaid leave,

Of course you can. Don’t be ridiculous - it’s chicken pox not Ebola.

Youll be at 90% capacity, so what.

Otherwise take your annual leave

95% chance no he/she/it isn't. But if they do, they won't answer the questions.

My work suggest I can work from home if my child is unwell but I see it as a supportive measure. They don't expect me to neglect my child, or work solidly 9-5 or bring him to the office but rather do what I can to save me taking annual leave or unpaid leave.

Of course they don't expect you to take an ill child into work! If you can't manage, you say no.

You sound delightful. Sounds like your employer didn’t handle these things well.

I genuinely don't know what you wanted them to say. What were you looking for when you contacted your employer? 😕

@Wfhsucks I think people are (maybe deliberately) missing your point OP! For what it is worth I agree with you. They probably thought they were doing you a favour so you wouldn't have to take leave but I personally find it really weird that they would allow it, let alone suggest it.

Working and looking after a child at the same time really shouldn't be normalised, even less so an unwell child!

So many people I know who WFH have their kids at home with them at least 1 day a week to save on childcare and it is a massive bug bear of mine.

You can't work or parent properly in this situation and is just unfair on everyone involved (different with older kids of course but yours is only 5!)

Why is it weird when there obviously exist some situations when a person might be able to get some useful work done when looking after a 5 year old with chicken pox, and an employer might prefer that to them doing no work? 'Proper' work isn't one of the choices in this scenario.

Regular remote work looking after a small child is something quite different, you're conflating the two.

90%? Only if you spend most of the day ignoring your child.

I am so confused by this thread, I think people are so resentful of people who can work from home they fail to see the issue of normalising working from home and looking after kids at the same time.

I see this weird thread is still going and no explanation from OP

That’s exactly what I would do. I would sit next to them on my laptop whilst they watch paw patrol or whatever it is. If he’s poorly, he doesn’t need entertaining. If he’s not feeling poorly he can go find something to do.

I work from home 90% of the time.

My kids are often at home during the holidays and guess what - they entertain themselves.

Your organisation’s policy will be available to check probably online.
Ours says it is every employee’s right to reasonable unpaid time off to care for a dependant.
You tell me as line manager child has chicken pox and you need time off to care for them I will say ok and put it on system as unpaid leave.
But most employees would prefer to wfh and be paid and have sick child with them if they can. It’s managers discretion if that is ok.
I don’t agree wfh means ignoring a sick child. Depends on role but can usually sit next to them and do work. A sick child is very different to a healthy child running around. It’s needs must for a few days maximum usually especially if parents split the care. The parent can log on early morning and/or work in evening if need be.

It depends on the child and the illness. If you aren’t comfortable that you can do your job properly whilst looking after your child just telll them. They can’t force you to work and you have a right to unpaid emergency leave to look after a child.

I expect they know you won’t be able to work as well whilst looking after a child but it will only be a few days. They clearly see you as a valued employee by offering you this option. They could force you to take annual leave or unpaid leave but they are trusting you to work from home. In some of my roles I would have been over the moon for this. In one role I was forced to take two half days despite having done to full days work.

You have two option:

1. Take their kind offer and work whilst you can.
2. Tell them your child is too sick for you to work and you want to take emergency parental leave.

I'm still trying to figure out what expectations the OP had. If she's entitled to parental leave, then perhaps she expected to be told allocate one day of it to this emergency?

I'm now retired, but recall that I was allowed to have 5 days compassionate leave a year - that included looking after sick family members, taking them to appointments, arranging funerals and attending funerals.

I suspect to have however long off work for her son's illness and to be paid for it.

I did wonder whether that was her expectation.

When I first began working, if an employee had to arrange a family funeral s/he was given 10 days' bereavement leave; by the time my father died I was told that it was 5 days' compassionate leave across the year and that I should get signed off with stress if I required more time off to make the arrangements for the funeral and my mother's care.

I remember being surprised when other staff members were unofficially given extra time off so that they could attend nativity plays, a child's first day at primary school, etc.

Possibly the OP's line manager sometimes does the same and allocates extra time off at their discretion.