Pregnancy Related - Time Off Work

[HaySays]

I am currently 27 weeks pregnant with my first baby and have been in my job since March so got preg within 3 months of new company.

My typical absence has been something like 3 sick days over 6 yrs at my last company so I'm not a sickly or work shy person.

New company has been very unsupportive during pregnancy, incredibly cold directors and I have regretted my job change deeply. Since my pregnancy I have had 6 sick days off work - I had very bad morning sickness, a couple of severe headaches and just recently very painful hips and joints. Directors have never asked if I am okay on returning, or taken even the smallest amount of interest in my pregnancy so far.

6 days doesn't feel a lot in the grand scheme of things but I would love to know peoples average pregnancy related absences from work?

I have a general review and I know they will mention absence, any good things I can throw at them if they make an issue?

Whilst I wouldn't really expect them to show an interest in your pregnancy they absolutely cannot hold pregnancy related sickness against you and I don't even think they can hold it on record.

I was signed off at 21 weeks, my firm was very supportive, although they had no choice anyway!

I'm 22 weeks and haven't had any time off... yet... but it is just dependent on the person as pregnancy effects everyone differently. 6 days off in under a year on separate occasions is a lot of time off but taking into consideration your pregnant then it's not. Just depends how they look on it.

My midwife advised me to go to the Doctors and get a 2 week sick note as i was struggling with morning sickness so some people just expect time off when pregnant.. you obviously aren't one of them as 6 days isn't that much.

Just read up on your employment rights as a pregnant employee and don't be afraid to use them. You are entitled to be protected for pregnancy related illness.

I've been off since 19 weeks, only on maternity leave since 30 weeks (which was my choice). Before that I had maybe 3 or 4 days sickness.
And I've had a relatively straight forward pregnancy (was only off with low blood pressure which fluctuated between being able to potter and collapsing so maybe not the safest at work...).

They should be keeping pregnancy related illness separate to normal illness records so you shouldn't be penalised

I’m 25 weeks haven’t had any time off for sickness. But like others have said they can’t hold your pregnancy sickness against you. X

I would expect them to take some level of interest, not necessarily a personal one but definitely an interest from a health and safety point of view. We do risk assessments as soon as we are told someone is pregnant. Also in terms of time off for pregnancy related issues, that shouldn't usually count towards any absence management. If they are concerned, they should refer you to occupational health.

I'm 31 weeks. I've not had any time off for pregnancy related sickness. My pregnancy has been pretty straightforward. But I do have a lot of flexibility professionally in the work I do and work from home a lot (2-5 days each week anyway), so on particularly rough days, I just worked from home and took it a bit easy and no one was bothered.

I have had quite a bit of sick time off this past year though. Started new job last October and had maybe 5 sick days off here and there for various things and then I had a whole 3 weeks out of the office when I had a miscarriage in the spring. Only about a week of that was actual sick days, the rest was a mix of bank holidays (it was over Easter) and then I worked from home for about 10 days, so I'd say close to 10 days off in the first year. No one was remotely bothered and they were very supportive, even of my extended time away because of the mc.

Legally they cannot penalise you for pregnancy-related absence, so don't worry there. However I think you might be a little naive if you expect them to be happy or interested in your pregnancy. If you were only at the company for a couple of months before becoming pregnant, they were never going to be thrilled at your news! They'll have spent a lot of time and effort (and possibly money, if you joined them via a recruitment firm) recruiting you, and now they're going to have to do that all over again with your maternity cover.

Sorry to be blunt...

Absences due to pregnancy related illness have to be kept seperate from other general illness so that it can't be used against you for any reason.

I have had about 3 weeks off so far and have now been signed off by drs for foreseeable future (currently 25 weeks). My work aren't understanding in the slightest but honestly couldn't care less as baby and my health are whats important to me.

I honestly wouldn’t let it bother you about the directors not taking an interest. One of mine never acknowledged I was pregnant, even on my last day at 36+5. They probably were a bit pissed off at you only being in the job for 3 months before getting pregnant though. They’ve only just hired you and now have to hire a replacement.
They can’t discipline you for pregnancy related time off work.

As others have said, don't worry about it. My works policy is that pregnancy related sickness can't count against you in terms of absence management. I've not had any time off yet but that's just because I've not needed It, but every pregnancy is different.

As for not taking an interest - don't take it personally. No-one senior at my work really mentions it too much either which is fair enough - id find it a bit cringey if they constantly asked after the bump or tried to give me special treatment. However if you feel that reasonable adjustments need to be made for your pregnancy then do speak to someone as they may need to do a risk assessment. I'm a teacher so it's business as usual for me, but when I get into 3rd trimester I may look at getting support in my classes with a particularly volatile or violent student as i might be a bit less quick to react or move around!

My works policy is that pregnancy related sickness can't count against you in terms of absence management.

Can I just clarify that is the law^, not just your work's benevolence. It is illegal for pregnancy-related sickness to form part of an absence-monitoring procedure or be considered when redundancies are being made, etc.

To make you feel loads better OP, I'm only 13 weeks pregnant and I've been signed off work since week 6 due to hyperemesis, and I'm signed off until after Xmas now. I'm nowhere near well enough to return to work so anticipate it could potentially be a few more weeks after then, I just don't know, it depends on what my body does. And I'm in my probation as I only started this job in August! I'm lucky work have reacted really well and I haven't had any flak from anyone nor have I lost my job as they could easily have given me a week's notice for no reason as that's part of my probation terms. I'm in probation til February though so there's still time...trying not to worry about it.

I think everyone is different. If you have an 'easy' pregnancy then you may need no time off at all. If you have complications, like me, you may need extended periods of time off. There's no one-size-fits-all in terms of how many days off is 'acceptable'. You're either well enough to work, or you aren't.

If you were only at the company for a couple of months before becoming pregnant, they were never going to be thrilled at your news!

^This

Anyway back to your question I had 1 sick day. And that was with 4 months of horrendous morning sickness

I'm 30 weeks pregnant tomorrow and this month just gone (friday is pay day) is the first month I've managed where I've been in every shift!
I was signed off for 3 weeks and probably had an extra 3 weeks (when added together) off.
I had hyperemesis as I did with my first pregnancy. When you're sick, you're sick!

Last pregnancy I had 4 days total. I had morning sickness for 5 months but luckily was the worst first thing and during the evening.
This time I’ve not had any time off (but I’m only 15 weeks so things could change!)

I haven't had any sick days but have had a lot of time off for appointments as my pregnancy is high risk. I'm 23 weeks now. Everyone is different though so not much point comparing. Your company is not allowed to penalise you no matter how much time you take.

I'm 20 weeks and I've had 4.5 days off due to pregnancy. 2.5 of those were for morning sickness and 2 for a bad UTI. I had two other sick days prior to that... One for gastroenteritis and one for a miscarriage, so 6.5 days off the year altogether.

I was off for about 5 weeks in total with hyperemesis. I should have been off more but forced myself to go in. Didn't win any awards and made myself feel worse.

Didn’t have any time off with either pregnancy (except going in late one day when I was at the EPU because it looked like I was miscarrying - I didn’t.)

Also know someone who was signed off at 5 weeks with hyper grav thingy and didn’t ever go back. Poor women was still vomiting constantly in labour!

Most people are somewhere in between. In order to stop you rejecting the foetus I think your immune system is dialled down a bit in pregnancy - I definitely got more cold bugs - so you will catch things going around. Plus morning sickness can be awful. Plus damage to your ligaments.

I didn't have any sickness leave during my first pregnancy BUT I had gestational diabetes that required me to have appointments at the hospital every couple of weeks during work time. I always booked the first appointment of the day (8am) but I'd have to see three different people each time so getting in even for 11am on those days was a stretch. I've not had any time off yet at 14 weeks but I count myself lucky that I've felt so well. I certainly wouldn't hold it against someone else at work who was pregnant and needed such days.

I don't think there is a meaningful average. I never had any pregnancy symptoms so my only time off was for appointments (although there were a lot of them due to gestational diabetes). And then I have a colleague who had severe morning sickness and was signed off for 6 weeks. But they absolutely should not be penalising you for time off needed in pregnancy, it's against the law.

Thank you all! I know everyone is different but sometimes you just feel like everything you’re doing is picked apart and judged when I really shouldn’t worry! I haven’t expected a cuddle every time I come in to work but I have been told that ‘my pregnancy is the reason more men should be employed’ ‘I’m emotional and hormonal- because I complained about a male colleague raising his voice to me- (even my husband jokes I’m an emotional robot!) - Been told they don’t need to discuss my leaving dates with me so they have no idea when I’ll be taking Mat leave.

They’re not replacing me as 3 people have left in my short time here and they haven’t replaced any of those people... going from 7 to 3 people once I’ve left.

I appreciate all of your advice! And wish all those well who’ve been really poorly!

Those comments are discriminatory, not just not taking an interest... do you have an HR department to speak to? Or acas give good advice I think too. I hope you can get it sorted.

Can your midwife or GP confirm that the absences are all pregnancy related? Normal absence just counts as usual - ie if you have a stomach bug or a headache you can't automatically claim it's because you're pregnant. But if you can clearly state that the absences are pregnancy related then your work just need to deal with it and not be unpleasant to you!

MeadowHay - totally right and I knew that! Don't know why I put "My works policy".