To think this doctors note is ridiculous

[Bluesjies]

Okay this employer has always been a bit lazy but we’ve just had to put up with it.
She does around half the work of other colleagues but we’ve never been able to do anything about it as she does just enough to avoid her being sacked.

Anyway we allocated her a few tasks to do which include several in person meetings (can’t be virtual on this occasion for various reasons).
We knew she didn’t like attending meetings as she prefers just working from home so wondered if she’d say she was sick on the day or say she was not well enough to not work from home.
We can’t avoid attending meetings forever. She’s more than competent when she is in them. I think it’s just she lives an hour from the meeting place and she doesn’t like the commute, getting up early etc.
We do try to have teams meetings where we can but it’s not always possible.

Anyway the meeting on Monday has been arranged and she informed me she could not attend as she was having pain and struggling to walk 🙄”. I replied the meeting isn’t for four days. Will the pain be better then? She didn’t reply but then a couple days later submitted a doctors note saying she needs to work from home until her maternity leave (in 4 months) due to pelvic pain.
There’s not much we can do here really if there’s a doctors note. Or so I thought.

I happened to see her walking perfectly well down a road near her home today so I do have evidence she’s more than able to mobilise.

AIBU to think her note is just nonesense and challenge her on her perfect walking ability? I don’t know why these GP’s write these notes out when it’s not the truth.

Or am I best to silently seeth and get on with it.

This! I think someone else might be getting fired if this woman happens to see this thread. Highly unprofessional and discriminatory, and on a forum where its predominately women who have been pregnant. 🙄
Op pregnancy is fucking tough, you're lucky if you sail through with minimal to no issues.

I hope she reads it

Did you ask her to do those tasks to set her up to fail/some kind of gotcha?

It's only difficult to support someone to leave if you haven't been doing your job as a manager and documenting facts. You don't seem to be too concerned with facts though, as you OP is filled with assumptions and petty judgement. You have no right to speculate a pregnant woman's condition or health.

I had PGP in my pregnancy. There were some days I had to crawl up the stairs on my hands and knees and there would be days where I could walk (albeit not far) but couldn't get myself in and out of the car without help or get myself up from my desk. Mine stayed after I gave birth. I'd take my baby out in the pram and be walking because you know you can't remain housebound with a small baby and I would pay for it ten fold after with pain and be unable to walk anywhere.

The employer I had when I was pregnant? They let me work from home the whole duration of my pregnancy no questions asked. I chose to commute to London for one meeting that would have been hard to do over Teams, and they paid for taxis for all parts of that journey.

I worked in the public sector for a long time and saw plenty of colleagues managed out. I also met some of the most unprofessional managers I've ever encountered in my career. The way you compose your posts gives the impression that you and your fellow "senior" managers just don't like this woman for whatever reason. That's not a basis to performance manage someone. That you've not succeeded before suggests it's spurious and petty. That's before we've got to your contemptuous and unprofessional posting on a public forum.

OP I have pelvic girdle pain (severely) and am 36 weeks pregnant. I let my employer know and asked for reasonable adjustments, I am a nurse and cannot do my job effectively at the moment however my managers know that this will pass and have been supportive of me working in a non clinical role in the interim. Pregnancy is not forever and she has legal rights to protect her. Surely being a supportive workplace and manager would be better in the long term for employee morale and staff retention?
God forbid you were my manager! I went for a pub lunch with a friend at the weekend (aka I hobbled from the car to the table, sat there and then hobbled back to the car and went home where I rested the rest of the day!). If you’d have seen me would you assume I was faking as well?? Just because you saw her for a short snapshot in time does not mean she is not in pain or experiencing a difficult pregnancy. If she feels you don’t believe her or are waiting to “catch her out” think of the possible impacts on her mental health!

Have some compassion!

The pelvic pain due to pregnancy needs to be separated from the previous poor performance. business misses their chance to do something so will have to wait until she’s back and given a chance to settle in and perform.
i see many cases where it’s suspected they are not being truthful but what can you do?
what you’ve got to ask yourself is would you feel confident on a witness stand at an employment tribunal justifying any action taken?

I mean, you can contact the doctor to ask questions (i.e. to confirm the note is real).

However, the OP says they've seen this woman walking, so presumably, she's had visual confirmation she's pregnant, in which case... the note sounds perfectly plausible.

It's rare that women fake pregnancy illnesses, but when they do, they tend to fake the actual pregnancy first. The OP has seen her.

Separately, the OP says that this woman has been on performance improvement plans before. So, someone has signed off her completing them - and yet she's still apparently shit at her job.

It doesn't sound like she's being particularly well-managed...