Rights at work when pregnant

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Am 19 weeks with my first pregnancy and am so tired alllll the time!
I work part time in a very small family run business which doesn’t make much money at all, so I didn’t want to make a fuss anout the little things and had a very easy first 12 weeks (no sickness yay).

However now I’m really tired and work is a massive chore so I wanted to know what’s my rights are?

The company’s not made any changes for me (I’m the first pregnant person they’ve ever had) eg nowhere to lay down or rest so should I be requesting this or AIBU?

I've never heard of a lie down room lol! If only! Just have to power through.

Jeezo you sound like a bit of a snowflake. If you’re tired, get to bed earlier. You work part time in what sounds like a pretty cushy desk job, what on Earth are you expecting :/

Sounds like you can’t be arsed with work anyway so the good news in terms of your rights is you can start your mat leave in only 10 weeks if you wish.

Thanks @KnobJockey for the support yes definitely tempted some days to have a nap on the desk! Glad I don’t have a comfier chair or I would definitely end up asleep at some point 😅

Employers must provide suitable rest facilities. This has nothing to do with whether the employee is pregnant, it’s Workplace (Health, Safety and Wellbeing) Regulations, 1992 and applies to everyone. Suitable is not defined further, as each workforce will have different needs.

“Welfare Facilities” is are those that are necessary for the well-being of employees, such as washing, toilet, rest and changing facilities, and somewhere clean to eat and drink. during breaks. Unfortunately this example does not include somewhere to lie down, but it does not exclude it either.

I used to go and lie down in the first aid room, but I appreciate that smaller employees may not have one. I also spent a lot of my pregnancies off sick with hyperemisis. It’s worth you knowing that pregnancy-related sick leave must be recorded seperately to other sick leave and cannot be used against you.

Pregnancy risk assessment - Risk Assessment applies to all employees, regardless of their job or if they are pregnant. If there is a change in the risk (eg: an employee becomes more vulnerable through pregnancy) it is good practice to carry out a specific risk assessment for them, or to revise existing risk control procedures to account for the change in risk - but it needs to be accounted for somewhere!

I work in healthcare and “reasonable adjustments” for me meant not seeing infectious/violent patients, not doing heavy lifting and not doing night shifts after 28 weeks. I didn’t get any extra breaks or nap time!

I think I must’ve dreamed the idea of somewhere to lie down 🙈
We definitely don’t have anywhere to have breaks though these are all taken at my desk but as I’m allowed to eat and drink at my desk I don’t mind, it’s definitly not clean though we don’t even have a cleaner

Wow, some really harsh comments!

I’ve worked in offices with sofas.

forum.iosh.co.uk/posts/m712104-Need-to-lie-down-when-pregnant

I have seen it written somewhere that "your employer may be able to let you rest somewhere" but don't believe it's a legal obligation.

Sorry but like many others have said, if you're working part time and doing an office job, you've already got it quite easy. I'd think napping in that time would be asking / expecting too much.