My mother works for a big name supermarket using the PDQ machines to scan stock etc and is out on the shop floor replenishing aisles as well as out the back. She works part time five days a week during relatively busy hours (7-12 or later on some days) so the point is, she’s in contact with a lot of people constantly.
She’s in her sixties and lives with my frail 71 year old father who has COPD.
She is unofficially (by that I mean she doesn’t claim state money) his carer. He also has a bleed on the brain and dementia but that’s by the by. He relies on her for everything.
We all know that you can have covid and no symptoms and yet still pass it on. My father is about as high risk as you can probably get.
Today I spoke with her manager who said she is not allowed time off paid because she doesn’t have Covid. It’s irrelevant if she could pass it on. The manager even went as far to say that if she had symptoms they would reassess her hours to make sure she wasn’t on the shop floor!!!!
This is so morally wrong right? I’m not going mad am I?
Before I get lynched, I don’t have any better solution and I’m sure everyone is in the same boat but I can’t help thinking that my father is now seriously at risk because of their specific situation.
They rent their house and rely on the state to help pay the bills they can’t so she can’t afford to go off without a wage.
I’m not really sure of the purpose of this post but I wanted to vent. Not at the workers or anyone like that but at the people who have made these decisions.
🥺😡