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MNHQ

Miscarriage leave petition - sign by Friday to send a message to parliament!

42 replies

JuliaMumsnet · 01/12/2021 16:45

Hello

As many of you know miscarriage was the very first issue Mumsnet campaigned on. In our most recent survey two weeks ago we found that 96% of you supported the proposal for three days of paid leave for women and their partners who experience miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy before 24 weeks. They are not covered under bereavement leave.

Scottish MP Angela Crawley has put a bill forward in Parliament about this subject, which has its Second Reading on Friday 3rd December - in two days! She has started a petition so people can show their support, and so far she has nearly 25,000 signatures - wouldn’t it be amazing if we could give it a boost to show Parliament how much support her proposal has?

You can sign the petition here. And sign up to our campaigns newsletter here if you’d like to stay in the loop about our miscarriage care campaign or any other campaigns, and how you can lend your support.

OP posts:
hibbledibble · 01/12/2021 19:29

All the above are covered by sick leave. I am curious as to why a new type of leave is required?

TinyTickler · 01/12/2021 19:40

@hibbledibble I would imagine because sick leave can lead to disciplinary action and count against you in redundancy situations

ThatsMySantaHisBeardIsSoFluffy · 01/12/2021 19:40

@hibbledibble

All the above are covered by sick leave. I am curious as to why a new type of leave is required?
Because not everybody gets paid sick leave. If you work somewhere that doesn't pay OSP, you'll be paid nothing if you took 3 days off, as SSP has 3 waiting days before kicking in.
DeepaBeesKit · 01/12/2021 19:43

All the above are covered by sick leave. I am curious as to why a new type of leave is required?

Sick leave is not always paid. Also I dont think the father can currently take sick leave if their partner has a miscarriage.

Some employers are fabulous about mc but you would be amazed how many aren't, even when the woman requires hospitalization for D&C etc.

Babyghirl · 01/12/2021 19:50

Signed even though I work for the NHS and get paid and it's not put on my sick record but alot of people aren't that lucky to get sick pay. I have have 4 miscarriages and 1 cp and would love to see this coming in for people who don't get time off.

MrsPinkCock · 01/12/2021 19:54

[quote TinyTickler]@hibbledibble I would imagine because sick leave can lead to disciplinary action and count against you in redundancy situations[/quote]
But the absence is still pregnancy related and therefore already covered by the Equality Act. A woman is covered under current legislation for absences up to two weeks after a miscarriage and they couldn’t be used in a future redundancy or disciplinary situation.

I don’t personally think this kind of leave is necessary. The only difference is pay, as a partner can already take unpaid dependent leave to look after his partner, and frankly it sounds like it could be a nightmare to police!

SickAndTiredAgain · 01/12/2021 19:58

[quote TinyTickler]@hibbledibble I would imagine because sick leave can lead to disciplinary action and count against you in redundancy situations[/quote]
Time of for a medical reason following a miscarriage is classed as pregnancy related sickness so recorded separately. Or at least, it was by my employer when I had one, and it makes sense that it would be.

But the difference would be that this is proposing paid leave, and including the father.

abbs1 · 01/12/2021 19:59

Signed! This definitely needs approving. I had a miscarriage and took 2 days off. I explained to my manager why and was told it would be put as sick leave and I wouldnt get paid. If I wanted paying, I had to come in on a weekend when the office was closed to make up the time!

Babyghirl · 01/12/2021 20:30

@abbs1
That is awful of your manager with every loss I have had my sick has got longer and my manager (male) has been more than understanding, so sorry you where treated like this.

abbs1 · 01/12/2021 20:41

[quote Babyghirl]@abbs1
That is awful of your manager with every loss I have had my sick has got longer and my manager (male) has been more than understanding, so sorry you where treated like this.[/quote]
It was awful. Esp as my manager (female) said she'd suffered miscarriages as well. I'm guessing she worked through them all!

I then got pregnant again and was in hospital on a daily basis with hyperemesis gravidarum for months and my manager had no sympathy at all. Just kept messaging me, calling and texting when I was in hospital to ask when i was coming back even though I'd been signed off sick. I ended up resigning as I couldn't deal with the stress. I hope whoever they hired in my place was treated better.

I'm so glad you were treated well.

BanginChoons · 01/12/2021 21:08

It's bothering me that TFMR is not included on the proposed list of eligibility. The taboo within the taboo 😢

EmL98 · 01/12/2021 21:14

This petition is so important! I wish i was given time off after my miscarriages☹️

I had to take holiday for my EPU appointments and day of surgery. My manager didn't want me to take sick leave as it would go on my record and said to book holiday.
People need support and time off through a difficult time like this.

Attictroll · 01/12/2021 21:20

I would have hated telling people at work I just called in sick.the fact that mine were part of a long infertility journey I would hate to have be judged asp not committed to work as I was trying to conceive.

Time off is essential having to disclose should not be so I worry so much about this. Especially when so many women are employed by small to mid businesses without HR

SickAndTiredAgain · 01/12/2021 21:25

Time off is essential having to disclose should not be

But you can’t have time off for a specific reason without disclosing the specific reason to at least one person. How could you have a policy that allowed the time off but said disclosing wasn’t essential?
Like with pregnancy related sickness, you have to say that you’re pregnant.

Flittingaboutagain · 01/12/2021 21:37

I would have hated telling people at work I just called in sick.the fact that mine were part of a long infertility journey I would hate to have be judged asp not committed to work as I was trying to conceive.

^ same here but in the future, or in different circumstances I can imagine really preferring to have time off without it going on my sickness record.

pompomsgalore · 02/12/2021 06:54

@JuliaMumsnet maybe you could edit the title as the last day to sign is today to give this an important last push.

Tarne · 02/12/2021 08:18

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Tarne · 02/12/2021 08:23

academic.oup.com/humrep/article/19/7/1644/2356447

Ity the hormone disruption from obesity rather than obesity per se jut to clarify.

pompomsgalore · 02/12/2021 09:15

@Tarne you sound like you are victim blaming there. What an insensitive comment that does no good to anyone here.

Not2daySatan · 02/12/2021 11:35

With sick pay you don't get paid for the 1st 3 days off so it would bridge the gap and if needed I could then take sick leave

whymewhyme · 02/12/2021 12:01

I didn't get any pay at all . I was told to self certify for 4days then anything after that i would get stat sick pay. I was back in after 3 days as i couldn't afford not to get paid and losing 3 shifts was a huge financial loss for me.

RogueHair · 02/12/2021 12:42

I can see this from both sides. Not every woman can get the first 3 days paid before sick leave kicks in, so that would be helpful. However from an employers viewpoint, this will be a nightmare to police and costly too. Without meaning to sound insensitive, the statistic used is that 1 in 4 of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. There are many reasons why an employee would need time off and small businesses in particular wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for every scenario. I don’t think fathers should be paid by the way, unpaid leave should be offered instead.

mygenericusername · 02/12/2021 12:50

Ridiculous proposal. It’s not something I would support as a woman or an employer. There is a reason why discrimination exists and this kind of nonsense is the reason why. I had three miscarriages. I would never have expected my employer at the time to pay me anything outside of what I was entitled to as sick pay.

Firsttimemummyworries · 02/12/2021 12:53

10 day old baby, constantly trumping but writhing in pain with ?trapped wind - have tried MAM anti colic bottles with infacol and comfort milk on midwives advice - have today tried Dr Brown bottles - how long do I need to wait to see if things are working and has anyone any advice. Hate seeing my baby in pain Sad

MrsBison · 02/12/2021 13:23

At what stage would this leave be available and/or how do you prove miscarriage?

E.g. If prior to the 1st antinatal appointment, how will someone evidence that they were pregnant in the 1st place?

Or, if you are pregnant according to the test, but then have a period after 1 week / only 1 week late. Does this still count?

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