7 year old daughter just tested positive. Work being difficult

[Plumviolet]

My 7yo dd just got a positive corona result yesterday, I'm negative so far and I work full time in a retail environment but obviously can't now send her into childcare anymore so need to stay gone with her to look after her. My mum is vulnerable so I can't even ask her. My work are saying that I have to take unpaid leave to look after her but I am still having to pay the childminder and I can't pay her without a full pay check. What the hell do I do? Where do I stand?

Surely it is not in their interest to have an employee come in who is potentially (highly likely) positive but not officially on a test?

Not everyone has:

• A partner
• Local family (or if they do they may not have local family willing to look after a Covid + child)
• Savings (or the means to accrue some)
• A job that allows them to take 10 days off a with short notice
• the finances to take unpaid leave unexpectedly

The only reason I'd manage it is because I'm lucky enough to still WFH (DP self employed, no work = no money and he's the main breadwinner) and even then my work would suffer.

The government have really fucked low income working parents, as usual. If they mandated household isolation, the OP would have some protection.

@TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross

What do you normally do when she is unwell? If she had chicken pox or a sickness bug or something? How is this situation different?

It's different because her mum can't help out in case it kills her.

you made the point about what does she do when her child had chicken pox.

Then make comments about me thinking I’m amazingly intelligent.
I wonder given the obvious problem with comparing chicken pox to covid, your comments come across as passive aggressively bitchy? Maybe have a think about that.

I wonder how clever you think your remarks are if you can’t see the problem with comparing covid to chickenpox.

I've had to use a decent chunk of annual leave this year for isolation crap OP. Is that not an option?

Hope the bairns ok.

You have 2 options:

1. Lick her, get Covid and then be off sick - then hopefully you will get sick pay - and more importantly that's you done with Covid for at least 6 months

1. Fake number 1 and run the risk of THEN catching Covid (whereupon you have 2 options - go in sick and don't test/hope you are not too unwell to go in)

Whatever you do

This is PROPERLY SHIT - no other bloody illness means 10 days off work with no one else being able to look after your kid

@gamerchick

I've had to use a decent chunk of annual leave this year for isolation crap OP. Is that not an option?

Hope the bairns ok.

I think a lot of people are doing this but who knows what will happen when people get to the end of their annual leave year and have run out. It's going to be a fun winter..

Again annual leave isn't always an option.
I'm not sure many companies / work places can sanction an immediate 2 week period of annual leave for a person?

We need to book periods longer than 2 days, a month in advance.

Obviously you'd hope companies would make allowances for Covid but the issue is if you are meant to be in your workplace and suddenly cannot be there, a replacement will need to be found and this isn't an easily solved issue.

I'm not sure what industry the OP works I but say she is supermarket staff and booked in for 5 shifts a week. Who covers the 10 shifts she will now have to miss? Who deals with the logistics of this?

Granted this negates my earlier point about government mandated isolation offering better support (as the logistical issue if finding a replacement still remains) but the OP is in a no win situation, as will many others be over the coming months.

• take annual leave (none left / work can't or won't grant the full 10 days)
• take unpaid leave (cannot afford to)
• rope in family and friends (no-one wants to look after a covid + child)

I am not usually a naysayer, and I don't actually want household isolation to return but I don't think the current policy is well thought out and as usual it punishes the less wealthy members of society.

My annual leave has to be booked a month in advance, plus I use it all for school holidays as we live fairly rurally with no holiday clubs etc.

Employers don't even have to give unpaid leave I believe in many cases or not for long which leaves people paying someone eg an agency nurse or nanny to do it.

Again annual leave isn't always an option.
I'm not sure many companies / work places can sanction an immediate 2 week period of annual leave for a person?

Of course it’s difficult to have someone off for two weeks with no notice, but her work is saying she can take it unpaid, so either way she will not be in. So it’s worth asking if it can go down as annual leave instead.

Maybe have a think about that.

As if I’d waste more than the time it takes me to type this post thinking about any point you make.

I hope you managed to sort something out OP. It sounds like it was a really sucky situation.