Nothing like a global pandemic to really bring out somebody’s true colors. And in the case of Florida State University, those true colors involve only caring about University workers for their labor — not as human beings with families and needs. Starting August, FSU will ban its remote workers from caring for their kids while WFH.
An email to staff stated that “in March 2020, the University communicated a temporary exception to policy which allowed employees to care for children at home while on the Temporary Remote Work agreement,” WCTV2 reports. “Effective Aug. 7, 2020, the University will return to normal policy and will no longer allow employees to care for children while working remotely.”
If you’re caught somewhere between a head-scratch, an LOL, and a good cry right about now — we’re right there with you.
One FSU employee, Dr. Jenny Root, took to Twitter to voice her rightful outrage. And plenty of fellow working parents responded with similar shock and disappointment — as well as the suggestion that the university’s new rule may actually be illegal.
The Lily interviewed Dr. Root, who added that the University’s recent staff rule “makes me feel like I’m failing at everything I do,” and that her employers are “acting like they gave us this privilege to watch our children while we worked — when that’s literally what I had to do.”
At this point, those of us with employers on the other side — you know, the ones that acknowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic is real and is ongoing, that we workers are humans without superpowers or trust funds — are counting our lucky stars. But we have to wonder: If the FSU ruling doesn’t turn out to be illegal, will it turn out to be the beginning of a very terrible trend? As the summer goes on, will more companies make their workers choose between their job security and putting their kids in the (very limited) costly and risky schools/daycares that are open right now?
That, or spend their life savings on a full-time nanny. That whole nanny-share concept just got way more appealing, come to think of it.
Maybe the FSU folks spent too much time looking at these stock photos of moms working from home.
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