Been signed as fit for work with lots of amendments inc reduced hours - can they cut my pay? Long and waffly, sorry.

[KirstyJC]

Hi

I have never been in this situation before so am a bit confused! I am 25 weeks pregnant (3rd one) and I am having terrible problems with vulval varicosa (yes that is as horrible as it sounds!) and have seen the midwife, then occupational health nurse, and just now the GP.

Basically the midwife and OH nurse were angling for me to be signed off as unfit for work, but as I have 2 months to go until maternity leave starts I am keen to try and keep doing something, no matter how reduced - the thought of all that daytime TV is too horrendous to contemplate except as a last resort.

I work full time as an OT in an acute hospital, and already have been sitting down and staying off my feet as much as possible whilst continuing with clinical work. Driving and sitting are OK, but standing and walking have gone from uncomfortable to painful within the last week alone. Oh, and I have SPD as well which isn't helping!

The GP was happy to sign me off for the rest of the pregnancy as not fit for work, but since I am keen to try and do something he has signed me as may be fit for work if an absolute minimum of standing or walking is possible. He also ticked the boxes saying amended duties, altered hours and workplace adaptations. I understand that if all these are not possible then I will be unfit for work anyway and need to stay home.

What I am unsure about is that if they agree to reduced hours, can they cut my pay? When I asked about an afternoon off a week last pregnancy with fatigue I was told I would need to take it unpaid or as annual leave. I feel that if I am too physically unwell to work then the sick policy should come into force but I am not sure.

If that's the case then I need to hope that they can't amend my work as I can't afford to take a drop in pay - and perhaps I should have just taken the sicknote!

If anyone has experienced similar I would be interested to hear how your workplace handled it.

Thanks

I was in a very similar situation at the beginning of my pregnancy. I had really bad morning sickness and caught a bad stomach flu going around as well which nearly put my in the hospital. I was signed off worked for a month and I got SSP and 2 weeks of company sick pay. When I came back to work I had to reduce my hours and the kind of tasks I would have to perform. Every company should have a maternity benefits pack to give a woman who is pregnant, this will point out all of your benefits while pregnant and while on maternity leave. Such as, If my size meant that I could not perform certain tasks or I couldn't work in the type of atmosphere my general job required they would have to find me a suitable alternative with no pay cuts. If this couldn't be provided then I would be off with pay until either an alternative was found or I went on maternity leave.

I have recently been signed off work for the last 2 weeks before my maternity leave starts and I've agreed that with my boss instead of being through as sick and only getting SSP as my company sick pay has run out I would take any holiday hours I had left over then the rest I would take as SSP.

You will only get paid for the hours that you physically work so even though the doctor has said you need reduced hours there's nothing you can do about pay unfortunately. But as I said ask your line manager about maternity benefits and exactly what your entitled to in any event that may occur in your pregnancy.

Hope this has been helpful.

I work as a nurse in the NHS and asked our HR dept about this recently. I was having a lot of back problems and asked them about the pay implications of reduced hours. Their advice was that if it has been recommended by Occ health/GP it does not affect your pay. If you request reduced hours yourself then you would have to take a pay cut. I would speak to HR about it.

I hope that helps x

Thanks guys, I am calling Occy Health this morning before meeting my manager. The OH nurse left a message to the HR manager yesterday to ask about this, so hopefully I will have an answer by later today. As I am an NHS employee I would get full pay for the whole 2 months if off sick fully, so I hope I haven't made things more difficult by trying to work! anne74 your post was encouraging - I have been up all night worrying!

Kirsty tbh I don't know much about the new sick notes so can't really offer the best advice, please try reposting this in the employment issues section. There are some fantastic HR bods there who will store you right.

It's fine, thanks - my manager is very happy to follow the OH advice and I am working office duties only for the mornings to see how I get on. On full pay thankfully! If it doesn't work out then I'll be off sick until Mat Leave kicks in during Feb.

Phew!