Stage 1 Formal Absence meeting for pregnancy related sickness

[Colognegirl]

Hi all, I’m new here so please bare with me.

Quick background;
I am a NHS employee and I’ve been with my trust for 5+ years. Last year from Aug to Nov 2019 I was on sick leave due to unexplained heavy menstrual bleeding. I’m talking unable to get out of bed, soiled sheets/clothes/car seat kinda thing. I was also severely anaemic and had zero energy.

By Dec time, I had tried some natural medicines where the bleeding became manageable and I felt ready to return to work. Once I notified work of my return , I was sent a letter for a Long Term Sick Absence meeting for on my first day back.
I was expecting this and knew it was part of Trust policy. I was put under review for 12 weeks and was told I would go to Stage 2 if I called in sick again. The 12 weeks passed and I did not call in sick.

However in March I found out I was pregnant. My morning sickness was really bad (something called Hypermesis for those aware) and I have been off since week 6 of my pregnancy. I got to the 12 week mark and sadly miscarried last weekend. But even before the miscarriage my manager told me that she would need to get in touch with HR as it’s a long term sick. Anyway she called yesterday and asked how I was and then said “we need to have a meeting with HR”. I have seen the email and now see it’s a formal stage 1 absence meeting again.

My question is:
Am I not protected for pregnancy related sickness? Is stage 1 meeting a “disciplinary process”? I’m really confused and this meeting is making an already traumatic and stressful time even worse.

Please can anyone offer me any advice.
Many thanks

[dementedpixie]

Pregnancy related sickness cant be counted against you that way and should be recorded differently to normal sick leave

[dementedpixie]

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/sickness-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/

[furryleopard]

In my work (local authority) you should still have a meeting and potentially go on stage 1 but it should be from the point of view of putting steps in place at work to support you rather than telling you off (to be honest this should always be the case with stage 1 but people get stuck with the disciplinary side of it and there isn't enough training of managers in my experience). They shouldn't put in targets and stuff above your organisation's usual targets because pregnancy doesn't count towards disciplinary.

I was put on stage 1 following a succession of miscarriages and complained but was told the above which I thought fair enough. They had put in a target though so I had that removed and replaced with the standard 8 days or whatever it is and had an apology. There's so little training for managers generally.

[DaisyF1986]

At my work pregnancy related sickness is monitored but not 'managed' or meetings, HR involvement etc. I thought that was pretty standard so might be worth looking into if they're allowed to manage your sickness in that way.
Hope it all works out ok for you x

[Requinblanc]

I am so sorry you have to go through all this especially after your loss.

Quite unbelievable as well that the NHS can't get its act together to deal with a pregnancy related matter...I would give the ACAS a call to get a reminder of your rights. Seems to me they are on thin ice and this could be discriminatory...