Pets at Home threatening schools with legal action after classing emplyees as key workers

[Keepcalmanddoyourbit]

twitter.com/simonkidwell/status/1241390189102186497

Advising employees to contact their legal department re: school places

I can only get my cat's food at PAH, was there yesterday to buy a month's worth

Yesterday was not a school day.

If supermarket workers are key workers so are pets at home workers. Especially when you take into account their vet surgeries. Also they sell specialist foods for pets that you cannot easily get elsewhere.

The store assistants do this, even if the store itself is closed.

And they can continue to do this without the need to be classed as a key worker.

So lets walk this through.

Vets for pets, in PAH wont let people come in and pick up working medication, that they pay for monthly. People will be cancelling the monthly payments, so they will lose money. They wont vaccinate or give flea treatments already paid for either. Because its deemed to risky.

Yet PAH have decided it's not to risky to remain open to sell the worming treatments.

Same building, doing the same thing. But the vets, who are actually qualified to care for animals decided it's too risky. But PAH think it's fine.

Something doesn't add up there. If vets for pets are willing to lose money because it's too much of a risk. I dont trust PAH assesment of the situation.

And they are forcing people to put their kids at risk. The teachers at risk, when thei could be done so much better.

They need to redirect their resources to deliveries.

Especially when you take into account their vet surgeries

The vets are theirs. They are franchised.

And the vets arent open, except for emergencies.

I'm on the fence about this. Cat litter and cat food ARE essential for my four cats, more so than anything I buy for myself. I can easily eat whatever but the cats will get ill if they don't get their usual food - and it's becoming increasingly difficult to buy pet supplies now (out of stock for online supermarket deliveries). It might not be safe for the stores to operate with skeleton staff either as they tend to be large stores.

As I said on a different threads, once this is over these companies need to be made publically accountable for their actions and why they felt it necessary to put their workers at risk.

It might not be safe for the stores to operate with skeleton staff either as they tend to be large stores.

It's not safe to force employees kids into schools. It's extremely dangerous for the whole country to have loads of kids schools.

They can redirect their resources into deliveries.

I rang our vets in PAH to order new medication for the dogs and was told I needed to take them in to be weighed. As a company They really aren’t getting it.

Pets at home should be ashamed of themselves, putting their profits the health of the nation. All businesses stand to loose money over this, what makes them think they are so special? The idea of shutting the schools to all but key workers isn’t to keep businesses open, but to protect the children of key workers, therefore protecting their parents getting to work each day. Surely pets at home will be much quieter anyway as customers should be practicing social distancing, so less customers need serving, so less staff needed to be in store.

Cat litter and cat food ARE essential for my four cats, more so than anything I buy for myself.

Yes, but they can sell these things to you in the evening and at the weekend. They DON'T have to have their workers classed as key workers, making more kids go to school unnecessarily, just so you can buy it at 1pm on a Wednesday.

I rang our vets in PAH to order new medication for the dogs and was told I needed to take them in to be weighed. As a company They really aren’t getting it.

Is it for flea and worming? They are all stopping people coming in for that. Emergencies and medication for illness only.

Even if pet supplies are considered essential, it is not essential for specific shop assistants to be working. If their regular staff can't make it in because of childcare there are lots of people who have been laid off who they could hire to fill the gaps.

You can buy pet good in s supermarket. Why have more places open than is needed.

It is Cappy maybe they should have told their receptionists then.

To be honest, it’s not likely that they’ll be going to kennels anytime soon. I can probably cancel the plan and save some dosh.

You can buy crap pet food in the supermarket although I saw lots of empty shelves yesterday.

@PertEllaTitsahoy No it wasn't a school day, I needed to go on the weekend as I'm a SAHM and will be doing home learning with my three younger children this week.

Not everyone can get there at the weekend though. Also even in my small northern city, if everyone packs in to our shop within the same few hours on a Saturday (some with their dogs too), social distancing will go out the window. We'll be packed in together in a long queue.

As it was I drove over for opening, there were a handful of other people in, I was in and out within 3 minutes quickly using the card machine.

If supermarket workers are key workers so are pets at home workers.

This.

I phoned my vet for flea and worm treatment for my cats and they told me a quiet time to come in and collect it.

as someone with a dog on a specialist diet, PAH is actually the only physical place we can go to buy his food, buying it online is expensive and difficult.

I do think they need to maintain a skeleton staff there.

@Al1Langdownthecleghole they started stopping it yesterday.

I called them and was told all vets for pets will be implementing it over the coming days.

When I asked if they were freezing payments, I was told no. When I said I want to cancel, I was told it's fine because they will give me all the worming tablets they owe me, when its over.

What am I going to do with surplus working tablets.

I pay for both dogs. £28 a month and they expected me to keep paying for nothing.

One dog is a rescue puppy. I am calling tomorrow to cancel.

I am going to use the local vets from how on.

I'm going to hazard a guess that Pets at Home have enough staff on their books without school-age children to be able to sell any urgent products to customers. Maybe they might have to only allow people in 6 or 10 at a time, like Boots were doing yesterday.
It should NOT mean that their sales staff should be classed as Key Workers and therefore contribute to the spiralling numbers of children "needing" to attend school.
This WILL lead to schools closing down altogether, and then where will we be?

Theres always an excuse as to why I couldnt possibly do this a different way isnt there? Oh, the shop couldnt possibly stay open later, people couldnt go at different times, they have to go at this specific time.

This is why we will end up with this situation dragging on and on, and will end up with a lockdown putting all of us in the shit.

Good fucking job, guys. slow handclap

as someone with a dog on a specialist diet, PAH is actually the only physical place we can go to buy his food, buying it online is expensive and difficult.

But PAH can arrange it. They can start doing online deliveries only. And take the hit like most other business are.

Thanks Cappy yep. I will also be cancelling.

Where are the threatening legal action?

They're just saying that if anyone at the schools has queries about it then they can contact pets at home legal team, which is the correct course of action. The PR team wont handle it, customer services wont handle it, management wont handle it, HR wont handle it. The legal team handle any confusion over status.

On all the communications from our school about key workers etc, we are told to contact the council's legal team if we want to discuss it further. The school arent threatening legal action.

OP, where is the specific bit which says they are going to take legal action if schools say no?