My wife's work deduct a days pay when she has to stay at home with our ill child

[DabbyBob]

Hi All.

Just looking for some advise regarding pay rights for a teacher in full time employment - she is employed by the local council and has been in her permanent position for 12years or more.

So every time that she needs to take a day off because one of our children are ill her bosses at the school will deduct a days pay. This makes things really difficult as it puts all the pressure on me to work from home... Which i will do 2/3rds of the time, but sometimes like now (away on business) i cant take the day off.

My wife tells me that its all leagal and that they are within their rights to do this. But for me it just seems so wrong when you have 12 years working there!

I guess the simple question is: is this leagal or does my wife have some rights here?

Thanks.

Do people get a set number of days per year seneca?

Yes, it's a set number. You don't normally get paid for days you don't use, but they carry over which is helpful if you have a need to be out for an extended period. Often, for example, women will use them to extend maternity leave, which is woefully short in the US. I think some can be paid when you leave employment, but there is a limit on that.

I see the op has not been back to explain why he can't take a day off if the kids are sick

There was a woman on our local news moaning tonight about the new free childcare hours saying 'Well it isn't very good for me. I have 3 children and I can only work part-time and it's very hard to find work during school hours'.

FFS , she chose to have them. It drives me mad.mIt is like if we have children the world owes us. It really doesn't. They are our own responsibility and life will be hard. No one else should suffer for our decision.

Pay for them yourself. Look after them yourself. Or don't have them.

Does she want school hours to change so that she can work in a nightclub?

Lulu, you are clearly referring to secondary teachers. None of what you say applies at primary. We all put numerous displays up regularly. There are 6 in my class at any one time and they cannot stay for longer than a term, usually half a term.

And saying no just doesn't work when there's only 7 members of teaching staff, 2 TAs, one admin/Sch sec and the HT. At the end of term we're the ones stacking the tables so the floors can be cleaned. We're the ones stripping all the walls and taking turns to take list property home to wash. In my last job the staff took turns to cover lunchtime job (dinner lady job) because we were two down and really struggling to recruit. We man the stalls at the School fetes. We help clear the shit off the playgroup during Sept inset.
Again, I don't recognise what you are describing and I think you seem to be talking about a very small minded staff in a secondary school who clearly have low self esteem and a lot of issues with their working environment.

fastdays Annual leave in the US can range from 5 days to 20 days or more, depending on sector and length of employment. Personal leave would normally be in addition to that. But I do know that some employers have just gone to "leave" or "paid time off." They don't need to know how you are planning to use it unless it's short notice. It would not be apportioned to sick leave or personal leave or annual leave.

Lulu I work in secondary and it certainly isn't like your school. We don't even get free tea or coffee and certainly no days off to work as a team? I think your experience is very rare. As for moving to ups3 once you are there - no pay increases
I also don't know any teacher who doesn't put up displays, collect money etc.
Your school must be in a bubble

Lentil I am secondary and don't recognise Lulu's world'

And I will have 33 Y6 reports to write next term. Each report is 3 full pages of A4, small text. We do 2 sets of 2 parents evenings a year from 3.30 until 8pm and I see other parents on other evenings if they cannot make the 2 evenings put forward. I also record all my own assessment data. Who else is there to do this if not the teacher?

Lentil, at a very specific secondary school, not my experience either.

Glad to hear it, Pieceofpurplepie!
I certainly don't think my secondary colleagues are slack. Nor am I aware of any obsessive work to rule policies. But certainly in primary they just wouldn't be possible or practical.

And Iggi!

Both have similar problems but slightly different focus ... I have 5 parents evenings for example one for each year, plus progress days rather than the intensive ones you get. Shorter, less detailed reports but I teach 9 classes etc. Your planning v our GCSE marking - it all balances out and we all work as hard as each other!
But just like you if teachers didn't do displays, enter marks, write reports it wouldn't get done!

Yes GCSE marking I imagine to be quite intensive. Y6 is heavy enough. Sometimes I envy those teaching infants as they don't really have any marking. But then I remember they have to teach infants all day.

So i work for a large corporation. And should my children be ill their policy is "Family First" this is what i'm talking about when i say 'progressive' they understand that having a family is tough and trust that i will get as much done as i can and make it up when i need to. I hit my targets and work bloody hard. As does my wife. Of course there are times when i cant due to client or travel commitments, so then it falls to my wife.

I understand that teaching is a different profession, but the years that you commit to a job should count for something when you have to take unforeseen time off. As a teacher she gets zero days holiday so taking holiday is unfortunately not even an option.

I'm surprised that people think that its so obvious that she shouldn't be paid as for me its the opposite, workers should be valued and occasional child sickness that is out of their control should not result in a decrease in their wage. We are lucky in that it just makes a month a bit tighter, but i can easily forsee situations for less fortunate parents that could lead to severe repayment repercussions.

Wow 8 must be really lucky I teach at a university and when my dc are ill it doesn't come off annual leave or personal leave. I always get paid for it. Oldest dd is 4 and I am usually off at leaSt 10 days a year looking after sick dc.

But the practicalities of being a teacher and a desk job are very different. You can work from home and make up work after the DC are in bed. Your wife can't.

Um, as a teacher (presumably in a school in the uk?) your wife gets approx 13 WEEKS holiday a year. What do you think the rest of us with 4-5 weeks a year do?

As a teacher she gets zero days holiday

Absolute rubbish!

I work for a large company and everyone takes annual leave for days their children are sick. It's just what is done.

I think this is fair as not everyone has children. Why should I be out of the office and paid when they are sick?

We do get unpaid carer's leave too but that is for hospital appointments etc - not leave when children are sick.

"BitOutOfPractice

I see the op has not been back to explain why he can't take a day off if the kids are sick"
He says in the op that he covers the majority of their sick days

Op clearly means "zero days to take as annual leave", since some posters are saying she should use annual leave to cover sickness, which she obviously can't - unless they are sick in school holidays in which case we wouldn't be having this conversation.
No need to pounce like jackals on another perceived "don't know you're born" bit of teacher bashing potential.

pieceof What is your point when you say once you are at the top of ups3 there are no more pay rises? Do you think you should just go up an ever incrasing scale? Almost £38000 a year for the most basic teaching role is decent money - no responsibilities of any kind of leadership. All jobs have a scale limit. Most stop way below 37,00 for the lowest level of a role. Any responsibilities are paid additionally. Head of English- probably £12,000 on top.

As a teacher she gets zero days holiday

Of course, the 13 weeks/year don't count?
Whinging about your wife's situation isn't going to get you anywhere, I suggest that if your work has a different policy then you arrange your work to make sure your poor wife isn't penalised.

My manager in a previous job would stay off with her sick DD at least once a month, usually for a couple of days at a time. Just the usual bugs children pick up from nursery, nothing long-term. She'd drop out an hour before important client meetings, or just before she was due to chair a conference, or interview a government figure. So we'd not only have to cover her work (in addition to out own) but have no time to prepare either, so we'd be left looking umprofessional. It did create a lot of resentment, and eventually I had to leave the job because I was on the verge of burnout (obviously this wasn't the only reason).

I appreciate that she had little choice, but it ended up that she wasn't ever the one professionally impacted by her absences, it was her colleagues (mostly childless, or those with children who made other arrangements for when their child was sick) who to had to take the hit.

You decide to have children, you take on the financial and professional cost of their illnesses.