Employer EXPECTS Employee to do training while Home-schooling children...? HELP PLEASE

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Hello all,

My daughter works for a private nursery (usually 9am-3pm Mon-Fri), which is still open with just 2 children attending. For 2 weeks my daughter and my primary school-age grandsons were self isolating because both the boys had what appears to have been COVID. Fine, they've recovered, but now the schools are shut so my daughter has to homeschool. However now my daughter's boss is saying that despite my daughter having to homeschool them (which she IS, properly timetabled etc, she's a fully qualified teaching assistant), my daughter HAS to do training every day and also assist the other nursery staff with their training (all distance learning, of course). She's been told she MUST be up and ready for work by 8am and if it takes until 11pm or later for the other assistants to receive her help then she MUST do it. YESTERDAY (yes, a Sunday) her deputy manager was messaging all day from early morning until midnight telling her she needed to help her and asked her to work until 2am!

The training she is supposed to do are courses that last 4 or 5 hours each including making/editing videos (which is out of my daughter's remit, she's had no training for that) and she must do 1 of the courses each day. When my daughter pointed out to the manager that she can't commit to that as she's home schooling the children, her boss said "we are all homeschooling children, but I don't believe you will be doing it 9-3, so I will be expecting you to join in. If you don't want to then I will put you on SSP".

So. What rights does she have? I have told her to ask to be furloughed, but she doubts she will get that given the choices they've set (work/train or SSP), PLUS she has no idea how much she will be paid if she did the courses in her spare time/after the schoolday ends! Her employer hasn't said how this will work etc.

ALSO she's on UC so doesn't know how THAT works regarding SSP etc - she knows that the less hours she works the more UC she gets (to a point, obviously) but how does SSP fit in with it?

Thanks!

calcotti

r.a.i.n.b.o.w said:

ALSO she's on UC so doesn't know how THAT works regarding SSP etc - she knows that the less hours she works the more UC she gets (to a point, obviously) but how does SSP fit in with it?

If she is paid SSP it is treated as earnings so it's the same as if she is getting paid less.

gary83

Her childcare issues are totally irrelevant when it comes to whether or not she’s eligible for furlough pay, furlough is not intended as a way to give people who are caring for their children 80% of their wages, you are only eligible for furlough if;

If you and your employer both agree, your employer might be able to keep you on the payroll if they’re unable to operate or have no work for you to do because of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is known as being ‘on furlough’.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#check-if-youre-eligible

She would be entitled for SSP for the 14 day duration of a self isolation period, she would not be eligible for it for however long this goes on for purely to stay at home to look after the kids, it’s Statutory sickness pay, not statutory childcare pay.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

"Her childcare issues are totally irrelevant when it comes to whether or not she’s eligible for furlough pay, furlough is not intended as a way to give people who are caring for their children 80% of their wages, you are only eligible for furlough if;
If you and your employer both agree, your employer might be able to keep you on the payroll if they’re unable to operate or have no work for you to do because of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is known as being ‘on furlough’.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#check-if-youre-eligible"

Yes, there is NO WORK for her as there's not enough children at the nursery to keep everyone "at work", hence why they're putting eveyone on training schemes at home and expecting them to be available 8am-11pm and later.

_______
"She would be entitled for SSP for the 14 day duration of a self isolation period, she would not be eligible for it for however long this goes on for purely to stay at home to look after the kids, it’s Statutory sickness pay, not statutory childcare pay."

She's getting 1 week unpaid/no SSP and 1 week SSP as it was the boys and not her who were off sick (this is how her employer has worked it out). Her employer is now telling her it's train at home and be available all ay every day, OR SSP (which I don't think she's entitled to as none of them are sick).

GazNicki

If the employer is paying your daughter the normal wage she would be receiving, in return for training/working - then the employer is within their rights to expect a level of work/training equal to what they would be getting during a normal day. Your daughter is working from home - and working is the key word here.

If you daughter does 30 hours a week, the employer is in their rights to get 30 hours per week back from your daughter. If your daughter needs to home-school, and time is dedicated to that, then your daughter will need to work the required hours after this.

The Employer does seem rather bullish, but I don't know the full picture. However, their demands don't seem that out of the ordinary.

I suggest your daughter accurately times the work she is doing for her employer each day to ensure she is giving the hours she is contracted to do.

r.a.i.n.b.o.w

Thanks everyone, that's clarified it a bit for her (and me!). I was confused because I was sure I saw Martin saying on TV that if you can't work because you are homeschooling then you'll be furloughed, but no matter. She's going to work/train for 6 hours per day and will switch her phone off to become unavailable after she's "left work" so that a repeat of yesterday doesn't happen; also going to keep accurate timesheet/activity records and submit them every week along with proof of work (such as completion certificates etc).

She's a bit concerned that she's doing this for less pay than contracted for because the boss doesn't even know yet, but I'm sure that will work itself out, especially as it's illegal for employers to pay less than NMW, so we'll see.

Thanks again!