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

@MiniMum97 I am a key worker too.

Key workers still have responsibilities around the pandemic.

Just because I can, doesnt mean I should.

PAH has no reason to force employees to keep their kids in school. non at all.

@CheeseKiev

So you couldn’t do that between the hours of 4pm and 8pm during the week and all day on weekends?

People aren’t saying they should close, but they should try to be more flexible.

I think people are misunderstanding who key workers are. It's actually quite broad and is NOT just applied to people saving lives! It's about keeping essential services running. And vet and pet food, medicines etc are essential services. Apparently I am a key worker (who knew!?!) as I work for a charity running frontline services. That's very broad and will apply to a lot of people.

But schools cannot take children of all the people on that list because it is too broad. Headteachers have had to prioritise based on what staff they have available (many are vulnerable or in self-isolation themselves) and how they can safely distance pupils at school and run on numbers that actually reduce the spread of the virus. There is no point in closing if 75% of parents argue that they are entitled to a place based on the key worker list. Some are having to be turned away.

Um... Do people here realise that it's also about the animals in the store... They still need looking after... Shop assistants are the once who take care of the pets people buy fro the store.

Yep. People really are that fucking selfish.

It’s ridiculous.
I’m a mortgage adviser and my employer has classed me as key worker because I work in a branch. Therefore I am not entitled to paid dependents leave as my dh is also a key worker (if they deemed me not a key worker I could take up to 2 weeks paid leave)
So I have a school place, but one of ds’s classmates hasn’t got a place even though his mum is a care worker, because the dad isn’t a key worker. And they are both on zero hours contracts and have no option of any kind of paid leave.
I’m really cross at my employer actually.

Oh and ps, people are still booking face to face mortgage appointments, so I’ll have to sit in a confined space with customers who’ll probably have to bring their children in too, spreading any germs to me which I’ll pass to ds to pass them on at school. And vice versa.

Ones

Do people here realise that it's also about the animals in the store... They still need looking after...

Um... yes... that point has been addressed numerous times...

@FallonSwift and others needing live food, I always use www.livefoods.co.uk and have found them very good. The food is much fresher than anything in PAH.

Jesus. Now I’ve heard it all. PAH will be boycotted by this household as of now. Those of you who think teachers (and the healthcare system, and the food distribution system) should be put at risk so you can use PAH during school hours should seriously reevaluate your priorities.

(Sorry I realise my post has nothing to do with pets at home, but my point was that some businesses are putting profit before safety)

I was hoping it wouldn’t happen, but I think government is going to have to be a lot firmer and lock down. It appears that too many people/businesses are assholes.

DBML exactly this. If people act appropriately, sensibly and safely now then extreme measures won't be used. But if everyone acts the way they are acting, things are going to have to change.

@CappyCapCap no I agree no one should be forced to keep their children in school.

Do people here realise that it's also about the animals in the store... They still need looking after... Shop assistants are the once who take care of the pets people buy fro the store.

Do you realise if you bother reading the thread, that's been addressed?

Those of you who think teachers (and the healthcare system, and the food distribution system) should be put at risk so you can use PAH during school hours should seriously reevaluate your priorities.

PAH are an important part of the food distribution system for animals in the UK. In fact they could take more of the load off supermarkets who need to prioritise other essential goods in their delivery lorries.

Anyone who is concerned with caring for their animals as much as their other family members has their priorities right.

PAH should be able to skeleton staff their stores without relying on parents who need child care. I sincerely hope HTs tell them where to go, they would be laughed out of court.

What some people and some companies don’t grasp yet is that after all this is over, there will be a reckoning. People will be judged by how they behaved during this crisis.

People do not have to shop at PAH.

pet food can be bought in supermarkets and online. But vets cannot! And most human foods can also be bought online....

And the food many pets eat due to various dietary restrictions and medicalconditions available in supermarkets.

And nobody needs to shop for pet food daily or even weekly.

There's a balance to be had, no need for all the frothing and shaming!

And I say that as a great animal lover.

PAH are an important part of the food distribution system for animals in the UK. In fact they could take more of the load off supermarkets who need to prioritise other essential goods in their delivery lorries.

That may be so, but they don't need to be open during school hours. They could just as easily open evenings and weekends.

PAH are an important part of the food distribution system for animals in the UK. In fact they could take more of the load off supermarkets who need to prioritise other essential goods in their delivery lorries.

Anyone who is concerned with caring for their animals as much as their other family members has their priorities right.

You don’t have to shop in a PAH store during school hours, FFS. And people need to think a bit less about themselves and a bit more about the greater good here. It’s about the pressure on schools who are open to keep essential services running during the week. Life has to change.

I ordered online from PAH, but used the click & collect service. Maybe PAH could be pushing that as a better alternative rather than customers going in store, wandering around, touching things, handing over cash etc
In fact compared to other shops that are taping 'keep your distance' boxes on the floor near the checkout area, PAH yesterday had nothing similar in place to protect their staff.

Anyone who knows there is a Pets At Home in their constituency contact your MP by email and complain about their stance.

The government are trying to pass a bill which will essentially remove disabled childrens’ right to an education they can access, and disabled adults right to access even basic social care, for up to two years.

So if you’re going to write to your MP about anything, maybe it shouldn’t be that a retail chain is advising people to email their legal department with any questions about the key worker policy.

FFS.

I think people are blowing this out of proportion- the document in that tweet is about ONE member of staff and there is no threat of legal action. They are not talking about all their stores and all staff, no doubt many won’t have kids or will have made alternative arrangements anyway.

There's one Pets at Home in our district of about a hundred thousand people. They have a handful of staff, and there may be one or two who have primary-aged children.
That's not going to overrun the school system, is it?
Opening evenings and weekends wouldn't help lone parent staff, would it? They wouldn't be able to work because they wouldn't have childcare.

Anyway, I think that animal welfare is one thing that the government hasn't had time to address yet.