i am due to return to work tomorrow after 7 months on maternity and i have a problem..
my daughter has a bad cold and conjunctivitis in both eyes, her cold is past the worst part but does anyone know if they will allow her to go to nursery?

i am not 100% clear on the rules and really dont want to have to ring in sick on my first day back.

she is generally ok apart from the snot in eyes and nose

:gag:

Definately not with conjunctivitus...very contagious...your employers should understand that you may not be able to turn in some days or some day may have to leave early now you are a parent...but chances are they will deduct holidays etc from you!!

Welcome to the world of juggling work and children!

;)

affraid that u cant even allow a childminder to look after your child if the childminder has other children around .... Is there anyone in your family who could look after your daughter

if only you knew shiesh!!! my company is useless, i was 6 months pregnant and working in a shop with airconditioning that was useless and the shop was over 38*C most days, i was suffering heart palpitations and they refused to move me saying i had to go on sick with ssp!! this is reason i am searching for a new job, so i know if i ring them tomorrow i will get grief!

thanks for the information tho:thumbsup: :D

Originally posted by Sabenth
affraid that u cant even allow a childminder to look after your child if the childminder has other children around .... Is there anyone in your family who could look after your daughter
unfortunatly not, i am in sheffield alone and all my family are in glasgow!! oh well another week wont hurt them.

Originally posted by savbaby
if only you knew shiesh!!! my company is useless, i was 6 months pregnant and working in a shop with airconditioning that was useless and the shop was over 38*C most days, i was suffering heart palpitations and they refused to move me saying i had to go on sick with ssp!! this is reason i am searching for a new job, so i know if i ring them tomorrow i will get grief!

thanks for the information tho:thumbsup: :D

They could be in trouble if they did get awkward...

FLEXIBLE WORKING REGULATIONS

The legal right to apply to work flexibly will be available only to parents with children aged under six or disabled children aged under eighteen. These parents face particular challenges and the Government is committed to helping make their lives easier. By ensuring employers consider their requests seriously, more of these parents will have the opportunity to adopt a work pattern that better suits them to balance their childcare responsibilities with their commitments at work. Employers who do not consider requests seriously will risk being taken to an employment tribunal and possibly having to pay compensation to their employee.

The regulations The Flexible Working (Eligibility, Complaints and Remedies) Regulations 2003 cover the eligibility criteria to make a request, breaches of the legislation that will entitle an employee to make a complaint to an employment tribunal, and the maximum amount of compensation that a tribunal may award.

Since April 2003, mothers and fathers of children aged under six, or of disabled children aged under eighteen, have the right to apply to work flexibly and their employers will have a duty to consider their requests seriously. It will benefit both businesses and their employees. Flexible working arrangements enable employers to retain skilled staff and reduce recruitment costs, to decrease absenteeism, and to be more effective at reacting to changing market conditions. The Government wants flexible working arrangements to become available more readily to parents of young and disabled children. This new right will ensure that these parents have such opportunities.

The initial onus in taking forward an application will be on the parent. They will have to set out the working pattern that they wish to adopt and explain the effect that they envisage it will have on their employer, including how it might be accommodated. The employer will then have to arrange to meet the parent to discuss the request within 28 days of receiving the request. It will be at this meeting that both parties will explore any potential issues with the request and, if appropriate, consider alternative work patterns. The employer will subsequently notify the employee of their decision in writing. Where an employer agrees to a new working pattern, best practice suggests that it will take around eight weeks to implement. Employers who reject an application will have to provide a specific business reason, which must be one of those stated in the legislation, and an explanation as to why the ground applies in the circumstances.

In some instances parents will be dissatisfied with employer's handling of their applications. The right provides parents with the ability to appeal within 14 days of being notified of their employers' decisions and is again designed to encourage both parties to reach a satisfactory outcome at the workplace.

Where a case is taken to an employment tribunal, the employer will need to demonstrate that they have gone through the procedure including having held the meeting and having given an explanation of the business grounds for refusing the request to the parent. The tribunal will verify whether the employer has followed all the proper procedures and will examine any disputed facts relating to why the business grounds for refusal apply. The legislation does not give tribunals the power to question the commercial validity of the employer's decision, but it does allow for the case to be sent back to the employer for reconsideration where the procedure has not been followed correctly or where the employer has failed to explain why the business grounds applies. The tribunal may also order compensation.

In June 2001, the Government set up the Work and Parents Taskforce to consider the issues carefully and they reported back in November 2001. The Employment Act 2002 underpins the right and the regulatory making powers provide detail about how the new right will operate.

Eligibility
In order to make a request under the new right an individual will:

Be an employee;
Have a child under six, or under 18 in the case of a disabled child;
Have worked with their employer continuously for 26 weeks at the date the application is made;
Make the application no later than two weeks before the child's sixth birthday or 18th birthday in the case of a disabled child;
Have or expect to have responsibility for the child's upbringing;
Be making the application to enable them to care for the child;
Not be an agency worker;
Not be a member of the armed forces;
Not have made another application to work flexibly under the right during the past 12 months;
The Regulations provide that:

When an employer agrees to flexible working (known as a 'contract variation'), it must provide a written note of the contract variation agreed to and the date on which it is due to take effect;
If the employer does not intend to accede to the contract variation, it must hold the meeting with the employee within 28 days of receiving the request;
When a meeting is held, the result (and, if appropriate, reasons for refusal) must be given in writing within 14 days of the meeting;
An employee has a right of appeal from an employer's refusal. The Regulations set out the procedure for appealing;
The employee has the right to be accompanied at any meeting. Breach of this provision results in a compensation payment of up to two weeks' pay (but with an upper limit).
The Regulations relate to the new statutory right to request a contract variation to change the terms and conditions of an employees contract of employment to allow for flexible working.

The new Regulations provide:

A request for flexible working can only be made if the employee has been continuously employed for six months;
A penalty if the employer fails to hold a meeting with the employee, or fails to notify the employee of his decision, of up to eight weeks' pay. The explanatory notes make it clear that there is a statutory cap on a week's pay applies.
The government has published a basic and a detailed guide to flexible working at: www.dti.gov.uk/er/flexible.htm

The DTI has placed forms on its website at www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/flexforms.htm for employees and employers to use when making, granting or refusing requests for flexible working. It is not mandatory to use the forms, but they are useful to ensure that all the statutory requirements are met.

I understand your situation fully it is so hard when you're away from your family and have no support network. I am in the same situation, maybe we could form an emergency childcare support circle, exchanging numbers to try in case of illness etc. or other ideas, anyone have suggestions? pm me.

Good luck with the dreaded call to your employers tomorrow. The rest of us who have already been there are right behind you. Don't let them make you feel guilty.

Raine :)

thanks for the support everyone:thumbsup: :thumbsup: i am not bothered too much about ringing them its more when i go back after it! it really annoys me as the majority are women but are just so unsympathetic!!

Their sympathies would lie with you savbaby if it was them in that situation.

I have no family where I live and rely on church friends whom I trust when the going gets tough.

I can empathise totally with your situation. Hope your little one feels better soon.

Originally posted by raine
I am in the same situation, maybe we could form an emergency childcare support circle, exchanging numbers to try in case of illness etc. or other ideas, anyone have suggestions? pm me.


I understand your wish to help and support each other, but I think it may be an idea that you look into the legalities of your suggestion.

Registered childminders are police checked and there are loads of other checks done before they are registered, and afterwards there is regular follow-up.

I seem to remember this coming up when I was caring for my son when he was small and, unless the minder is an immediate family member, there may be problems. I'm pretty sure, at the time, it wasn't strictly legal to even leave your child with a grandparent or an aunt or uncle (a silly clause in the law IMO), but that may have been changed because I know there are many grandparents who do look after their grandchildren while the parents are at work.

I hate having to post the above, but unfortunately the world we live in today has made these laws necessary.

I looked into becoming a childminder earlier this year and was told that if you looked after someone else's child in their own home you don't have to be registered. Bizarre!

Isn't there a law about having 14 weeks parental time off per year?
Might be worth checking it out.

Yeah but that is unpaid leave that has to be arranged with employer via channels of notice etc etc.....what savbaby is referring too is the times when unexpectedly you cannot go to work as no childcare or child is ill so cannot attend childminders or nursery... if you are fortunate enough to use friends or relatives this isn't always a problem!

Your child should be allowed into nursery with conjuntivitus if they have had treatment from a doctor for 24 hours before. That's the rule where I work anyways

well it turns out i did not need to worry about the nursery as i has a very bad night with tonsilitis myself and me and my baba had to go to the hospital to see a doctor as we were both as bad as each other, i have taken the week off to recover and she is recieving treatment for her conjunctivitis and will be going to nursery on wednesday so i can catch up on some sleep!

i called my work and the woman who answered was ok with me, she just worrying now how she is going to cover my shifts but thats not my problem!

Thanks everyone:clap:

Originally posted by savbaby
i called my work and the woman who answered was ok with me, she just worrying now how she is going to cover my shifts but thats not my problem!

but just in case she or the other people on your shifts are reading this - you feel really bad about letting them down, don't you :D

hope you both feeling much better soon ... conjunctivitis - not nice, poor little thing:(