Travelling for work (uk) at 36 weeks pregnant

[Supermomdiggingupthelawn]

Hello

Work have insisted I attend a meeting in person whilst 36 weeks pregnant. It’s 4 hours away by train, unfortunately I can’t drive that far due to PGP.

I could stay over one night but I’m nervous about being so far from home for any longer than necessary. That would be at least 8 hours train travel in a day.

Is that a reasonable request or am I being a bit precious?

Thanks in advance

Because most employers these days are willing to be flexible around pregnancy and recognise that by putting in a few reasonable adjustments such as more wfh, less travel or extra breaks they make that woman’s life slightly easier, potentially increase the time she can spend with her child and leave her with a positive impression of the organisation so she’s more likely to return?

I am always wondering why so many mnetters fail to see improvements to the treatment of pregnant women in the workplace as a positive thing and aren’t more supportive of it.

Unreasonable I'd say

Are you serious?! Train travel in the UK can be pants!

And it’s not a case of ‘working or not’, there is also ‘working with some allowances made’ and at 36 weeks I wouldn’t do it and I wouldn’t expect it of my staff if they didn’t want to.

There is no way I could have done that at 36 weeks. I had so much water retention by then I couldn't get my shoes on and had to wear flip flops everywhere.

Pregnancy is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Temporary and reasonable adjustments can be put in place, such as: not having to travel 4 hours away from the place of work for a meeting.

I would absolutely not go.
It's not just the travel time, it's being 4 hours away from your hospital, your husband and your family. You won't be able to carry your hospital bag with you 8 months pregnant with PGP, so you won't have anything with you if you go into labour. If you do go into labour it's a long journey home with a newborn.
It's somewhere unknown so its very difficult to know how much walking you will have to do just to get to and from the train. It's really not the same as doing your usual commute to work when you know the route.
And it's just a meeting! If you need to attend you can attend remotely. Even better they could email you the minutes. You will be on maternity leave very soon after and work won't matter at all.

Becouse… she might give birth at 36 weeks. Away from home…
Does that really need spelling out? 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Cherryon what's "local travel" about this situation?

It's not ideal but I'd just take my maternity notes and crack on, unless I genuinely didn't feel that it was possible. If you don't feel like you can physically do it I suppose you call in sick and automatically start mat leave? You have my sympathy those last few weeks can be so uncomfortable!

There's no way I could have physically sat on a train for 4 hours when 36 weeks pregnant, the pain would have been awful. Plus crowding, cancelled trains...no way.

It’s only 4 hours, it’s not the Eurostar to Amsterdam via Paris.

YANBU, I would try and get a note from the GP. It's not just the pregnancy it's the PGP as well!

My first came at 36+5. I'd been away due work a few days earlier.

With my second, we jointly decided I'd stay within a hour of home from 34 weeks.

Normally when I see "I'm pregnant can work ask me..." I mutter to myself in my head 'I worked on my feet in a front line NHS job until 37 weeks, pfft, young people today' but no, this is unfair. That's a lot to ask and as people have said rail travel is terrible at the moment, you can't rely on any of it. Plus luggage etc etc. Not sure how it works in the corporate world but I would try and swerve this any way possible.

In a bit of an 'in my day' comment though, we had to work for ever because mat leave was 16 weeks and you wanted the time with your baby (I was back when mine was 12 weeks which still makes me sad) but for you there's a lot more leave available, go off now, relax, potter and make time to look after yourself and freeze lovely food for after the baby is here. You won't regret it in the future.

OP, you should, by law, already have had an individual pregnancy risk assessment completed. You shouldn't even be having to request this.

So if this type of travel is regular for you, this should have been considered. If this is a one off request, the risk assessment requires review anyway.

Do your work know about the PGP OP? I mentioned it late in the day to my boss because I wanted to see if it meant I could get reserved parking for the days I was in the office. He freaked out because apparently it's classed a temporary disability caused by pregnancy and he was worried they'd be in trouble for not giving me adjustments.

I don't think any woman should be expected to travel 4 hours on the train at 36 weeks (thats London to Edinburgh!) But to expect you to do it with PGP is particularly unreasonable.

Yay! Imagine the fun of the train being stopped to be medically evacuated of you go into labour! Both of my dc born early and no idea was in labour with either till waters went!

My work wouldn't make me do it, my office is 50-60 minutes from me and they are happy for me to now WFH with 4 weeks to go. If I'd asked earlier, I've bit doubt they'd have said yes but even I felt that was taking the mickey a tad. So no, not reasonable, I'd not be comfy sat there for four hours, Id also be bloody shattered they other end making the meeting painful and somewhat pointless. If they are really insisting, I'd be thinking about having your midwife/doctor do you a note to say it's not suitable for you at this stage.

What are the hospitals like where you are going OP?

My SIL gave birth prematurely while she was staying up here with us, hundreds of miles from home, over Xmas! Luckily for her, our local hospitals have better facilities for premmies than her local hospital down south so all was good!

The Eurostar is quicker than 4 hours. 😂😂

I absolutely preferred working as long as possible before due date and having time off after my baby arrived.
There should be no pressure on OP or anyone to start maternity leave earlier than they want to solely to avoid a potentially negotiable meeting.

Well aren't you just fab working till your due date. Maybe OP doesn't want to risk early labour and bring stuck in a hospital hours away from her home and family 🙄

Maternity leave is for late pregnancy as well as having a baby but many mothers now see it as just for baby time and take the mick in their job right up to their due date. Going off sick loads in the run up at the end. These women aren’t making it easier or better for women in the long run.

As someone who worked in a physical job with no options to adjust my workload short of changing my job completely I took my maternity leave pretty early. I am not saying everyone should go off that early but if you are lucky enough to work a mostly office based job and you still expect loads of adjustments towards the end you really are taking the absolute mick. No wonder women are discriminated against.

Not sure whether they can make you or not. They may insist you start maternity leave early which is a bit unfair as it's really early to start m leave and then you would have to come back a month early at the end of m leave, thus, penalising you. Check.with HR.

If it was an hour, maybe 2, I’d understand. But 4 hours each way, potentially making it a 12+ hour working day with PGP at 36 weeks pregnant, nope. Ask for a risk assessment with H&S officer.

Theres also a lot of strikes coming up which cause very busy trains/extra disruption.