Professional moaner and qualified controversy queen, Katie Hopkins has once again shared her opinions on other people's lives, by stating through her column in Fridays Sun that employers should not be asked to pay employees who take bereavement leave.
The case which Hopkins was referring to was that of Lucy Herd whose 23-month old child drowned in their garden pond in August 2010. After this horrific accident Ms Herd was allowed the statutory 3 days paid leave from work including a day for the funeral.
Katie Hopkins view, as she expressed in her newspaper column is that we should all take responsibility for what she terms the 'potential risks' in our lives and business owners should not be out of pocket in cases such as this.
As a self-employed person, I have to take responsibility for any time off and if anything were to happen, I have the option of either continuing to work or losing money. This comes with the job and as much as I enjoy the freedoms that being self-employed gives me it is always a worry to think that if I needed financial support or any leave I would have to be reliant solely on the tax payer.
Employers have certain responsibilities to their employees and in cases such as this should be supporting not wiping their hands clean of such unforeseen circumstances. The death of a child does not compare to any other type of leave and surely should be treated as an exception. Ms Herd also has two older children to care for and split shortly after her son's death with their father. In such a rare and awful situation, how can it be treated in the same category as say the death of an elderly relative? For Hopkins to claim it should just be considered one of life's 'potential risks' is abhorrent.
Hopkins' column goes on to say we should not always look at business owners as 'faceless corporate giants' and that family run businesses would also have to uphold the same rules, if parents were given longer paid leave. However it is the giants that have thousands of employees, not the 'tea-shop down the road' and it is these people that need support in place to help them when their lives involve a tragic upheaval.
Ms Hopkins has also previously stated that benefits should be capped; she's attacked maternity and disability benefits. If she does not support the benefits system or giving Ms Herd paid leave how does she expect her as a single parent to survive? In an interview given in April last year Hopkins said she has saved money to prepare for such eventualities as illness, however many people do not have that option, they are not lucky enough to save that amount of money to see them through the unexpected things life throws up, they need it to live.
Despite this articles subject it is becoming increasingly clear that the only way to stop frequently hearing the negative opinions of this woman that only ever support the privileged few, is to ignore her. Wasting time burning effigies of her on bonfire night only seems to fuel the fire within Hopkins to burn the rights of the average person.