Ivf and employer

[strawberrysummer19]

Hi everyone

Hoping someone can shed some light

So we are looking into ivf and most likely new year as the next few months are full on so we've said new year we want to do a cycle.

I'm 38 and want to do it before my bday in May.

Anyway I'm new in into a role and my probation is 6months and I know if I fell now I wounding her maternity pay etc but as bad as it sounds I don't want to wait and book it around maternity pay or waiting for my probation

By Jan I would have been in my new job for 4 months so where do I stand with my employer ?

Ie when would I I tell them? We are TTC and no one knows at work and people wouldn't normally tell their employee straight away but as there's probably going to be lots appointments etc I'm guessing I would have to inform them ?

Any advice would be fab

And if it's in the wrong board pls tell me

X

If you are employed before falling pregnant then you would qualify for statutory maternity pay. Probation period has nothing to do with qualifying for maternity pay unless they have other rules for offering enhanced pay

I would also check your company's maternity policy and see how long you would have to work for them to qualify for maternity leave (the company I work for there is no minimum). Re appointments, I personally would try and plan them around work and only tell them when I was actually 3/4 months pregnant, but I guess it depends whether you would be able to get away for appointments and your relationship with them. (I am not sure how many appointments there are for IVF but could you book holidays or be general about a medical thing being investigated and not go into any details?).

Best of luck with your IVF!

Everyone qualifies for leave regardless of length of service

Yes everyone qualifies for statutory pay not not necessarily employer funded pay.

I’ve been going for infertility tests, I told my boss when I was going for my final test 2 months ago (HSG).

He was really understanding, and he and his wife had unexplained infertility. The reason I told my boss was because I’ve been off more than usual in the last year due to various tests, and also because I was in a fairly dark place that was starting to effect my performance (in my view).

It looks like we will be starting ivf early next year, unless all the stars align and there’s the mother of all miracles (male factor motility issue). Personally I’ll tell him when we do, but it’s only because we have a very god relationship.

Personally I wouldn’t ordinarily tell my employer, and I’d keep it to myself if on probation. I have been working at my company for nearly 3 years, so also past the threshold for unfair dismissal.

No, everyone (if classed as an employee) gets leave from the start of employment but not everyone gets statutory maternity pay as you need to qualify for that (have worked for 26 weeks by the time you are 25 weeks pregnant)

I'm getting confused - I thought you did have to work a certain time like pp said...so when you say check their maternity policy - there isn't one. There's no HR dept, it's a very small office and although the company turn over is big it's a small family run and when I started they said they don't have hr they outsource it.

So I guess I wouldn't what their policy is without asking would I ? It's not in my contract

Basically I'm an office manager that deals with all the admin - it's a very busy role that no one else does so it's just me so would imagine I wouldn't say anything ...I'm brand new and just don't think they would be very happy - falling pregnant or going through ivf

So what would my calculations be for mat pay if I did happen to fall before ivf

We are in the unexplained so guess it could happen naturally still

Xx

Legally i don't think you need to tell your employer til the 20th week. But you will likely need to take into account time off (either leave, sick leave or other time) for the following:

-Initial consult
-Pre IVF checks - usually a scan, blood tests and consultants appointment a week or so later

• Nurses appointment to show you how to use yours meds
• Blood tests usually every other day for about two weeks
• retrieval of eggs (would need an entire day off at least for this)
• Transfer of the eggs back
• blood tests post transfer (maybe three or four of these).

This is if you know everything wrong and don't have to have any further investigations.

Depending on how close you live to a clinic bar the retrieval and transfer you may be able to work around having pre or post work appointments but it's still a lot of time out without telling them why so early in a job

If you don't have any specific maternity policy you'd probably only be entitled to statutotory which you get as long as you have worked continuiously for 26 weeks prior to your due date and have given notice at least 15 weeks before your due date.

Ok thank you, wow so much time off. I haven't even made any calls regarding ivf just something I was going to do in the new year and we were thinking abroad which may be out now.

Lots to think about but it's definitely something we do want to do...I may end up telling them as without they will just think im sick a lot!

X

Leave and Pay are separate issues:

For Leave it doesn't matter how long you have worked there
For Pay you need to have worked for a specified amount of time and earn a certain amount to qualify

You need to inform them of your pregnancy by week 25. Maternity pay will depend on your actual wage between week 17 and 25 of pregnancy.

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/eligibility

Ok thanks makes sense

Well we will just crack on and see what's a
Happens and deal with it

Been off the pill 5 yrs and nothing
Actively trying 3 months and just had all investigations done so now only option is ivf

Xx

Love the suggestion from pp that you can plan ivf appointments around work! I’ve just been through it and it is a lot. I told my employer before we started the round and they were really understanding, though I work for a big company with lots of solid HR policies. I was given 5 full days to take when I needed, I didn’t need them all in the end, but that was mainly due to being able to wfh at the moment and our clinic is only a half hour drive away. Once you start you can’t really predict when you’ll be called in for scans, it’s all dependent on what your body is doing and how it’s reacting to the medications. It needs to be reactive because some of the side effects (OHSS for e.g.) can be very serious indeed. I would definitely recommend you take two days off for egg collection. I was really quite uncomfortable the next day, and you’ll need to be off for at least a day for any transfers. It’s a pretty big thing to take on, there are some brilliant threads on here which are really useful and the BFN podcast is brilliant too if you want to understand more about the process.

My big recommendation would be to choose a clinic that is close to you, the last thing you want when you’re heading for egg collection is to be worried about traffic.

Good luck. I’ve been trying for 5 years too and currently 8 weeks pregnant through FET. It’s a rollercoaster, but you do what you have to

You will have to check the policy however I know most company's do not give paid time off for IVF. This may need to be unpaid or holiday leave. In regards to maternity leave/pay, everyone qualifies for maternity leave however you may not qualify for company maternity pay. To get SSP i believe you need to have worked 26 weeks out of 12 months before going on leave? So you should qualify for that.

You don’t have to tell your employer that you are having IVF if you don’t feel comfortable. You can just tell them you have some hospital appointments coming up and make up the hours, or take some flexitime/annual leave to cover them.

WRT maternity leave, there is statutory maternity pay (SMP) which all employers must offer to qualifying employees, and enhanced maternity pay which is a “top up” at the employer’s discretion if they pay- not all employers do. And if they do the employee may have to have worked for a minimum period to qualify.

If you conceived 4 months into your new job you would qualify for SMP. You probably wouldn’t tell your employer until you were 12 weeks or later so it would probably fall after your probation period of 6 months. Any enhanced maternity pay depends on if your employer offers it. Mine didn’t, so I only qualified for SMP.

@snarkweek I didn't say you could get all appointments outside of work times. I just said that if you live close to the hospital you may be able to get some appointments before or after work but still need significant time off

I would advise against telling them.

While its not legal for them to terminate your contract because you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. That doesnt stop them from doing so and using a different excuse to terminate your employment at the end of your probation. Because then it falls on you to prove that was the real reason and is stress you dont want.

Have you had any preliminary testing done? Like having an internal ultrasound to look at your ovaries, HyCoSy for your fallopian tubes, sperm tests for him, etc.?? If not, you can get those done earlier. spaced out if you want to. See if there is anything going on to affect things and look into what IVF would entail both here or if you went abroad. I believe some places abroad will allow some stuff to be done locally and the procedure there.

That can inform kind of how many appointments you think you will need. And then you can make decisions closer to when you want to be off. You could use leave for some days or be out sick.

Another thing to consider is that if you do inform them that you might get lots of well meaning questions and if things dont go well that can be hard to handle.

I understand that Bells but that hasn’t been my experience at all. The first couple of baseline scans, sure you may be able to work those around office hours, but once things start ramping up and the process really gets going, it’s pretty full on and timings start to become really important. Also we’re still in a pandemic, my appointments were scheduled very carefully to avoid patients meeting each other in waiting areas etc. I decided to tell certain people I work with directly, because I didn’t want them to start speculating about what terrible disease I might have that meant I was having to go for hospital appointments every other day! I acknowledge though that I’ve been in my job for a lot longer than the OP and so was much more secure.