Weekend working when heavily pregnant

[Kitkat901]

Not sure if IABU about this.

Without being too outing I work in head office for a large retailer and the weekends running up to Christmas are obviously the busiest. There has always been a rota for staff in my department to work a few weekend hours sending reports and checking in on sales etc. This is on top of working longer hours during the week, mostly unofficially, but the role is salaried so I kind of see it as part of my job.

This year I will be 36 - 38 pregnant on the key weekend working periods, I don’t plan to start mat leave until 38 weeks which my management are pleased about as they don’t have cover. I’m already finding full time work a struggle especially as I have young DCs already. I’ve been rota’d in for weekend cover as usual on these weeks.

WIBU to say I’m not doing it? I’m so exhausted currently from working all week that I use the weekends to rest where I can. My contract says that extra work may be required sometimes but should they make an exception for this late stage of pregnancy?

I work a role where we need on call cover, as part of a rota. From 30 weeks onwards, I stopped being on weekends for the rota. And completely off the our of ours cover from 33 weeks (I went on mat leave at 36 weeks and baby born at 37 weeks). This was suggested as part of the regularly reviewed maternity risk assessment - as additional hours close to due date - can exacerbate complications/ lead to pre-term labour. You get precious little rest in the third trimester, OP is likely to need the weekend to recover/ make up rest.

Agree with this approach.

Thank you for this advice as far as I know there has not been a risk assessment done. My previous two babies were FGR and I know stress/lack of rest can be a factor in this which is making me more worried!

You should have a pregnancy risk assessment which is regularly reviewed during pregnancy. As part of this RA they should look at your working hours and ensure you are safe. I’d ask to book this in and then mention you are tired, and although you can manage your hours, your midwife has advised against extra overtime. They could still suggest early Mat leave. But as they have no cover, I doubt it.

could you do any of it from home? You could request hybrid working.

You should have a pregnancy risk assessment which is regularly reviewed during pregnancy. As part of this RA they should look at your working hours and ensure you are safe. I’d ask to book this in and then mention you are tired, and although you can manage your hours, your midwife has advised against extra overtime. They could still suggest early Mat leave. But as they have no cover, I doubt it.

could you do any of it from home? You could request hybrid working.

You should have a pregnancy risk assessment which is regularly reviewed during pregnancy. As part of this RA they should look at your working hours and ensure you are safe. I’d ask to book this in and then mention you are tired, and although you can manage your hours, your midwife has advised against extra overtime. They could still suggest early Mat leave. But as they have no cover, I doubt it.

could you do any of it from home? You could request hybrid working.

You should have a pregnancy risk assessment which is regularly reviewed during pregnancy. As part of this RA they should look at your working hours and ensure you are safe. I’d ask to book this in and then mention you are tired, and although you can manage your hours, your midwife has advised against extra overtime. They could still suggest early Mat leave. But as they have no cover, I doubt it.

could you do any of it from home? You could request hybrid working.

You should have a pregnancy risk assessment which is regularly reviewed during pregnancy. As part of this RA they should look at your working hours and ensure you are safe. I’d ask to book this in and then mention you are tired, and although you can manage your hours, your midwife has advised against extra overtime. They could still suggest early Mat leave. But as they have no cover, I doubt it.

could you do any of it from home? You could request hybrid working.

You should have a pregnancy risk assessment which is regularly reviewed during pregnancy. As part of this RA they should look at your working hours and ensure you are safe. I’d ask to book this in and then mention you are tired, and although you can manage your hours, your midwife has advised against extra overtime. They could still suggest early Mat leave. But as they have no cover, I doubt it.

could you do any of it from home? You could request hybrid working.

Sorry for multiple posts. Weird glitch I think.

Sorry l do sympathise but voted YABU, if you can’t manage it you’ll have to start your mat leave at 36 weeks instead

Yes I will be at home but still find it exhausting! I work remotely currently and am finding it tiring.

Tell them you’ve found out they should have done a risk assessment with you, ask for one to be completed and include the weekend working. That’s probably the best way of trying to not work weekends but not guaranteed.

Or as pp said if it would mean you have to start your maternity leave early, which they don’t want you to, they may be more willing to compromise.

Thanks for the advice on this thread - I asked for a risk assessment to be completed - on it I added the weekend working and extra hours and HR were not happy about it on top of my normal working week. They’ve put in some discussion with my line management in the next few days so I will see what the outcome is. As far as they’re concerned they want me working as long as possible not forced onto early mat leave.

I don't work in retail but my employer squeezed every single minute out of me when I was heavily pregnant. They actually increased my workload when i was 38 weeks as they were panicking and were just giving me more and more and more.

I was going to work until the end and I just couldn't. I had to start my mat leave abruptly which fucked over my colleagues but I genuinely had no choice. My bosses were trying to get me to work 12-14 hour days every single day.

I ended up using my first day of mat leave to do handovers as I had no time to do handovers while still working.

So be prepared for zero sympathy. I would just go on mat leave. For the next baby, I'm starting it at 36 weeks.