If teacher/support staff...time off if child ill

[LorlieS]

So I'm a qualified primary teacher working four days a week; 1.5 days teaching, rest of time HLTA'ing.
My toddler has had a very nasty d&v bug all of this week so obviously can't attend preschool.
I took yesterday off (unpaid, obviously) and my husband has taken the day off today so I could work.
However, our little one is still vomiting and still unwell.
We've been told that we are only expected to take one day and in thar time we should sort out alternative care so back at work the following day.
Does this sound reasonable and if so, who looks after our little girl tomorrow?

That is our works expectation as well. A day or maybe even two but they definitely expect us to arrange a plan b after that .

Hope she is feeling better really soon!

One of the many difficulties is that working in a school is that it's just not a family friendly job, yet you're expected to bend over backwards for other people's families! One of the many reasons I'm no longer a teacher.

Sounds like you need to get the bug a bit later on. Ahem.

This sort of thing drives me potty. Who else is there to look after a vomiting child? Unless you have family who aren’t vulnerable and happy to look after them. Most paid childminders/babysitters won’t take a sick child!!

im a teacher and whenever my daughter has been sick, I or my husband have been off for the duration. And it’s never been unpaid either. A TA has covered my class so it hasn’t actually cost the school anything.

If there’s no one else, there’s no one else. You’ll have to take the time off and they can be grumpy about it but for many people there’s literally nothing else you can do.

I'm NHS and we get paid carers days HOWEVER it is for emergency use and we are then expected to make alternative arrangements (whatever that may be🤷‍♀️) after first day or 2

What alternative arrange could you possibly make? That's ridiculous

They're quoting the law which states you're entitled to "emergency" leave only, but obviously in the real world it's not easy to find someone to take a sick child.

Ultimately you do need to find a way to attend work regularly, but if this is just normal childhood illnesses frequency, take the time you need. No one is going to do anything more than "have a word" and not even that if this is the first time.

The magical plan b. Drives me crackers. Childcare takes ages to set up and arrange even when it's very straightforward and no illness is involved. Where is this drop of a hat, very difficult childcare coming from do employers imagine?

What plan b could you possibly have. No one will look after a child with D&V

I work for the NHS and it’s the same here. So you would need to take it unpaid l suppose, as lm guessing you can’t take annual leave in term time. Or your husband is off again

It's the same where I work too, I've had to hire agency nannies before now at extortionate cost because myself and DH have used our day each. The joys of being working parents guys! (I'm not a teacher by the way, so it effects all working parents)

The last two lines. This!!

Thanks all. I only took one day in the end and felt incredibly guilty about that!

my husband has taken the day off today so I could work.
If you took one day off, and are already compromising your prospects and pension by working reduced hours, shouldn't you qne your husband be looking to evenly split leave?

What are his workplace policies for flexible working or short notice child care?

@AngharadM I took one day, he took one day. Both not paid. My mum had her the Friday. We really couldn't afford to lose another day's pay tbh.

Ridiculous! I'm sure you're allowed 5 days emergency leave if employed by an LA?
If not then you need to play the system & call in sick. I learnt his the hard way when my dad was in intensive care & I took 2 days off to be by his side, subsequently had 2 days pay docked as it wasn't me that was ill so I should have have gone in 🙄 This was despite a 100% absence record & me attending all insets unpaid.
They really don't care about you as a person or your circumstances so I wouldn't worry about getting signed off for needs be.

@BobbysSox I checked the LA policy and indeed it does refer to one day 😞
It's so harsh in education, isn't it?

It's standard for a lot of companies so you aren't being hard done by

Many schools now have a day or two of paid emergency carers leave, after which it's unpaid. Few people have parents nearby so have to take upaid leave till the child is better.

The thing is that I found I really did then catch the bastarding thing so would often be off sick with a child who was starting to get better

Key thing is to reassure the school that the other parent is sharing the responsibility. Kids get sick, sometimes a lot. Schools are hypocritical as they have firm rules about kids being off for 48 hrs after vomiting!

It does get better as they get older

You take the day off (call in sick yourself if necessary, you'll get paid that way). The whole back up childcare is total horseshit and I told my headteacher as much. She agreed, it's just what's in the contract. I had a day off every other week on average year 1 of having a child in nursery. I still got good outcomes, employers just have to suck it for the short term.

I had a day off every other week on average year 1 of having a child in nursery. I still got good outcomes, employers just have to suck it for the short term.

Taking the best part of 20 days off sick in a year is likely
to lead to sickness absence procedures being taken though. So no, many employers won’t “suck it up”, although I appreciate teachers may be in short supply.

(Been in HR for 20+ years including in local authority teaching.)

@OneMoreTime23 it's a very short time this is true for and it's simply the reality if you have children and don't have a magical support network of people willing and able to take your sick child.

@OneMoreTime23 I didn't call in sick, I told the truth and took the monetary hit. My advice to call in sick was for the OP who can't afford to be unpaid.

It read as though you had taken 20 days off sick. If the OP calls in sick every time then my comment stands. It won’t just be brushed over.

Unfortunately, employers don’t “suck it up”, they discriminate against women of child bearing age rather than take the risk. Women have no greater right to time off than men, generally. It’s tough, I get it - my husband worked away all week and my family were 5000 miles away so I worked for myself for those years as I had no support network either.

It’s a nightmare.

We have five days but anything beyond that is unpaid. But they still expect cover