Working from office concerns

[Wildlass10]

Hi there

I have been working from home since March. I work in a call centre role and when first lockdown was looming and working from home became part of the conversation, I told my work right away that I could not take calls at home as I had a young child and live in a small flat, I also live with my mother who’s my babysitter when I was at work, work accommodated this and gave me a new job which didn’t need calls to do which was fantastic as I still got lots off work done as well as looking after my small child.
My concern is I’m 16 weeks pregnant now and our work is returning to the office soon, Only a few people are coming back, and I’m on the list due to not fulfilling my full role. Work know I’m pregnant, Do they have the right to send me back to work or should they be acknowledging the fact I can still work from home and keep me working from home?

I’ve also been signed off work with HG for a few weeks now and thankfully I am on the better side and I’m only sick once or twice a day which can be managed, but knowing I’ll be taking public transport into work is making me feel sick lol

I’ll do whatever my work needs me to do as I do think they have been great with me, but just wondering how other pregnant ladies would react or do in this situation?
I can be a bit off a pushover lol

Thanks x

Its absolutely fine to return to a covid secure workplace when you are pregnant. You must obviously take personal responsibility for your own safety, wiping down your desk, frequently washing hands and keeping at least 2m apart.

You can of course raise any concerns that you may have upon your return to work, especially if you don't believe they do not have enough control measures in place.

You should ask for your workplace pregnancy risk assessment to be completed before/as you return and make sure covid is included on this. There are adjustments that can be made for more vulnerable people, like not having to carry out tasks which mean you may be moving around more and coming into contact with more people tha necessary, I.e. collecting the post or going to certain meetings.

Hope this helps 🙂

They don't have to let you work from home because you are pregnant. The RCOG guidelines are helpful to read. However, I'd speak to HR or your manager about your concerns and see if you can still work from home, they may say yes, as they need to do a risk assessment that shows they can keep you safe.

I think I’m most worried about being sick on my journey to work or in the office lol I do think the work will put in good measures to keep us safe, I just wasn’t too sure how I felt about it as it’s starting to loom closer x

Pregnancy has no bearing on your work situation really. You are not in a high risk group. If you are sick and signed off work that is different but otherwise all the normal covid safety rules apply to you and other non-pregnant colleagues to the same degree

Hi OP. Feel for you! I'm also pregnant and currently wfh but also not keen to return to office because of Covid. I think I've read that guidelines state that pregnant woman should avoid public transport because of being in a vulnerable group. Maybe look into that and that could help you perhaps negotiate on how often you work in the office?