Telling Employer about Pregnancy

[Yutes]

Hi all.

Very newly pregnant (about 6 weeks).
I have gotten some antenatal appointments through, and these involve time off work.

I need to show and copy each of my appointment letters to my manager (nhs worker). I have previously been through assisted conception and redacted some of these in the past.
It will be difficult to redact some of my midwife appointments, so I suppose my question then is - when should I tell my employer I am pregnant?
They will need to do a risk assessment for me as well, due to the area I work in.

I didn't tell my employer until after 13 week scan but if your pregnancy requires numerous visits before this time I would just tell them now?

You can ask management to keep it private until you are ready to tell colleagues etc.

I’ve only got an appointment with the midwife, then my 12 week scan booked so far. The 12 week scan takes place during annual leave anyway, so that’s fine.
It’s really just this first appointment, so I’m not sure how/if I can redact the appointment letter.
They will want to see it. I was just hoping to keep it quiet for a few more weeks.

Is it possible to take AL for half a day to go to the appointment?

I'm not sure what you mean by redact -- do you mean you will need to hand over all of your records at once and won't be able to remove just one appointment letter? If so could you talk to your midwife and see if they can do it their end?

I took AL for my booking appt and first scan then copied over all the rest of the dates.

@Whatshouldicallme

Is it possible to take AL for half a day to go to the appointment?

I'm not sure what you mean by redact -- do you mean you will need to hand over all of your records at once and won't be able to remove just one appointment letter? If so could you talk to your midwife and see if they can do it their end?

I took AL for my booking appt and first scan then copied over all the rest of the dates.

We need to scan and email all and any appointment letters for it to go in our personnel file. By redact - I mean I black out the name of the clinic. But this time I would also need to black out the consultant name, as it clearly says midwife.

We don’t need to hand over medical notes or anything like that to management, and I wouldn’t agree to that, as that is an infringement of my rights.

It’s just for appointments. I just don’t want to need to tell my line manager yet. But I’ve already had to make them aware of my appointment.
There’s no way I could take annual leave for this appointment. It’s now too short notice for my nhs bosses.

I’m just wondering if there’s a way around spilling the beans, even though it says all that on my appointment letter, that I need to show as proof of appointment to allow me to go.

@Yutes I used annual leave for my booking appointment and 12 week scan to avoid sharing the news with my employer. Both appointments were early in the day anyway so I could make the most of the rest of the day (e.g. a nice lunch out) so didn't feel like a wasted holiday. Could you maybe do that too?

@Yutes oh if you can't take annual leave then it's either tell them about the appointment or call in sick and hope you're not caught I think

@Yutes

Wow, I'm sorry you need to do that -- kind of ridiculous to be honest that they won't just take your word for it! I guess you could contact HR and have a discussion with them to see if your line manager is actually allowed to require you provide appointment letters but I don't really see a way out if telling them if that's what's required.

I’m wondering if I can just not scan my appointment letter in this time?
I might just redact as much as necessary at the moment.

I don’t suppose I need to share anything with my employer that I don’t want to at the moment? Obviously I’ll tell them eventually. I just want to have my first appointment in peace

Book a dentist appointment for the same time and day, get the letter then cancel it?!
I work for the nhs too but never have had to show a letter for an appointment and just say I’ve got an appointment… will be late, won’t be here.. or I swap days with a colleague or use leave.
Do you have a colleague who would swap days with you?

Hi. Nhs here too. I decided to tell my boss at 6 weeks. They need to do your risk assessment. Especially if you are patient facing, also in covid times there's a covid risk assessment. Mine involves x-rays & patient handling so especially risky. So I needed him to know. They are bound by confidentiality and should not disclose to anyone without your permission.
My boss is totally fine with redacted appointments too. But in the case if pregnancy I just felt safer at work knowing there was a bit of protection.
Hope youre OK in your work.

@CNizzle

Hi. Nhs here too. I decided to tell my boss at 6 weeks. They need to do your risk assessment. Especially if you are patient facing, also in covid times there's a covid risk assessment. Mine involves x-rays & patient handling so especially risky. So I needed him to know. They are bound by confidentiality and should not disclose to anyone without your permission. My boss is totally fine with redacted appointments too. But in the case if pregnancy I just felt safer at work knowing there was a bit of protection. Hope youre OK in your work.

Thanks. Yes, I am patient facing and deal with X-rays too. My boss is quite full on, so I’m a little scared about telling her (I’m scared she’s going to want mat leave dates, she can be quite overwhelming).

I think I just need to decide whether to show the letter redacted or not redacted.

Surely though, if you're dealing with x-rays and patients on a face to face basis, they need to know ASAP to do a risk assessment. As scary as your manager is, it's in YOUR best interests for her to know the situation so that you're protected and not put at unnecessary risk.

By telling her, you wouldn't need to use your annual leave for appointments. And you can't even know your DD yet as you haven't had your dating scan.

That’s completely true @Mamamamasaurus
Thank you.

I'm a radiographer & had to tell my boss & colleagues the day I found out as it had a huge impact on my job. Not what I would've chosen to do but mine & baby's safety came first.

Told my manager at 7 weeks after my viability scan as knew i'd need time off for appointments. Not officially telling work probably until 20 weeks

I haven’t told her yet. But as long as I tell her soon-ish, it should be ok. I got a bit worried because all my nausea suddenly disappeared.

I’ll probably speak to her next week. But I know she’ll want to know when I’m taking Mat leave and when I’m due, which I won’t know for sure until my 12 week scan. It’s just overwhelming.