Should I go sick?

[MrsTosh87]

I'm 30 wks ftm and I work in retail. I've had risk assessments done and have been filed by my work. However they keep sending me on my breaks either too early or too late. I've had to leave my shifts due to dizziness and weakness and when I've had return to work meetings they have asked what they could do to help this. After asking for my breaks to be scheduled midway through my shift, not after an hour or in the last 2 hrs. (I typically do 6 hr shifts now I'm in third tri). I was told this wasn't possible due to staffing. And breaks are done during the best times for the store. I know this sounds reasonable to them. However, there are more than enough people to cover me to have a break midway through my shift. Yet I'm always forced to go early or late. I said if that's the case then could I have some snacks on me to tide me over until I get to go for my break or have an energy dip from going too early. And I was told that's not a good look for the customer to see. If I need the loo on shift I have to wait for a colleague to relieve me (we have closing signs available but mine are always suspiciously missing). Which can sometimes be fine, if the colleagues are free and not busy elsewhere in the shop. It's causing me a lot of stress panicking about fainting or peeing myself where I stand. Yet all I hear is that my requests are not good for the store. This isn't including the rude and soul destroying customers I have to deal with. I think there hasn't been a shift where I haven't been told " you don't look too happy". I'm not a hostile person, I greet with a smile and if they don't want to talk whilst I put their shopping through, I'm focusing on scanning things through (our till points are old and often double scan at random), then finish up with a smile and have a nice Christmas. Don't even get me started on the shouting I get for there not being enough tills open/being forced through self checkout/ queues are too long. I'm absolutely exhausted and really don't want my baby to suffer. My mum has suggested I go to the Dr and see if I can get signed off until my maternity leave. Am I being unreasonable in my requests? I feel like im doing everything I can to continue with my work until my maternity leave and it feels like the company is against me. Should I go to the Dr?

This is illegal & if you have a team that is an intermediary between company & staff then reach out to them. I had major problems with management during first trimester as I was signed off due to HG. The intermediary team were there to clarify details & support where needed as management were lying about policies & procedure. Some things were still not altered but I decided to take early mat leave from there anyway as I was showing signs of SPD / pelvic girdle pain and know it will get worse if I’m on my feet for longer work hours like first pregnancy. Thankfully I’m a freelancer and this is a part time role so I can keep freelancing until late as possible & return as early as possible after baby.

I’m 29 weeks as of today you can take mat leave 11 weeks before due date.

Sounds like they aren’t making any reasonable accommodations for you, which is very illegal.

i’d suggest that having a heavily pregnant person passing out is a much worse look than allowing snacks on the shop floor 🙄

Thanks for the replies. There is no intermediary team that can help me with this. I think I'll be contacting the drs and explaining my situation to them regardless. I'm going to take the week off to try and minimise stress and anxiety and come up with someway to resolve this.

So sorry your work are being like this, they're being totally unreasonable. I'm not sure on the legalities of it, is there a HR department you can speak to?
One thing to consider thinking about getting signed off sick is that might trigger your maternity leave to start.. for my work anyway if I was signed off sick that would just be the start date of my maternity leave.

Fuck being told when you’re allowed to go for a pee at 30 weeks pregnant. WTF! They should be accommodating you, I can’t believe they wouldn’t let you have snacks on you on the shop floor just in case your feeling faint. Honestly just get signed off, your maternity leave will trigger early at 36 weeks though. So if financially that will be hard for you it might be worth calling a meeting with your management and say you’re not happy and need these reasonable adjustments met. Not letting you have snacks or go for a pee is disgusting.

Thanks for the replies. I have already planned my maternity leave to start at 36 weeks anyway, as far as I know they can't force it to start before that. HR is handled by an outside company and are of little help. I'm waiting for the Drs to ring me back today (although they shut at half 6) so may have to pop down there myself, tomorrow. I cant wait for it to be sorted, sleep has been difficult (only got 4 hrs last night), and havent been able to nap from the stress of it all. Hopefully I can relax once it's sorted.