Sick Leave Whilst Pregnant

[rosalux]

I seem to recall reference on some threads that time off due to pregnancy related illness should not be recorded by work as 'sickness' per se and should not appear on your work record. Is this correct? If so, can anyone point me to the relevant provision/guidance, as my work is insisting that anytime off must be recorded as sickness absence or otherwise taken as holiday. Needless to say, I work for a law firm!

Thanks in advance

Try looking on the direct.gov.uk website.

It can still be recorded as sick but it's what tey do with it is the issue. If they used sickness days which were maternity related to make decisions in salary. Reviews or redundancy u may be being discriminated against. If they insist on it being sick make sure any return to work interview paperwork is clear that it's linked to your pregnancy.

I was sick throughout my first pregnancy due to hyperemesis. I was never disciplined for this absence but it was still recorded in the same way as any other sick absence. I work for a well known high street department store.

I had regular (scribed) meetings with my manager. These notes are attached to my absence record but I was never penalised for it. (They did try to encourage me back to work with suggested adjustments to my role but, as I work in a customer facing retail environment, and was very ill, they had no real option for me).

You should NOT be asked/forced to take holiday or time owing or unpaid leave. You are sick.

I think sick leave is sick leave and is recorded as such. Plus if you have regular/long sickness absence from weeks 29 onwards they can force you to start your maternity leave early.

They can only make you start maternity leave if you are off with pregnancy related sickness from 34 weeks, not 29.

ooops, should say 36 weeks!

My boss tried to bully me upon my return from pregnancy related sick leave into a "discussion about my increased absences" I told her flat out to back off and read the company's maternity policy where it is clearly stated that pregnancy related sickness IS NOT counted in your general sick leave entitlement - she was very unpleasant at the meeting and said "she'll see about that etc" but I think HR had a word with her as she came back the next day, apologized and has been trying to be extra nice to me ever since :)
Sorry for the long essay but I think you need to check you maternity policy and talk to HR about this.

At my company we have an absence (sickness) policy which gives you a score for sickness absence over the past year. The score, when high, can lead to disciplinary measures.
I had some time off following a MC and my boss just followed the procedure - I asked him if that was right and HR came back on my side: While pregnancy related sickness is still recorded as sickness, they can't count it towards the score.
I guess it can be recorded as sickness, but they can't use it to penalize you (disciplinary, salary, promotions and so on).

Hi, yes just to echo all of the above, it is still recorded as sickness, but cannot be used against you, however if you have alot of time off the company can make you start your maternity early.

My company has a policy where you get given points every time you are off sick, each 4 days or more, you go up a level which leads to disciplin (spelt wrong i know but i cant be bothered to edit lol)

I have had 2 weeks off whilst pregnant and my work have told me that it does not count towrds the level system x

What others have said is correct - it can still be counted as sickness for the purposes of record keeping and pay. However, it cannot be counted against you for redundancy scoring, discipline, etc.

RockChick is right, they can only make you start maternity leave if you're off for a pregnancy related reason after 36 weeks. Basically, when many people would struggle to be at work (i.e. the last four weeks before EDD), you're not allowed to play the system by taking sick leave instead of starting your maternity leave. It's nothing more extreme than that.