Anyone know where I stand legally? occupational health recommendation being ignored, I think!

[hopefully]

Hope this isn't too confusing...

I work full time in London, for a large publisher. I live a couple of hours commute away, which was fine until I fell pregnant. i struggled through first trimester as I knew it would be awful, but at 13 weeks I began to feel progressively worse, not better. I was exhausted every evening, feeling too ill to move, on the edge of tears all the time due to tiredness etc etc.

I knew I wasn't working at anything like my full capacity, and obviously wanted to be able to, so spoke to my interim manager (proper manager away until beginning of April) about doing some working from home. She was not pleased, but asked me to speak to occupation health and doctor and get recommendations from them.

OH lady said I should be working from home 3 days per week and travelling outside of rush hour on the other 2 days. She passed these recommendations on to my interim manager, and her manager. Request was effectively ignored, no one said no, but I couldn't get them to actually authorise the working from home.

As a result, I went to the doctors about 4 days later, where he said I looked awful, was obviously not coping, and signed me off, stating that he thought I should work from home when i returned to work - he put a comment on the sick note to the effect that I would be a good candidate for working from home.

I gave the sick note to work, and am now off sick, but have been informed that my working from home 'application' has been cancelled until I return. it will take at least 5 working days to set up the IT for me to work from home, so will take a minimum of a week once I return to work (probably more, as my real manager will have returned and will be very busy and will want to discuss all the facts before deciding if it is left until she returns). i was hoping to avoid this, as I want to be able to work, not to become exhausted again from at least another week's commuting and have to potentially be signed off again.

So the question is, do I have any rights to have the occupational health lady's recommendations listened to? I understood that the company had to listen to her recommendations, and give a good reason for ignoring them, but I may be totally wrong. Particularly since circumstances have now changes - I am signed off for 2 weeks.

The whole situation is incredibly frustrating, as I want to be able to work at my best level, and instead I am just not working at all!

Sorry for being long winded...

[hopefully]

Oh, I am now 15 weeks pregnant, and will be around 17 weeks pregnant when I return. Also, have had anaemia checks and there is apparently no reason for my exhaustion and non-coping except tiredness from the commute, which is 4 hours a day.

[flowerybeanbag]

hopefully there's no legal obligation for your employer to do what their occupational health person recommends, no.

But as I understand it, it's not that they've said no, it's just that it's not been dealt with yet - you said 'no one said no', and then you were signed off sick without it being resolved.

It would certainly be a good idea (for them and you) for your company to pay attention to the recommendations of their own OH person and your doctor.

If it will take 5 days for the IT to be set up, why can this process not start before you return to work? Why is there a need for you to go back to the office? When was the last time you spoke to your manager - real or interim, whoever is in charge of you at the moment?

[hopefully]

I had hoped (in fact, assumed, until I was corrected!) that the working from home process would start before I returned to work, so it would be in place when I returned, but was informed on friday that as circumstances had changed (being signed off work) the process would be halted until I returned.

As far as I am concerned, there is no need, in terms of my workload and job description, for me to be back in the office before the working from home starts, and no reason except lack of understanding of the problem by my interim manager and her manager, why I could not work from home.

The last time I spoke to my interim manager was in Friday, on my last day in the office. She lacks management experience, and I think she is feeling very out of her depth with the situation. I have had no contact from her manager, who is the person who needs to sign of the working from home in the absence of my real manager.

I was thinking about contact HR this week, as opposed to my interim manager, as I suspect that she (the interim manager) is ignoring the problem and waiting for my real manager to come back, which suits her but not me! Do you think there's any point in doing that rather than going directly to my interim manager?

I have been made well aware throughout that me being ill is very awkward and making life difficult for people, and if I were more inclined to be a victim I might say that my manager had hoped that this would discourage me from working from home/getting signed off, which is another reason I am keen to find an alternate route (HR people) rather than just going back to my interim manager.

[hopefully]

Oh, and you're right, no one has said 'no' to the working from home yet!

Thanks for your thoughts on this flowery, much appreciated as I have NO idea where I stand!

[flowerybeanbag]

It sounds as though you are right, your interim manager isn't really up to coping with something like this and is hoping it will 'go away' until your real manager gets back.

Is there someone nice in HR you could have a chat with? Just explain that the process was supposed to start, both OH and your own doctor have recommended that you should be working from home, you are very keen to get back to work and contribute to your team but, given the medical advice you have received, don't feel you are able to do so until your working from home arrangements have been resolved, can they help you do so.

That should help, if you emphasise that you want to get back to working but have been given medical advice that you should be doing so from home. It may be that during the first week it might be helpful for you to come into the office for a meeting with your manager, just a 'hello I'm back to work, let's discuss how this is going to work' type discussion. If you get the sense that might help things along, help smooth the way and make people less irritated, offer to do that, on the basis that you don't come in at normal time, avoid the rush hour commute and don't have to stay there all day.

[hopefully]

Thanks for the advice flowery, think that's a good plan. I have a nice HR man who has been pretty helpful with previous things, so I'll put it to him as you suggest, making it clear that I want to be able to work but pointing out the medical advice that I have received.

I'll keep you informed of the outcome!

[luckyt]

Hi hopefully, I work in HR and if an employee had received advice to work from home whilst pregnant we would do everything possible to accommodate it. Under heath and safety we have a duty of care to you the employee, and that includes making reasonable adjustments. Unless the working form home costs them a great deal of money there is no reason why they shouldnt do it.

Speak to Hr urgently, if you need more help, let me know and I can advise more.