Full Time, All the Time
with Britt and Robyn
I'm Britt. I work full time as a mom, wife, blogger and salesperson with a fancy management title. And I'm Robyn. I work as a project manager and between corporate meetings manage to cook a home-made meal every day. This blog is about our experiences of juggling full-time work with family.
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We live just two miles away from a high school that has been closed for one week due to Swine Flu. Two schools elementary age children have become infected in the last day — both living in the same city as my son’s preschool. More schools in California are considering closing as a precaution. And it leaves me wondering… Where are all these kids gonna go during the day?
If the point of the school closure is to isolate children in hopes of keeping the outbreak to a minimum, you can’t simply just put your kid in an alternate childcare. Sure they may seem fine today. But with a waiting period of 7 days, a normal kid today can be a sick kid next Tuesday.
I feel like I’m one of the lucky ones. If my son’s school were to close for a period of time, I can work from home 100%, have a supportive boss, and lots of family near-by that would be able to step in if needed.
If (knocking on wood) my son were one of the very few in my county to actually get sick, I know that I have sick pay that I can use for myself or for the care of my sick child to make sure that we were able to ride it out. But not everyone is as lucky as me.
The swine flu threat has renewed the argument over whether the government should mandate paid sick-time. Ted Kennedy is expected to re-introduce in Congress the Healthy Families Act which would allow workers to earn an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked. Advocates say paid sick time is needed to avoid spreading contagion; they argue productivity falls when people go to work sick. Opponents say it’s too costly and too many people will abuse the system.
All I know is that when you don’t offer sick pay, people come to work sick. With the swine flu threatening to close schools all over the country, we can’t expect people to be able to take days or weeks off to care for a healthy child that may never get sick.
What do you think? Are you prepared if, tomorrow, your school closes? Do you think we should have mandated sick pay?
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I’m fortunate, too, that I can work from home, my husband has months of vacation time he can take and my parents are retired and live nearby. But not everyone is that lucky.
Paid sick time is a good idea. The abuse thing is rather silly — if you only have a certain number of hours of paid sick time it’s not in your best interest to use it up unless you have to. These are adults we’re talking about. If the employee is that irresponsible, perhaps the employer should consider replacing them.
Finn | May 1st, 2009 at 9:05 am
As much as I’m loathe to institute more laws, I think something is really needed. I mean it’s in the companies best interest, but still doesn’t happen of course. The same issue, to a smaller extent, comes with you getting letters if your kid is out for too long from school, as they lose money. I had several friends who’s kids had fevers for 5 straight days, and the school figured they must be on vacation, nobody is sick for that long. I know they want the kids to learn, and they lose out on $ for absent kids, but no excuse (no pun intended
We are lucky. Even when I was working I could have taken sick days for my kids, worked from home, have dad stay with them or send them to grandma and grandpas. But I’m very aware lots don’t have that option.
Nicole Pelton | May 1st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I’m fortunate to have sick days that can be used for my family, if needed, too. If schools close, I’ll be home because I’m a teacher. That’s another stroke of luck. There are more parents home in our neighborhood right now due to layoffs; school closings would be difficult, but not impossible to handle.
But as a teacher, I wonder - how will they learn? Will we have to make up the time, like we do with snow days? Most of all, when will parents come through and donate the tissues we need? My class is all out, and there’s no budget for more.
Daisy | May 2nd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I work for the state and earn 3 hours of sick time every month. Very generous. I can claim it for me, or for my kid. My colleages are all in the same boat.
But guess what? People still come to work sick. They still send their kids to school sick.
We’re lucky in that we have lots of family around, and her dad and I can both work from home if need be.
However, my fiance’s company does not offer paid sick time, And he works in food service. The people who work for him are dirt poor, working for maybe $9/hour and at most work about 32 hours a week.. If they get sick, they come to work. If their kids get sick, they bring them to work. When they’re making $15,000 a year, they can’t afford not to work That’s the bottom line.
And that’s exactly how a pandemic would spread.
lynn @ human, being | May 3rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
No, I don’t think we should have mandated sick pay. It is the responsibility of parents to have a Plan B. Choose an employer with better benefits, negotiate flexibility up-front, pinch pennies to build up an emergency fund, keep things simple in case you ever have to get by with less money. The more we keep laying all the responsibility on employers, the more layoffs and closings we will have, and that leaves a lot fewer options for everyone.
I think it’s ridiculous that they are closing schools just because one child has the sniffles. A few days ago, I heard they had closed 400 schools though they had only identified 150 cases of the flu. Something is very wrong here. It’s not even a bad flu, as everyone has known for at least a week. There should be consequences for such irresponsible actions.
SKL | May 4th, 2009 at 7:44 am
My family is somewhat prepared if schools and child care closes. My roommate’s mom lives close by, and doesn’t work, so she could watch my son and roomie’s daughter. I don’t have a job that I can do from home; part of my job is being on-site and available for the computer emergencies that happen, and my boss requires face time with my users.
My company gives more sick and vacation time than I am used to. I now earn 3.7 sick hours and 3.7 vacation hours every 2 weeks, and I haven’t been here a year yet. My previous employer started giving hourly employees 5 days of sick leave only after I had been there for 5 years. Before then, if you were sick, you had to use vacation time, and if you didn’t have any vacation time left, you were out of luck.
Kim (Techie Momster) | May 6th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Some sick days should be mandatory.
For years, riding the buses in our area was one of the least healthy things to do, not just because of other passengers, but because of the drivers.
You see, the drivers had no sick pay. Being ill meant the company penalized your seniority points with an unexcused absence, and of course, no pay for the day. Result? Drivers who could barely see through flu medicine induced hazes were out there driving.
Overall they’re the safest drivers on the road due to extensive training, but I’m certain some of the minor accidents were due to sick drivers.
Luckily they finally unionized and they finally have some sick days.
It is unfortunate that we have to legislate what should be common sense. But unfortunately it is the public service sector, those with the most people contact who are the least likely to have any sick days. And because of their continual people contact they’re the most likely to become ill. It’s ridiculous.
Mich | May 7th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Very nice blog. I totally agree with your thoughts.
ArianaFeat | May 13th, 2009 at 11:05 am
I work in the food delivery industry and deliver to schools nurseries and resterants so how far can i spread swine flu and with no sick pay i will work if i can i need the money.
One day the food industry will learn that if they dont pay we all pay.
Graham | August 1st, 2009 at 10:07 am