Telling work early due to corona

[LuckyFlash]

Hi all,

I’m interested to know whether people have been telling work that they are pregnant earlier than the usual 12 weeks due to coronavirus?

I’m currently on furlough as work in my industry has dried up (events) but am pretty confident that all employees will return once this is over as we have lots of work banked for when we can all go outside again (or at least I hope so as I’m the main earner by quite a lot)

Currently the government guidance is to stay indoors for 12 weeks if you’re pregnant.

Currently not an issue but wondering what will happen for those who are recently pregnant and haven’t yet told work if we are told we can return to work before you’ve had your 12w scan?

Might seem a bit early to be worrying as we’re not likely to be out of lockdown anytime soon but I would hate to have to tell work earlier than I’m comfortable with. Wondering what others have done

Key worker here with extra vulnerabilities but was still working until I found out. Had to tell work immediately and they've helped me to work from home. It wouldnt have been my choice to tell them that early, even family didnt know

I work from home now due to this whole situation. I told my manager 2 weeks ago when I was 5 weeks pregnant. I just thought I will be honest and tell them so they know I will have to stay at home for 12 weeks.

I’m 8 weeks pregnant and also on furlough leave . I’m not telling work until after my 12 week scan. If I return to work after my 12 week scan, which is likely , I’ll wait until then to tell them . No point in telling them any earlier , especially as I’m not even there .

I’m not sure how I feel about the government guidelines about all pregnant women to stay indoors for 12 weeks . There is absolutely no evidence that pregnant women are at higher risk however I would rather be safe than sorry .

At the moment (I believe ) only key workers in their third trimester are asking to self isolate . And like you said , anyone on furlough leave is self isolating anyway . My husband is doing all the grocery shopping so I literally have no contact with people.

I doubt I’ll be returning to work before June anyway and by then who knows what the new guidelines will be .

@Pinecone88 I’m curious , what did your work say when you told them you needed to self isolate for 12 weeks ? I have a manager role and I can’t see it going down well 😔 plus my employer is a bit of an ass .

I just wonder what my legal rights are .

I also told them at 6 weeks. I was being asked to go on site, I work in project management for construction, and I wasn't happy with that obviously. Not ideal as I definitely would have waited until after 12 weeks.

But it will excuse me from on site working so no choice really.

I told my boss 24 hours after my positive pregnancy test. Obviously would never normally do that, but I’m a key worker and my role required lots of visiting families in their own homes, so I needed to let my manager know straight away. I’m working from home for the foreseeable.

@MichelleOR84 My manager was understanding, because it's the advice from government isn't it.
On a day when we were still in the office and it was announced that we would be working from home another one of my managers told me to go home right away( I was on IVF 2 week wait and she knew it).

My role includes dealing with a lot of people on day to day basis so I am glad they were understanding.

I understand that not everyone has sensible managers though, so just back yourself up with facts and government guidelines when you decide to tell them 🙂

@Pinecone88

Thanks !!! Good luck with your pregnancy!!

@MichelleOR84 Thanks and you too! 🙂

I’m waiting to see how it all pans out - I work for social services (not a social worker but I do frontline contact for families). At the moment we are allowed to work from home but once there’s a sniff of us going back to frontline then I will tell them.

If I was still frontline then I definitely would have told them this week (I am 4+6).