Would you pull a sickie for a pre-booked trip?

Go sick for a week. Gives you a couple of days before and after. See it as a mental health holiday. They'll have to manage without you completely when you're on maternity leave. Wellbeing / family comes first. ❤️ Lovely partner. Have a great time. 💖

I’d feel really annoyed if I found out you were lying about pregnancy sickness to get a day or two off. Surely it’ll be obvious that you’ve asked about the Saturday swap anyway.

Even if you self cert an employer can still ask for medical proof especially if an employer has a pattern of absence or they don’t think it’s real.

OP it’s also quite disgusting you would use your pregnancy and fake illness as an excuse to take a holiday!!

The employer needs to establish reasonable belief of a conduct issue. They also have to act reasonably. Even more so if a PC is involved.

A GM dismissal for a mere suspicion of throwing a sickie, in a first offence, from a pregnant woman will absolutely not be considered a reasonable response. Even if they had absolute proof the op is lying I wouldnt risk it and tbf my risk appetite is pretty wild.

It would be a very brave, yet extremely stupid employer indeed who would dismiss under GM here.

That depends if you still get paid for being off sick.

It won't be gross misconduct for being sick but lying.

Quite a difference.

Anyway, hope it doesn't come to that and everything gets sorted amicably

All the best with it OP

@EsperTillus did you reply to this? What actually happens practically if you call in sick?

Ah, got you.

A gross misconduct dismissal means the employer has considered the employees actions to be so unreasonable and serious, the employment relationship has completely broken down.

Classing being off sick one day, in a slightly suspicious situation, whilst pregnant, as GM, would never be considered a reasonable response from an employer.

GM is really, really not a factor in this based off info given.

Good idea! It would seem OP wasn’t aware,

I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous than that Saturdays rule and given some of the insanity I’ve heard of from some employers that’s saying something

Did they announce that the swapping policy was changed? Or just tell you once you'd put in the request? If it's the latter I'd push back on the basis that they didn't inform you about the change in working practices

Also are you 100pc sure you can't amend the flights / Hotel? There might be a cost but might be worth it

The no swaps rule they have is legally problematic as it fails to accomodate legal obligations such as childcare responsibility. Their no swaps rule wouldnt stand up legally; would they sack you for not working the Saturday when you want to book it off? who knows - less likely because you are pregnant.

If youre not planning a future there after Mat leave; id probably stick to my guns and be like - i have holiday, I am willing to use, im willing to swap, im willing to accomodate- but I am wanting X date off. Im giving adequate notice, im telling you now I wont be in.

I wouldnt take it as sick; because youve shown your card by asking for it off already but I wouldnt be cancelling the trip.

If it's classed as gross misconduct they can absolutely sack her, pregnant or not

i would call in sick - just make sure no one finds out about the holiday via social media etc

This seems the best choice, the system as it is currently is not going to work, because life happens!

I wouldn't if I'd already asked about that date- I'd just be stressed out the whole time, and worried about flight delays etc

So you can never have a week’s holiday which straddles your Saturday? What a stupid way to run a business.

Well they will be unlikely to sack her if she's pregnant. I don't think they'd want to risk a tribunal

Can’t you, the employees, get together and put a proposal to management together? Like agreeing to accept that if you’ve swapped then the responsibility is on the person who’s agreed to the swap to find a replacement not the original person on the rota?

In your immediate position can’t you find someone to swap with in private (not the group chat) and then email the manager together to say that you both accept that either she or you will cover the day whatever happens? But be aware that you absolutely can’t pull a sickie if they say no, this would be career suicide where I work.

It's infuriating when everyone gets punished for one person's shitty behaviour, but that was presumably not the only incident for them to ban swaps altogether.

Regarding the AIBU, they will probably clock the leave as suspicious internally, but I'm not sure they can demand private medical information, especially if it's the first 'offence'.

People do get sick, even on days they were denied leave for. As a one-off I'd consider it sod's law, but I'd be keeping an eye on future absences.

If you do it, do not tell anyone.

Flights are generally non-refundable. But you can usually swap the date for an admin fee. I'd look into that first. If you've already asked to swap it will be obvious when you pull a sickie!