Its a bugger, but yes they can decide that its less hassle to suspend you on full pay rather than keep you working in an enviroment that a rosk assement surgests is unhealthy for you and your unborn child. As you only have 3 wks lefton contract its nothard to see whythey have chosen that route over changeing your role to one less risky.
Not every theatre realted job is risky tho. BUT you might have to look outside your traditional stage manager role. And you will have to learn to liev with out PD's , TMA get outs and the like as many roles don;t include those.
Ok- my background. I'm a self employed lihting designer/ technician/ rigger. In the summer i used to do a lot of festival mains and out door concert LDs. I have had 2 pregnanceys, the 1st ened in a missed miscarriage , found at the 12 wk scan.
PG1 I was doing theatre work, LD/tech etc. told one or two key people at about 8wks, worked through morning sickness, flew to germany at 9 wks felt shit, did christmas show tech week at 10wks, scan at 12wks, baby dead ( proadly from 8 or 9 wks by size). had to have D&C. Gutted, depressed etc. Had not much work lined up for spring and now not pg either and only one or two people knew what had happened.
Pg2- found out in middle of VERY busy week on 3 festivals mid summer. Did my own RA. At 5 wks Told production company boss who's imediate reaction was " oh bugger I can;t use you for rest of summer must find another elcetrian". like you I saw my income fly out the door. However- he couldn't find someone else at short notice so we worked together to modify my roles in line with RA. Only driving pneumatic tryres forklifts, not handling deisel, getting a crew bod to work with me doing lift and shift, I did LOTS of test and inspect. I continued working thro the autum, doing only 3 days a week on a lower rate and with an extra crew bod for get ins/outs as any more and I was wiped out. Did lots of PAT testing, some tech admin, some duty tech for arts centre, turned down 2 tours. Did a christmas show as LX and sound op with an extra crew bod for tech week. less money coming in, but I could manage the work and wasn't risking my or babes health.
I stopped work at 7 months as I couldn;t even manage the lifting needed for PAT testing, bump was huge. Boy born healthy at term, I love him very much , I've cherrypicked projects since his arival, light 2 shows this winter , I'm PAT testing 2 mornings a week for the arts centre and have 2 outdoor gigs lined up in July. Work seems rather less important now and we have got used to living on less money.
So what am I trying to say... Its not the end of teh world that this company won't adapt the work for 3 weeks. its more important that you don't increase your risk of misscarriage. once you get beyond the 12wk mark you might have a few months when you feel pretty good and can work almost normally. BUT you need to be realistic about what roles you can and can't fill.
Consider box office, tech admin, hire company admin, sales, production management, DSM, LX board op. it'll all depend on where you are and what oputunities there are near you. If you can get hold of the RA the company did it'll give you an idea of what was concerning them, do your own as well , its good to have up your sleve when talking to another company. be warned trying to find relevent COSHH info on some substances ( commonly found in most props workshops) takes a lot of searching.
If your self employed or between contracts you can apply for Maternity alowence from about 6month pg. BUT it only lasts 6 months so consider which 6 months you will have no other income. For me i was worth taking MA 2 months before due date as Jan and Feb are bad months for techs round here.
Good luck, hope all goes well with Pg.