To think this is probably illegal, asking a pregnant woman to swap days off, so she attend midwife visits on her day off

[RedCherryPie]

This has happened to a good a friend of mine and I am livid

She is having a v difficult pregnancy

Her workplace have said to her lets swap you day off from thu to the as that's when you have all your midwife appointments

Surely they are not allowed to say that

She doesn't want to swap as she's struggling to keep going with work and needs her day off to actually have a break not spend the most of it going to and from and hanging around for appointments

I am fuming
Do you think this is actually illegal asking her to do this

Also she wasn't really asked as such she was more told, like right we have swapped your day off to the so thou can attend your appointments
So you will have the From now on

If she is being treated differently as a result of the pregnancy then yes it is illegal. So if no one else is being told to swap days, but she is - purely as a result of the pregnancy - then yes, it is pregnancy discrimination and therefore illegal.

Question is , what does she want to do about it, is she willing to rock the boat?

It probably is illegal, but if she works part time, I don't think it's an unreasonable request tbh.

If she works full time and just happens to have her 'weekend' during the week then it's out of order, but not if she works part time.

She could ask her midwife to swap to another weekday... But they are legally obliged to give her time off for any number of antenatal appointments, so they are being very unreasonable. She should go to HR (if there is one) or better yet, write to her boss telling them she won't be swapping her day off, and cc HR.

Why shouldn't she be allowed time off if she's part time woo woo???

I'm not sure if it's illegal or not, and if full-time people get time off for going to midwife then it does seem unfair. But having been a manager before I can see why they're trying to get away with it.

She works fulltime mon to sat
Five days a week full days

Sheisknackered andstruggling already

She had thu off but her midwife clinic at her local drs is only on tue

It's illegal for employers to refuse time off for antenatal care.

They haven't refused as such they have just told her they are swapping her days off

If she wasn't struggling so much already, it wouldn't be so bad
But she's finding it really tough going

I looked into this when pregnant with DC2 as I was under consultant care and by then only worked part time, they are entitled to ask you to try to move your medical appointments to your days off/time off (if your part time is say, every day morning only, they could ask you to try to make afternoon appoitments). If you can't move them, and get a letter for each appointment, then you can have the time off.

If the shifts often change, and there's no other reason she needs to work Thursday and not the other day, then I think they are perfectly reasonable to do this, it'd be hard for her to complain.

I didn't say she wouldn't be allowed. I know that she would be legally entitled to time of for pregnancy related appointments no matter how part time she works.

But as someone who worked part time throughout my pregnancy, I don't think that having ante natal appointments on your day off when you don't work full time is anything of a hardship.

Workplaces don't automatically start needing someone for fewer hours just because they became pregnant, so if a part time worker is able to be flexible, then it don't see why they shouldn't be. If working is that much of a struggle, then go on maternity leave as soon as you can.

oh, x post, so she needs to have all appointments on a work day and they've fitted her days off to suit that? Unfortunately I think that's fine. (Unless her contact states she works Monday - Wednesday and Friday-Saturday)

Her shifts do not change, she always has thu off

If she was well and fine she wouldn't mind
But she is struggling

She can't go on mat leave until 29 weeks or something

Perhaps she should tell her go what her employers are doing and. How much she's struggling and try and get signed off until her mat leave starts about 5-6 weeks time I think

Or perhaps she should go to cab or somewhere official

She has a statutory right to time of for appointments like that.

How often is she having antenatal appointments?

I'm not sure how often, also her work have also asked her why she going to see the midwife and she's told them because the midwife has requested to see her

I don't think the midwife is impressed with her employers

I don't suppose the midwife can sign her off can she, I guess she needs a dr for that

Is she not still on 4 weekly appointments?

She is not trying toget the whole day off for midwife check ups, just the time taken toget there and back and the tim taken in the appointment

She works full days so it won't take up an entire day

I'm not exactly sure how often she goes

No, they can't expect her to swap her days for her appointments.

www.gov.uk/working-when-pregnant-your-rights

Actually surely they shouldn't even be asking her why she's seeing the midwife should they?

I mean as long as she has an appointment card to prove that's where she's been she should be covered

No idea of the legalities but I can see why they want her to change if she spends most of the day going to and from the appointment?