Work expecting me in office when pregnant

[littlefawn]

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and I requested to work from home a week before lockdown, they said it wasn't possible, I was then told it was "not recommended" that I come into work by a manager and told me to take sick (even though I'm not sick) I told them I could not get a sick line but that was fine.
About a month later I found out about 4 or 5 people had been allocated laptops and were working from home.
Manager rang about a week after this and said HR said they've done a risk assessment and I can come back to work. They said social distancing is in place, only one person per row of desks and people working one week on and one week off.

AIBU to expect a laptop to work from home when others who are not vulnerable have been allocated laptops?

Surely I still have to pass communal areas and touch door handles to get to my desk, there is a narrow corridor to my office and the building is shared by other departments (it's public sector)

From what I've read online employers must do what they can to help
Pregnant women work from home, my manager suggested I take leave as I have a lot but I've also sad they can't make you take leave and this is discrimination.

@littlefawn
No explanation is required no. Its not like requesting flexible working applications that require formal responses.

@Millettmum
Having a vulnerable condition per se does not mean said person cannot work or not leave the home.

Only those on shielding list have this provision.

OP, you just don't know why some people are wfh. You wouldn't necessarily know if someone had asthma, or diabetes, or high blood pressure, or crohns. What you do know, is that you are not currently in the shielded group and, according to the risk assessment, can work safely from the office.

Do employers have to give a reason why it isn't feasible for someone to work from home?

Of course not.

Thewickerwoman - they cannot furlough her as public funds. If she is in the shielding group she needs to ask to see their risk assessment - if it reasonably deems that the workplace is safe then yes SSP is absolutely correct. If the workplace isn't safe (more likely with shielding group) then she should be medically suspended on full pay.

OP - you're in a very broad "vulnerable" group, not a shielding group so they are entitled to ask you to come to work if they don't have the resources for you to wfh and assuming the risk assessment confirms the workplace is safe. As it has been said the laptops may have been allocated to staff shielding or people in critical roles who need to work from home for whatever reason. I'd be asking them to review the risk assessment and confirm in writing the allocation of resources but otherwise I can't see anything wrong with what they did.

How about just buy a laptop? I bought mine from Curry's £250.

For those saying "just buy a laptop", there are very strict rules about Government spending e.g. when I was a Civil Servant, we could only buy through our IT supplier, all purchases over a (very small) certain amount needed to be cost justified and multiple layers of approval, then as a pp said all the licenses would need to be purchased or existing licenses amended for the higher number of users, the laptop would then have to have the software build installed. I think a new, additional to anticipated requirements laptop could take up to 2-3 months to procure. The overall cost would be nearer 2-3x the actual cost of the laptop by the time you added in license and installation costs.

The procurement rules and procedures were all put in place to control public expenditure i.e. spending of tax payer's money.

"How about just buy a laptop? I bought mine from Curry's £250."

I expect their decision is more about needing a certain number of staff in the building.

I brought my work PC home with me. They should allow you to do that in the circumstances.

However, if they are following legislation (I’m not familiar with it myself) then they call the shots.

@AldiAisleOfCrap

You're giving poor advice. Public sector cant furlough because the jobs are already publically funded. The money is there to pay them so it will not be provided again hence why the PP's daughter cant be furloughed.

I'm 36 weeks' pregnant but with no underlying health conditions. Therefore I am in the "vulnerable" but not the "shielded" category.

I'm a HLTA/teacher and am receiving full pay at home.

With the vulnerable category it is discretionary, it is the shielded group that are protected.

Pregnancy puts you in the vulnerable category, not the shielded category. The current government guidance says vulnerable people can still go to work "where you cannot work from home". From your employer's POV, you can't work from home, so it's reasonable for them to tell you to come to work.

A lot of people are in the vulnerable category. In the UK 1 in 12 have asthma, and 1 in 16 have diabetes, let alone all the other conditions on the list. It may not seem difficult to find one extra laptop for you, but would they be able to source extra laptops for every vulnerable member of staff?

Contact Pregnant Then Screwed, they will help. They have loads of info on their website xx

Under 28 weeks the govt have stated its fine. Anything over 28 weeks is classed vulnerable amd must work from home/ take leave

Speak to your midwife for advice but as others have said it's only those 28 weeks plus they are being told to stay home. A friend has a family member working at the hospital and they are having to go in in second trimester as it's not deemed any more of a problem for them than another non pregnant women.

Even at 28 wks they don't have to stay home. They are not shielding.

Miller I'm - that is the vulnerable list not the shielded list.

Mi

Milletmum - autocorrect, sorry

I don't think it's actually that easy to source a suitable laptop at the moment, it appears there is a shortage (at least from companies that can deliver, in a reasonable time frame). My employer bought one for me last week as the desktop machine they initially provided me with was worse than useless, but the IT person had trouble finding one available with MS professional pre-installed. The one he eventually found arrived within a week but cost well over £1000. Also, a monitor may be needed in addition (although a quick google search shows these are readily available under £100). I wouldn't want to work on a small laptop screen 8 hours a day (although I realise some people have no choice if this is what has been supplied).

I work in public sector and as there weren’t enough laptops to give out, some workers have taken their desktop computers home, I use my own laptop and was sent a link to access all my work stuff.

@IndecentFeminist I think it depends on your job? I'm a heavily pregnant HLTA/teacher in a huge primary and have been at home on full pay since mid March.