Rights??

[veget8ed]

I am a full time nurse and have returned to work yesterday following 7 months of maternity leave. I have found out that I have to be on call again from the last week in January, problem is, that this will involve going in to work usually through the night after having worked in the day as well. I am still breastfeeding and my DD won't sleep through the night and gets me up at least twice for feeds and usually ends up co-sleeping, on top of this will be work related phone calls in the night. Do I have any right to be excused from doing on call, or do I have to go along with it?

Last time I looked into this, which was a while ago, your employer is not permitted to insist on work that prevents you breastfeeding (or expressing I suppose). This isn't quite your situation, and in any case I'm not sure of current legislation.

Best thing is to speak to your union/professional organisation, and HR, and find out.

If things are not as you wish, then perhaps your union would support you in challenging them?

Hope it works out.