Boss being funny about antenatal appointments

[Kingsley25]

Just a rant really...

After finding out I was pregnant I ended up in hospital with a threatened miscarriage, so I had to tell my employer about the pregnancy so that I could go to my urgent scan appointment during a working day.

I have since had other appointments out of working hours including a scan, but I have another booked next week. It's smack bang in the middle of my shift and she has said for me to work in the morning as she is off (which is fine) but said to leave 1 hour before which isn't enough time for me to get to the hospital appointment in time, so I asked her if I could leave 1hr 30 mins before my appointment as 1hr isn't enough time.

She then told me I was asking for too much and that it isn't fair on my colleagues (which i understand, but i didn't make the appointment time) and everything i have seen relating to time off for appointments says you are allowed reasonable time for your appointment including travel time and waiting time. If I left with just 1hr to get there I would be rushing and wouldn't get there in time.

I have a feeling she isn't happy with the situation at all, but she is so difficult to talk to. Am I being silly? But I dont want to feel uncomfortable for another 8 months. Can she say I'm asking for too much? I was only asking for enough time to get to the hospital.

Thank you for reading.

But the boss IS letting her go just won’t agree to giving her 90 minutes for a 30 minute journey and offered an hour

Exactly

Yes but the OP said the appointment is 30 mins away, an hour would allow her to get to the hospital (depending on traffic) and turn round to come back.

No wonder the birth rate is dwindling with these shitty attitudes

The hour was to get to the appointment not to get there ,back and include appt

OP wants to leave work 90 minutes before appointment her boss said she can leave an hour before appointment

it does sound excessive and a bit pisstaker but if OP is adamant that it would take 90 minutes to get to the appt she need to back it up a few screen shots of google maps will giving an indication of how long it will take to get there

Hour?

90 mins to get there

The op is taking the piss leaving 90 mins early for a 30 minute journey

and then that means 90 mins back to office? Doubt it. Straight home. Day over

Email your boss and HR and request clarification re your protected antenatal appointments. Your boss is being very unreasonable.

Do you work full time or part time? If part time have all the appointments fallen in your working hours?
lots of places do have a policy to try and make appointments out of working hours and some employees do try to make appointments during working hours.

l have a hospital 20 mins drive away.

l have to leave 2 hours as it’s impossible to park.

Or l can go on public transport which involves a bus into city centre and one out . Takes about the same.

Her boss said she could leave an hour before the appointment but OP wants 90 minutes

Do you have HR?

Speak to them as line managers often don’t have a clue about maternity rights and legislation.

I know
i think taking the piss

My hospital is 20-45 minute drive away and it takes 10-45 minutes to find a parking space which could be on the other side of the hospital. I always leave 90 minutes if traveling by myself or get the bus which is an hour but prone to delays so I tend to get the bus one before if arrival time is close to my appointment time. They are every half an hour so means leaving 90 minutes before the appointment.
Third option is I get someone to drive me in which case I leave 45-50 minutes for an appointment as they can find somewhere to park during my appointment or pop to the adjacent supermarket for a bit of shopping and I meet them there after the appointment.

Getting to the hospital is often only half the battle!

You are entitled to your appointment time plus reasonable travel time, that’s protected by law. You are also where possible meant to book to minimise time out too - but with scans (as long as they are proper scans booked by your medical team) you won’t get much if any flexibility so they need to suck it up bluntly (you can’t expect an extra 30 minutes just to make it less rushed though) I worked in central London and my provider was zone 5 so had to deal with this.

they do not need to give you time off for private scans, tests or classes

Of course it doesn't mean 90 minutes back to the office, because she won't have to navigate the absolute shitshow that is hospital parking on the way back 🙄nowhere has she indicated she won't go back to work after her appointment, you're just making shit up to suit your invented narrative.

If she misses her appointment because she can't get parked then the boss will only have to let her have more time off for a rearranged appointment, plus she'll have wasted NHS time.

@Lucysstuff "what will a scan achieve"

Some of these questions are awful and intrusive and utterly devoid of empathy. Noone here is entitled to OPs medical history nor is it up for debate.

Will a scan DO anything - no, but it will show if a pregnancy is progressing or if it has turned into a miscarriage and if a d&c is needed. I was told that I needed to come in every time I had a bleed and I was monitored closely. Its healthcare op is entitled to. When you're hemorrhaging or bleeding regularly it's also very distressing and of course you naturally will want to know if you're still pregnant or not. Is this really so very difficult for people to understand?

With many hospitals parking is at least a 30 minute queue in itself so op is not being unreasonable.

I think there's a couple of issues one is definitely the travel time. It cam take ages to get parked and through to where ypu need to be but as a show of consideration to your boss and colleagues try to maybe compromise and ask to leave 75mins before your appt. You shouldn't have to do this but sometimes a little goes a long way to smoothing ruffled management feathers.

Secondly, you are entitlement to reasonable time off for antenatal appts I believe it's up to half a day. Where possible schedule appts for first thing or last appt times to minimise worl disruption. I know this isn't always possible but often you make the next aplt before leaving and they will check for you.

Having had several pregnancy losses and ectopics, I 100% know that you can have multiple scans and blood work done in a vwey short space of time. Once pregnancy is disclosed all appts including antenatal classes are covered as paid time time off. Even if no pregnancy results or is lost. After loss ot then would revert to sick leave or reasonable time off for medical appts depending on the work place.

Also, my hospital was 30 minutes drive away. But parking took minimum 40 minutes especially in days certain clinics were running. I chose that hospital for my maternity care because the travel and parking time was LOWER than the other nearby hospitals. It depends on where op lives and what hospital she's going to how much time it will take her to make it from door of work to door of hospital. Obviously on the return journey parking will not be an issue in the same way.

But that’s my point

a scan at 2/3 weeks if very unlikely to show anything at all

And its quite frankly absolutely none of your business.

It was a general question about the efficacy of scans at 2/3 weeks 🤷‍♀️

Parking at my hospital is a nightmare too you could easily wait 20 mins for space then have a 20 min walk to the scan. This would add 40 mins to a 30 min drive.

I find planning to go back to work after the appointment hit and miss as my experience is after a scan you could be waiting hours to see a dr!

It’s irrelevant and frankly none of the managers business how long it takes op to get to her appointment and how long the appointment will be. She is entitled BY LAW to have appointments for her pregnancy - NHS or Private!!! Most people who have pregnancy appointments take the whole day off work! They can be upsetting/tiring/whatever and that’s their business and their priority is their baby not the business

manager needs putting back in her box and telling by HR that she’s breaking the law carrying on as she is and op maybe needs to contact pregnant and screwed for advice on what to do. I’d write manager a formal email and copy HR in stating that she is pregnant and the law says xyz etc and by the manager saying yzx that is against what the law is and also causing stress to OP which is not what she needs

Unless you're a qualified medical practitioner its absolutely nothing to do with you.