Can i lose my job for taking time off for the first time?

Question

My husband (who is a house husband because of disability) has just been taken into hospital really ill. I have worked in my teaching job for 5 years and never had a day off - my husband looks after our 4 children, so i have now had to have time off to visit him and take care of the kids. He was only admitted on Tuesday and work has told me that they want me back in next week! I can't go back cause my hubby is still in hospital and i'm not leaving the kids and anyway, i won't be able to do my job properly with worrying and tiredness. Anyone ever been in the same situation?

Answer 1

Yes and i went to my doctor explained the situation and she gave me a sick note for stress.
You are under a lot of stress now husband is sick, you have children to care for so you are fully entitled to go and get a sick note and work can not do a thing about it.
How can you work with all this going on you can't simple as.

Answer 2

I work in Human Resources and depending on where you work and their regulations, there is something called Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This provides 12 week job protection if you are injured, ill or have to take care of a sick family member or veteran of war. It's usually uncompensated leave or they give you a percentage depending on how long you have worked for the company. The only glitch might be the fact that you are not married yet. Many organizations do not recognize engaged couples as "family". If your organization did recognize it, you would be eligible for what's called a "Personal Leave". They can be kind of tricky because you would need certifications from her doctor (because anyone can say they have a sick family member just to get time off). Google some more information and definitely ask your manager if this option is available to you. With smaller companies, sometimes it's not. Good luck!

Answer 3

Yes. I was a single mom in a city where I didn't know anyone and when my 2 year old started daycare he was catching every bug that came along. Daycare won't keep them when they are sick and I had nobody else. I had never taken a day off sick before my pregnancy and only one day off during the pregnancy. Although they knew that I had a great attendance record, there was no support when I was in a bind. I was told that I would "have to make other arrangements". I didn't have other arrangements, so when he ended up in the hospital, I bypassed my boss and called the CEO to let him know what was happening. Since your children are healthy, you might see if there is short-term daycare for them. It will probably financially stretch you, but if it means keeping your job...
Unfortunately, unless you take family leave, they are within their rights to expect you back next week.

Answer 4

Absence is usually managed in terms of a person's ability to undertake their contract - where absence begins to impact your ability to fulfill your obligations to your employer your employer has the right to manage you through the disciplinary procedure - unless you have less than a year's service which normally means you have no recourse to protection of disciplinary procedure (unless you believe the disciplinary action is the result of discrimination where no time frame is relevant and the employer would need to prove their innocence rather than you proving their guilt). It seems very unfair what is being asked of you - I work for very well known retailer and they offer all staff 5 days emergency carer leave for this very situation; additionally, as a working parent you are entitled to apply for flexible working conditions and this might apply in this situation ; in essence any disciplinary action must be in accordance with the employer's written disciplinary procedure and you would have the ability to have a union official present if it got that far. If I was your manager I would never put you in this position and I would seriously consider getting advice from NUT. Hope that helps..

Answer 5

Unfortunately you have to find someone else to care for the children, or lose your job. That's the thing about teaching posts - you can't choose when to take leave. But you do get a lot of it.

Answer 6

Ask a Doctor to give you a few days off because you are feeling very sick , and until blood test are done etcetera !

Take the days off recommendation to your boss and he/she will have to let you off the hook for that time , but don't make it an addiction to do that because then you will be hurting your self esteem , maybe , yes , just maybe !

Well , do you like O.J.Simpson ? If you do then you are a very nice person , congratulations !

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Answer 7

If you are a teacher, you should have a contract for employment. You would have a certain number of days for leave due to illness and personal days. If you have run out of paid leave, you can still request leave under the federal family emergency medical leave act. You would not be paid for your time off, but you could not be fired either.

If you are not a member of the NEA, you should be. They can help.

Answer 8

You can take the Family Leave act but until that is straightened out you will have to work once you've utilized any other days you have as allowable vacation / sick or personal time at your particular school. Fill out the necessary paperwork for Family Leave asap.

Answer 9

what! how can they say that? if it was their family they would do the same as you. just sit ur boss down and explain to him/her what uve said to us. this is obviously really stressing you out and yes you should be able to have time off for this and if you dont you could be signed off sick due to the stress

Answer 10

You MAY be able to invoke the family leave act. There are several factors that affect applicability. It wouldn't be paid time off but you may be able to get some time off that way. I don't know your jurisdiction. Check with your local or state labor commission.