holidays /vacation

Look into any potential rights you may have under FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) -- although it might mean you have to take unpaid leave.  In the US, I thought the FMLA was a godsend!  For the last year or so I was there, I used virtually ALL of my annual paid sick days from my last job on trips to look after & check on my elderly & ailing mother -- getting her into a nursing home, checking on her, etc.  When the employer thought they ought to hassle me over taking the sick days (that I had earned anyway according to 'company policy') -- there was absolutely nothing they could do to me (displinary-wise) because I had certified all of those days as being covered under FMLA.

FMLA is pretty specific as far as what is covered and what isn't.  In a nutshell, it can be used for the birth/placement for adoption/placement for care of a child of an employee OR a SERIOUS medical condition of an employee or a member of the employee's family.  (Sorry, I'm an HR person for the NPS - I've had to study up on this!)  Anyway, routine tummy bugs or pink eye are not likely to be covered.  There's also something called the Family Friendly Leave Act under which you COULD use sick leave for routine kid medical stuff, but that may be specific to the gov't....

Now to me, this makes perfect sense so long as the job can be done at home and it doesn't impact on any service provided, after all it also falls into the flexi working policies that most employers are trying to achieve to attain good work/life balance ~ however and this is a very different territory of discussion I am getting into I know, but the problem with this is that people abuse it and spoil it for the other people. 

Hence the reason I can no longer work from home.  We're still trying to figure out who ruined it for us.  And yes pink eye is conjunctivitis. DS was so sad looking, snot coming out of his eyes, ears, and nose.

The Federal gov't in the US is trying to make a big push for telecommuting - even to a satellite office closer to home or from home. It decreases traffic, pollution, costs, need for space at the office, raises morale, and in the event of something like last week in London, could possibly save some lives. Overall - a win/win situation for the right fit of employee/job/employer.

Hence the reason I can no longer work from home.  We're still trying to figure out who ruined it for us.  And yes pink eye is conjunctivitis. DS was so sad looking, snot coming out of his eyes, ears, and nose.

I feel bad for you, it's always the genuine ones that lose out.  I never understand in these situations why people have to ruin it when it suits everyone and not just themselves.

thankyou everyone, i have just had an EMail from Pebbles's  sister and she still cant believe how much time i get off. As for the sick leave i have had 2 in the last 15 months ( and one of them was work related) and apparantly you can have 4 sick absences in a given year. although 1 day off work counts as a sick absence as does 1 month off.seems a bit unfair to me
 As an asides did anyone see the dispatches programme tonight on channels 4 about royal mail. From my perspective of where i work, nothing like that happens at my office.

As an asides did anyone see the dispatches programme tonight on channels 4 about royal mail. From my perspective of where i work, nothing like that happens at my office.

I saw it and was totally appalled! I always had such faith in the Royal Mail. I never had a single problem here in Coventry and our carrier is a star!

One of the coworkers in my department where I last worked in the US came in with pinkeye, and he was ordered to leave. Another coworker there was pregnant and she was freaking out.  Pinkeye is extremely contagious.

The Federal gov't in the US is trying to make a big push for telecommuting - even to a satellite office closer to home or from home. It decreases traffic, pollution, costs, need for space at the office, raises morale, and in the event of something like last week in London, could possibly save some lives. Overall - a win/win situation for the right fit of employee/job/employer.

Sounds like a great idea - but as someone who used to work from home with 2 kids, it's not exactly as easy to do as one might think.  You'd almost HAVE to have a separate office space, not simply the computer in the corner of the lounge or even the bedroom (especially if you share it with someone!).  And it's still difficult to explain to people why even though you're home, you're not doing laundry or the dishes or available to run errands or any of the other things you couldn't do if you were in an office - because you're still WORKING.

If you have an office all to yourself (and in my situation, space was at a premium with 2 kids) and you have someone to watch the kids between their getting-home-from-school time and your finishing-work time (or they're older - which still doesn't really work because they want to know why you can't do this, that and the other for them because, after all, you're home...), then it works out.

Sorry - after years of working from home, I'm not sure I'd be interested in doing it again.  Give me the obvious, serious definition between work and home any day!

The other issue - in the US at least - is a home office and OSHA requirements the business is still required to fulfill. 

My ex worked from home for a year whilst setting up a new branch for his company.  The company had to pay rent on a spare bedroom for him to set up his office, and send out an inspector to make sure it complied with the rules for telecommuters.  Then, there was insurance on his office equipment, himself (in case he fell ill or got hurt in his workspace or whilst out of calls), etc.  It was still cheaper than renting office space, and it worked for his particular case, b/c he just did it from home until there were enough clients to justify renting a full on office, but it may not be as straightforward for some places.

As an asides did anyone see the dispatches programme tonight on channels 4 about royal mail. From my perspective of where i work, nothing like that happens at my office.

Quite shocking, I thought. My firm does all the PI legal work for the CWU. I kinda sat there watching the show thinking "man, I'm helping those jerks get compensation?" Seemed all like one big piss take to me.

Sounds like a great idea - but as someone who used to work from home with 2 kids, it's not exactly as easy to do as one might think. You'd almost HAVE to have a separate office space, not simply the computer in the corner of the lounge or even the bedroom (especially if you share it with someone!). And it's still difficult to explain to people why even though you're home, you're not doing laundry or the dishes or available to run errands or any of the other things you couldn't do if you were in an office - because you're still WORKING.

If you have an office all to yourself (and in my situation, space was at a premium with 2 kids) and you have someone to watch the kids between their getting-home-from-school time and your finishing-work time (or they're older - which still doesn't really work because they want to know why you can't do this, that and the other for them because, after all, you're home...), then it works out.

Sorry - after years of working from home, I'm not sure I'd be interested in doing it again. Give me the obvious, serious definition between work and home any day!

I was working from home part time with a newborn.  Luckly my job has alot of wait time most days.  I would come home after lunch and put him down for his nap.  I would get a few hours work, or if I was still waiting for the computer to finish with my data, I could straighten up the house or do laundary.  I could then get the computer going on a chunck of data and play with him till he went to bed at night.  It made for a couple of late nights and if I had to work while he was awake, he would crawl in and out of my legs at the computer. 

Now I only work from home if I have a deadline and that's all in the evening.  DS is pretty good if you give him something to do.