To say colleague is a cheeky fucker?

[SayYouCare]

She booked an all inclusive to Spain a few weeks back.

She requested a half day (leave at 12pm), so she can get to the airport and depart. The rest of the week she's there, she already had booked off.

Today she's requested to speak to me. Turns out she is telling me she will be leaving at 12pm on Friday (the date of her holiday), because she says she is now pregnant and has her first MW appointment (the booking one).

Employees don't need evidence for their first Midwife appointment.

AIBU to think she's cheeky and she is leaving for the airport?

granted*

QueenFrosta

I think pretending to have a miscarriage would be a massive act to have to put on and maintain. I don’t know when she booked the flight but she may or may not have known she was pregnant at that point but when she had the opportunity to book a booking in appointment maybe she specifically requested it for that date knowing she was legally entitled to take it and thought she could kill two birds with one stone and guarantee she would be able to take that day off- hence her Instagram post about suitable being packed.

I think that if she wasn’t pregnant or couldn’t book her midwife appointment for that day she would have pulled a sickie anyway.

Regardless she ain’t showing up to work that day!

I don't get the nastiness to the op eg: don't be mean, be reasonable etc. As a colleague who has had to cover for cf colleague's in the past I am sorry that she seems to have you over a barrel about the appointment. Yadnbu.

I can't believe people are calling you a bad manager for not allowing the few hours, I've worked in companies where X are allowed off and once that is reached then no-one else is allowed to have time off. If you work in an office then there may be flexibility but ,for instance,in a call centre there are a certain number of bums on seats that need to be there . She possibly is pregnant but she has an early appointment locally rather than at the hospital

I think pretending to have a miscarriage would be a massive act to have to put on and maintain.

Not if she has only told the OP, and not if the theoretical pregnancy is early on. A brief "Sadly I miscarried, I don't want to talk about it" would be sufficient. No-one would pry any further.

Can I just point out that the alleged 'CF' isn't taking the whole day off for her appointment, she has told the OP she will be leaving at 12pm for the appt.

"Today she's requested to speak to me. Turns out she is telling me she will be leaving at 12pm on Friday (the date of her holiday), because she says she is now pregnant and has her first MW appointment (the booking one)."

So alleged 'CF' was either lying about the 3pm flight time (which if it was to avoid revealing her pregnancy, is fair enough), or she's now lying about the appointment.

To the strict letter of the law you might not be able to ask for proof of a first appointment however employers do not have to grant time off for appointments until they have been told Of a pregnancy. The op had not been told of a pregnancy.

I don’t believe her but I don’t think there’s anything you can do!

Youd better just screencap the instagram and err on the side of caution. Id do a risk assessment given shes told you shes pregnant though.

I'm still puzzled about why she needs to get to the airport early (which it won't be, anyway) to have a 'catch up' with people she's going on holiday anyway.

QueenFrosta

I must be really naive to have thought someone would would do that that’s low.

Sorry my screen is cracked -

I must be really naive to think nobody would really do that. It’s incredibly low

My booking in apt took about 40 mins, but was more than an hour from work so I had to take a half day, wasn't worth driving an hour All the way back to work to do the last 20 mins (and it would have made 4 hours driving in a day)
But I suspect she is probably taking the piss given the previous holiday request.

So, employee books vacation, and needs an extra half day to make the flight on time.

Some manager you must be if you can't get by without her for a few hours.

Also if I understood correctly, if flight is at 3pm, she needs to be at the airport at 1pm. She said she's leaving at 12, how can she have time to get to hospital, do appointment, then get to airport unless they happen to be practically next door.

Some manager you must be if you can't get by without her for a few hours.

Said someone who has no idea of how some businesses work. What bollocks.

OP, when she originally asked for the afternoon off, what time did she envisage finishing and for what time of flight? (I'm asking as I'm confused whether the 3pm quoted is flight time or airport arrival time.) As a line manager facing a dilemma as I'm short of resources that day, details would have featured as part of my conversation - for example to determine whether maybe a 2pm finish would be possible in lieu of a full afternoon off.

And now she's asking to finish at 12pm (according to your OP) as she has a midwife appointment.

There's no way the two requests marry up, regardless of whether they are genuine or not.

Are we missing something? Does she perhaps only normally work a Friday morning; wanted the morning off to pack and chat to family before a 3pm flight; but is now wanting the morning for her midwife appointment before the flight?

People aren't calling the OP a bad manager for not allowing the time off. They are calling the OP an incredibly, at best naive, at worst totally unprofessional manager for starting a thread on a public website, and disclosing personal medical information about an easily identifiable person in her team.

For a hilarious CF MN thread the OP has put her head on the block tbh.

I can't believe she hasn't yet seen sense and had this thread deleted. In many organisations what she has done would lead to a disciplinary and the pregnant woman taking a few hours off would really be the least of her worries.

Turns out she is telling me she will be leaving at 12pm on Friday

She put It to me straight up that her maternity appointment is at such and such a hospital, meaning she will have to take the whole day

Yes it's a 9-6.30 job

her flight doesn't leave until 3

The Maternity hospital she's named is miles and miles away. She'll never be back on time

We as a company are literally 5 mins from airport

None of this makes any sense

If she needs a full day, why is she asking to leave at 12?
If she'll never be back in time for work, how will she make a flight that leaves earlier than her finishing time?

Anyway, document that she is to return after her appointment if there is time and then discipline her if she posts from her Instagram that she's at the airport instead / if flight times don't correspond.

@fitbit I guess you are a pretty bad manager yourself.

People aren't calling the OP a bad manager for not allowing the time off. They are calling the OP an incredibly, at best naive, at worst totally unprofessional manager for starting a thread on a public website, and disclosing personal medical information about an easily identifiable person in her team

Id think it more likely the OP has changed some of the details....

Yes, Deary. if you say so. As I said, talking bollocks.

Just give her the day off. You should’ve given her the few hours off that she needed in the first place.

Just give her the day off. You should’ve given her the few hours off that she needed in the first place.

Why should the OP have done that, two colleagues already have that day booked off.

Colleague should have booked the time off work before paying for flights. It might only be a few hours but she was wrong to do it and now should deal with the fallout of her decision.

That said there is not a thing you can now do about her being off for her appointment or her calling in sick.