Forced to resign

[jadey0891]

Hi all

I am very upset so I'm sorry.😢
Yesterday I had to resign from my nhs job role. Work were not understanding the fact I have 2 children under 16 that have medical needs. I had meetings upon meetings with the nursing director and still I couldn't get anywhere with him.
I told him I'm a single parent to 2 vulnerable children and all I was told was "why can't they go to school"- my answer was "because I live 45 min away, I don't drive, I rely on public transport. Then I was asked "why can't family members look after them" - my answer was haven't you heard the guidelines. I cannot take them to my dads because he has I'll health, I don't speak with my mum and further more there dad is also isolating because he has covid" nursing director then said to me it was my problem and I need to sort it out and find childcare because he expects me back to work doing my contracted hours )bearing in mind they are 12 hour shifts)..I've contacted my GP and they only told me to go on gov website which I done like 10 times and filled in the form for shielding.
Before all this lockdown and coronavirus I had every planned out, childcare was in place, everything. Now I had to resign from a job that I adore and love.

I'm sorry if I'm going on I'm so upset.

Did I do the right thing.

Sorry if I'm being dense but why couldn't you go home if you were working? Do your kids have a reason to be shielded? If so i would expect the Trust to be more sympathetic - mine is.

@Bluntness100 my DS can only attend school because both DH & I are key workers - we had to provide proof to the school before he was "given" a place. This policy appears to vary across the country

I wonder if you can go back to HR before the CAB? It may not be too late to withdraw your resignation if that is what you want to do, particularly if you felt that you were pressured into it.

To be really honest, if the conversation went as you have written it, I don't think you were very clear. When they asked why the children weren't in school, you said it was 45 minutes away by public transport. But it always was. Are your employers aware that the children are classed as vulnerable? Were you explicit with them about the risk of them travelling on public transport at this time?

Do you have evidence that the children are vulnerable? I would imagine that it would be reasonable to be given unpaid leave, as you requested.

I’m single. I didn't mean to add the partner bit.

So did you mean ex partner shares the school run or you normally manage alone? It’s all very unclear from your posts.
How do you normally manage two 1.5 hr round trips to and from school?
Why have you been off so long, is their father seriously ill and has been for weeks?
If not and he’s only ill now why have you not been using the school facilities and going to work?
It sounds like you have decided without medical advice that you want to shield the children and stay off work indefinitely. I can see why your manager wouldn’t be able to facilitate that.

Op this is all a bit confusing, on your thread on the 22 April it’s a slightly different story.

I think if you’d applied for unpaid parental leave, it would have been fine, but if you’ve simply not went to work, and were trying to get yourself signed off as sick I can see why it would be an issue for your employer. I’m not sure cab can do anything,

I do understand your concern and why you don’t wish to put your kids into school and I also understand why you can’t care for Covid patients in case you caught it and brought it home to your kids, so I totally get why you didn’t go to work.

However I do think possibly through a series of unfortunate circumstances that resignation was the only option here. It’s nearly two months now. It’s either unpaid leave or go to work, you can’t take two months off and be paid for it and expect to keep your job. Particularly as you’re not keen to put them in school even in September, and definitely not now, this could have been many months of not going to work, at least six months if not longer.

As such I think you did the right thing. I’m sorry it came to this but you’re putting your kids first which is right. Hopefully you will be reemployed quickly when this is over and can cope financially.

I told him I'm a single parent to 2 vulnerable children and all I was told was "why can't they go to school"- my answer was "because I live 45 min away, I don't drive, I rely on public transport.

Why did you give them this answer when the real answer was

1. that you don’t want to send them to school due to their medical issues.
2. even if you did have childcare for them then you still don’t want to go into work incase doing so puts them in danger of catching Covid19.

?