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Return to Article: Uncle Sam tends to federal families' well-being

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  i never work from home while sick. too sick to come in; too sick to work at home, in my opinion. i do not have kids. while my husband (now ex) was laid off or took a day off, i did not work flexi. when did the rules change??? what about taking care of elderly parents? no one is paying for me to help them and i am paying to keep my parents in their own home with 24-hour nursing care with no insurance assisance. having kids is a choice. my parents having a stroke and alzhiemeers was not their choice. keeping them at home instead in putting them in a nursing home is Commandment #5; not a choice for me.

  liz weigand Posted November 17, 2009 1:15 PM
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  I just don't understand some people. If one person has something they think they must have it too. If it pertains to your situation then that's fine, but if it doesn't why complain about it? I chose to have kids and I work to take care of them. With high prices of everything and pay checks not increasing, sometimes you need childcare subsidy assistance to help so you can continue to work and your children can go to a safe place while you work. Yes I chose to have kids, but I can't help how high everything is getting. I could be at home without a job getting welfare and food stamps, but I want to be able to work and take care of my kids. Before prices skyrocketed into orbit, parents were doing fine on their own, but when help is needed it is reassuring to know that I have a government that will help. When I was single and didn't have any kids, I didn't rebuke others who had children, worked, and received childcare assistance. That's just plain ignorant.

  Fed Employee Posted November 4, 2009 4:27 PM
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  assistance for day care??? Ohhhh come on how much more can CS drain from the taxpayers?? I have no problem with GSA setting up daycare that is safe and accessible to the parents but the cost should be totally born by those who use it. They already have the ability to pay with with pretax $$ and that is ENOUGH

  dan m ketter Posted November 4, 2009 1:59 PM
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  To "noman" - you think that not actually working the required hours is okay since the taxpayers are paying you and that honesty in reporting time is indicative of a "rigid corporate code of conduct". You are committing time card fraud and could be removed from service for this.

  What would you think if a story aired that showed contractor employeees "teleworking" while caring for their sick children, or doing some other personal task while the government (also taxpayers) was paying the bill?

  As for a professor not minding if you sleep til noon - of course he wouldn't mind - he is not paying you, you do not work for him. You (your tuition) is paying him. He could care less if you show up or not - he is doing his job.

  Taxpayer Posted November 4, 2009 1:21 PM
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  This is not a good time in history for the government to do anything that looks wasteful to the taxpayers. Those of us in civil service we have jobs but look around people 100s of thousands dont and are slipping into poverty everyday. If you allow only those that use the tax money collected to benefit it wont take long and the general public which is already pretty disgruntled with their leadership will turn on you and that will not be good for any of us. For those who have very sick family memebers that is tragic but there are already programs to help you sponsered by the taxpayers. If you can not make it to work then you will need to step down get your problem behind you and move forward when you can. The taxpayers can not continue to be stripped of their incomes to support everything, every country, every problem. Some of this we must carry ourselves individually. I mean really baby sitting so someone can come to work!!! How about staying home do what you have to until your children reach school age and then join the work force again. Federal employees need to be careful at how and what we get with so many Americans literally in poverty now as this declines farther and the average american is now living as if they are in a 3rd world country increasing anything for government anybody will not be taken lightly by the general public. We are already getting heat for the differance in wage between government work and what little is left out there in industry. And to think jobs would fix everything how did our leadership ever figure transferring bluecollar jobs would be good for us. I smell something dirty.

  LC Posted November 4, 2009 9:35 AM
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  Where is the "no socialism," "no government healthcare" crowd? A federal subsidy to take care of YOUR children, what do you call that? They're YOUR kids, not mine. Too much taxpayer money is being spent to support other peoples children. If you're old enough to have kids then you're old enough to support them.

  frank Posted November 4, 2009 8:46 AM
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  All three of my DoD employers I've been with so far have offered flex schedules, allowing either every other Monday or Friday off (or a 4-10 work week in some instances). This has worked out great for me since I deal with a 60 mile one way commute. I chose to live that far away and I don't have a problem with it. I get all the time I need on my Fridays off. If I had sick family member I needed to be available for at home, I'm sure they would allow me to telecommute. Caring for someone doesn't necessarily mean you couldn't spend 99% of your time doing your job. Most professionals come from a college environment where punching a clock, sitting in a desk, and putting in hours is not as important as doing good qaulity work and getting the job done. A prof doesn't mind if you sleep till noon and study from 2:00pm to midnight in the park. Some (not all) organizations could benefit from taking this approach, or at least moving away from rigid corporate codes of conduct.

  noman Posted November 3, 2009 6:23 PM
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  I thought the article was very informative for those needing some links and details on what is available for child care. I was hoping to read something within the article about taking your infant to work in place of using the day care facilities. Is there any information out there about this issue?

  Thanks

  BJ Cassidy Posted November 3, 2009 11:29 AM
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  Working from home means working from home. It does not mean caring for a sick child. Your agency ruled correctly in not allowing this as you advised them that you would in fact not be working you would be tending to a sick child.

  Best wishes for the health and well-being of your daughter - my prayers are with you.

  You have a situation that will probably be on-going for some time. This is the ideal situation to request donated leave - I am sure that your coworkers would be very sympathetic and your request would be granted. It is unfortunate that this suggestion was not made to you by your agency.

  Reply to Posted November 3, 2009 11:12 AM
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  After reading the first three comments I wonder, where is all that great union support we hear about?

  GS MAN Posted November 3, 2009 9:30 AM
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  What about those people outside of the DC area in the field offices. Many commute at least 40 minutes to get to work. Don't see any kind of accomodation made for us, such as telework, etc.

  Kathy Bromley Posted November 3, 2009 9:08 AM
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  which uncle sam, cause I sure don't see this, first of all you have got to have managers who care and at least have some sense of what a family is. These managers act like robots with no compassion, it is all about making numbers so they can please the same type of managers in DC. it is really pathetic in this day and time when families are in constant crisis that work places are not more family oriented. so what someone works from home 2 days a week or some one has to take leave to attend a field trip with their 2nd grader. this is what family /work balance is all about!!!!

  got a job but my job dont got me !! Posted November 3, 2009 9:05 AM
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  It's time to think beyond adding or continuing perks applicable to just one segment of the federal workforce - parents. What about the thousands of single/divorced/widowed employees who have no partner with whom to share the burden of handling issues at home, such as repairs/maintenance/remodeling, or something as simple as oil or gas delivery that requires entry into the home? All that requires significant time off from work with no fallback of falsely claiming sick leave for a supposedly sick child/spouse, or any other leeway, other than annual leave or leave without pay. It's time to consider moving away from differentiated annual and sick leave and allocate paid time off instead.

  JMAnderson Posted November 3, 2009 8:24 AM
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  I have turned in the request twice to work from home during my daughter cemo treatments. Someone has to take her for 3 days (afternoons)each month. Also someone has to be in the house or near for those days and at least one week after. I ask for WED, THRU, FRI and the following week Monday & Tuesday. The three days would be part day work and the remainder off (some days I have another family member that take her). Now we try to rotate this time. But we are using us all our leave taking her. Part of the Branches are allowing work at home in these situations. However they have turned me down twice. Stating this is not a situational request. What else could it be. How do I get them to allow this.

  If you post my comment, please do not use my name or initials because many people know me. If you put the whole statement they might figue it out anyway.

  Thanks

  Anonymous Posted November 3, 2009 7:27 AM
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  SSA does nothing for workers outside of Baltimore and their program centers. In fact, an employee who could not afford daycare during Xmas week and could not find a family member was charged AWOL and the arbitrator upheld it! (see AFGE L-1164)

  George Sincavage Posted November 3, 2009 5:26 AM