Key worker looking after 18 month daughter

Spitfiresteve

My daughter works for a health and wellbeing store and her employers say they are a key business (which is questionable). She has to look after her 18 month daughter at home . Can they legally make her work as they are not considering furlough.

elsien

Does she have a partner who is working, or at home at the moment?
Who would normally look after the child while she is at work? If it's a nursery, are they not keeping places open for key workers? 

comeandgo

No they can't "make" her work but they only pay her if she does.  If her job is still there her employers cannot furlough her.  It is a very difficult time for parents.  

sharpe106

Spitfiresteve said:

Can they legally make her work as they are not considering furlough.

No as employees are not slaves even if are treated like that at times, but they don't have to pay her.

Spitfiresteve

elsien said:

Does she have a partner who is working, or at home at the moment?
Who would normally look after the child while she is at work? If it's a nursery, are they not keeping places open for key workers? 

She does but he is on furlough and will return to work next week. We as grandparents are the only ones that have looked after our granddaughter while our daughter works but we are in our late 60’s

Mrsn

She can put the request in however they are unlikely to agree to it in the event that there is still work for her to do. The scheme is primarily designed to protect job loses which is a bit of a stretch in these circumstances.

Spitfiresteve

But what if they make her redundant through no fault of her own. She does want to work but can’t leave her daughter home alone. What would be her legal rights .

elsien

She won't  be made redundant because redundancy is where the job role no longer exists. Her job role still exists, the issue is her childcare.

The revised guidance says
 “If you are unable to work, including from home, due to caring responsibilities arising from coronavirus (Covid-19), such as caring for children who are at home as a result of school and childcare facilities closing, or caring for a vulnerable individual in your household, then you should speak to your employer about whether they plan to place staff on furlough.“ It adds that funds will start from the day an employee is placed on furlough, which can be backdated to 1 March 2020.

Furlough status -  details can be found here.

However there is no obligation on the employer to actually do this - it is their decision to make. 
Otherwise she has the option of asking to take holiday or unpaid leave. Or see if her child can attend day care for key-workers if this is not possible for any reason. 

Gonna-be-debt-free

As others have said above, she can be furloughed but her employer needs to agree to it.  I think I can guess which "health and wellbeing store" it is and they seem to have been treating people very badly.
Link to guidance below:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Employees with caring responsibilities

Employees who are unable to work because they have caring responsibilities resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19) can be furloughed. For example, employees that need to look after children can be furloughed.

mattyprice4004

Furlough is optional - if she wants to stay at home to look after the kids, she'll likely have to take unpaid leave if they won't use furlough. 

It's important to remember it's also not the employer's fault she has kids - they need staff in to work, and it's unfair to expect them to foot the bill if she can't attend due to childcare issues. 

Gonna-be-debt-free

mattyprice4004 said:

Furlough is optional - if she wants to stay at home to look after the kids, she'll likely have to take unpaid leave if they won't use furlough. 

It's important to remember it's also not the employer's fault she has kids - they need staff in to work, and it's unfair to expect them to foot the bill if she can't attend due to childcare issues. 

That's incorrect (and objectionable) on so many levels.
She doesn't "want to" stay home and look after the kids.
The employer won't have to "foot" any bill given that it's a government scheme which has been amended to account for exactly this type of situation.