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AIBU?

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Dependants Leave - sorry - big rant!

5 replies

pradasgirl · 19/02/2010 19:38

My DD aged 3 woke up his morning screaming in agony complaining about her eye. Made a Drs appt for first thing this morning. Dr said on seeing her to take her to Eye Casualty at local hospital as she had a large abrasion on her eyeball.
I was due to start work at 4pm but my boss had agreed for me to go in at 11am to study (for my own benefit) and finish earlier, so I called up and spoke to another boss and explained the situation, ie I was at hospital and asked was it ok to revert to my normal shft of 4pm start?
Several hours later we were finally seen by Drs and after lots of drops/screams/torches/screams and bright yellow snot from all the dye we were sent home with cream and told to give calpol etc.

The drops wore off very quickly and she was soon in agony again and has been writhing around most of the day in between napping. (Tired from all the crying i think)

Anyway 4pm is approching and she is still in masses of pain, so i call in and ask for the day off totally and boss says he will ring big boss.
Get a call back from boss who says -Big boss says no. Says we are too short staffed. End of He doesnt have kids.Boss says hes really sorry, but he big boss isnt very sympathetic and wont budge and I need to come in.

Am i being unreasonable to be pissed off?

Its not that there isnt anyone else to look after her, my parents do regulary but shes MY daughter and im the one she wants right now.
My husband was due home at 6pm but hes just had an injection for his tennis elbow and can barley hold a cup of tea at the moment, so getting the drops in her eye would be impossibe.(nt that im doing much better!
Pretty sure i would be entilted to dependants leave - even unpaid for this? Its not like im treating this as a free day off - had the worst day ever, hate being stuck in and especially seeing my DD in so much pain.

Anyway managed to speak to my big boss direct and he heard her screaming in the background and was nice as pie, and agreed to me being off but i just know he thinks im trying it on or he wouldnt have said no way in the first place. Hate people like that.

OP posts:
TottWriter · 19/02/2010 19:43

She's under five, you have a set number of days per year (I think it's something like 13) where you have a legal right to the day off if you need it.

YANBU. Your boss is, and also seems quite ignorant of the law, because there is no way that they can demand you to go in when your daughter needs you. I'm not sure how to word it to your boss mind, but then I'm not working right now, so it's never come up for me.

Hope she's feeling better now or soon though. Sounds nasty.

mrswells · 19/02/2010 20:16

I've attached a link from Directgov regarding time off for dependants.

There is no age limit to taking tofd's or a set number of days you can take.

TottWriter · 19/02/2010 20:22

@ mreswells Ooh, I'm interested to know that. When I was last working you had a set number of days that counted towards a certain type of leave if you had an under five. Or maybe I was reading up on a different thing (or a company policy on paid days you can have).

Thak you for filling in the gaps In my knowledge. Looks like I need to do my homework before heading back out to work!

paisleyleaf · 19/02/2010 20:27

yanbu
If (although hopefully not) anything like this was to happen again you want to just say you're sorry but you won't be coming in. Rather than asking.

pradasgirl · 20/02/2010 10:25

Thanks everyone, feel a bit better now. DD is also on the mend too - apart from screaming the house down when we try to put her cream in!

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