Two WOH parents and sick/snow days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick days are easier to deal with often, because there will be large blocks of time where the sick child is resting, allowing me to work. Snow days, not so much. In both cases, I let them know what's going on, that I'll be working but possibly not at 100%, and either work late, or work extra hours on other days to makeup the rest. No one at work cares about the # of hours worked, as long as the job gets done.

depending on the age of the child it is illegal to care and work at the same time. You take time off or pto.

Illegal? No. Against an employer's policy? Depends on the employer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick days are easier to deal with often, because there will be large blocks of time where the sick child is resting, allowing me to work. Snow days, not so much. In both cases, I let them know what's going on, that I'll be working but possibly not at 100%, and either work late, or work extra hours on other days to makeup the rest. No one at work cares about the # of hours worked, as long as the job gets done.

depending on the age of the child it is illegal to care and work at the same time. You take time off or pto.

It, depending on agency policy, you can use admin time since you are deemed unable to work because of children - like you would if you lost power in the storm - and therefore you don't need to use leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It, depending on agency policy, you can use admin time since you are deemed unable to work because of children - like you would if you lost power in the storm - and therefore you don't need to use leave.

No. While it is true that agencies have some discretion in this area, no one is going to give you admin leave to take care of your kid.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-administration/fact-sheets/administrative-leave/

[Anonymous]

For snow days, my small nonprofit job lets us charge admin leave. For sick days, PTO or flex hours however much needed to get job done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It, depending on agency policy, you can use admin time since you are deemed unable to work because of children - like you would if you lost power in the storm - and therefore you don't need to use leave.

No. While it is true that agencies have some discretion in this area, no one is going to give you admin leave to take care of your kid.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/leave-administration/fact-sheets/administrative-leave/

I should have been clearer. If the government is closed but you have a telework agreement, you are now expected to telework. But, if you have young kids and therefore aren't telework able at that moment, some places allow admin leave rather than using pto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick days are easier to deal with often, because there will be large blocks of time where the sick child is resting, allowing me to work. Snow days, not so much. In both cases, I let them know what's going on, that I'll be working but possibly not at 100%, and either work late, or work extra hours on other days to makeup the rest. No one at work cares about the # of hours worked, as long as the job gets done.

depending on the age of the child it is illegal to care and work at the same time. You take time off or pto.

Illegal? No. Against an employer's policy? Depends on the employer.

Correct. Many employers do not bat an eye at “work from home” on sick/snow days. Sounds like PP just hasn’t worked for one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick days are easier to deal with often, because there will be large blocks of time where the sick child is resting, allowing me to work. Snow days, not so much. In both cases, I let them know what's going on, that I'll be working but possibly not at 100%, and either work late, or work extra hours on other days to makeup the rest. No one at work cares about the # of hours worked, as long as the job gets done.

depending on the age of the child it is illegal to care and work at the same time. You take time off or pto.

Illegal? No. Against an employer's policy? Depends on the employer.

Correct. Many employers do not bat an eye at “work from home” on sick/snow days. Sounds like PP just hasn’t worked for one.

Correct. Pretty much everyone I know just stays home and works as much as possible, which may be an hour or may be more. As long as you're a good employee overall, the VAST majority of jobs won't make an issue out of this.

[Anonymous]

DH is an academic, I WAH full time. Kids are 1 and 4. We rotate, but it isn't a "my turn/your turn" kinda deal. If I'm busy, he watches kids. If he's busy, I do. That means that for some periods, I do a lot of sick days, and for others he does. If the 4 year old is sick, it's the easiest because he can self entertain and also watch movies. I'm salaried and no one tracks my hours, so if I'm on kid duty for the day, I usually just take the whole day but will work if the kid is sleeping or watching a movie.

[Anonymous]

We rotate or split the day, depending on what we each have going on. I prefer splitting the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Amazes me that people have all these high powered jobs with great salary and benefits and can take weeks and weeks of vacation all around the world, and yet they can't take a day off to take care of a sick kid.

Here's how we handle it:

"Sorry, my kid's sick. I won't be in today."

I have one of those jobs, and taking a vacation requires planning. In other words, I'm able to clear my schedule and inform my co-workers and clients that I won't be available. Sick days are generally last minute, so it's much harder to cancel calls, meetings, etc. You really are amazed by this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick days are easier to deal with often, because there will be large blocks of time where the sick child is resting, allowing me to work. Snow days, not so much. In both cases, I let them know what's going on, that I'll be working but possibly not at 100%, and either work late, or work extra hours on other days to makeup the rest. No one at work cares about the # of hours worked, as long as the job gets done.

depending on the age of the child it is illegal to care and work at the same time. You take time off or pto.

Illegal? No. Against an employer's policy? Depends on the employer.

Correct. Many employers do not bat an eye at “work from home” on sick/snow days. Sounds like PP just hasn’t worked for one.

+1

Nothing like ALL of the kids in the background during a meeting on a snow day.

To answer OP's question, what I end up doing is working 10-12 hours (instead of 8) to really get time in/deliverables done. Because I have to make lunch, and answer questions, and do whatever. If either of us have meetings, we tag team and threaten the kids under penalty of death that mommy/daddy is on a call and they have to be quiet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you and/or your spouse can telework, how do you handle sick days or snow days? Do you take the day off or work from home? And if you work from home, what are your strategies for keeping child(ren) occupied? Unlimited screen time? I know that the federal gov't says you have to have child care when you're working from home (I'm not a Fed), but do people actually do that for sick days/snow days, or do you "work from home" while also keeping half an eye on a kid who is occupied with a craft/screen/whatever?

I'm a teacher (so, obviously I don't have your problem). I've had other parents trade with me, so I watch their kid on snow days, and they watch mine, or have the babysitter they're hiring to watch theirs watch mine, on professional development days. It's a win/win, because they much prefer to take off when they can plan ahead, and I really can't take PD days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you and/or your spouse can telework, how do you handle sick days or snow days? Do you take the day off or work from home? And if you work from home, what are your strategies for keeping child(ren) occupied? Unlimited screen time? I know that the federal gov't says you have to have child care when you're working from home (I'm not a Fed), but do people actually do that for sick days/snow days, or do you "work from home" while also keeping half an eye on a kid who is occupied with a craft/screen/whatever?

My daycare follows Arlington school closures, so I found a middle school student a couple blocks away to be a mother's helper and play with my toddler/preschooler while I work from home. Best thing ever--she is super into playing with them, and I can actually send some emails. I still only get a few hours of work done with this arrangement, but it's better than nothing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you and/or your spouse can telework, how do you handle sick days or snow days? Do you take the day off or work from home? And if you work from home, what are your strategies for keeping child(ren) occupied? Unlimited screen time? I know that the federal gov't says you have to have child care when you're working from home (I'm not a Fed), but do people actually do that for sick days/snow days, or do you "work from home" while also keeping half an eye on a kid who is occupied with a craft/screen/whatever?

I'm a teacher (so, obviously I don't have your problem). I've had other parents trade with me, so I watch their kid on snow days, and they watch mine, or have the babysitter they're hiring to watch theirs watch mine, on professional development days. It's a win/win, because they much prefer to take off when they can plan ahead, and I really can't take PD days off.

This is a fantastic idea!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sick days are easier to deal with often, because there will be large blocks of time where the sick child is resting, allowing me to work. Snow days, not so much. In both cases, I let them know what's going on, that I'll be working but possibly not at 100%, and either work late, or work extra hours on other days to makeup the rest. No one at work cares about the # of hours worked, as long as the job gets done.

depending on the age of the child it is illegal to care and work at the same time. You take time off or pto.

There's a difference between being illegal and being something that your company handbook forbids.