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.

One of my jobs were so incredibly understanding, I had a very complicated pregnancy with an excess of 30 appts with my first and they never moaned about it ever and always covered for me and made it work. My job is patient based also so it was really difficult for them to work around it. Even if I had been kept waiting 3 hrs (which happened once) they didn’t make me feel bad about it but I did try and include my lunch hour if I was able to choose, just to make it easier for them. My next employer I was with after them was awful, told me I wouldn’t be paid for the time which was wrong and I told him so. I had a simpler pregnancy with just the standard appts the second time and that was horrible trying to go to just those few and I was constantly guilt tripped. I never went back after my maternity.

csn yoye oartnwr drive, drop yoy by tge dooe then oark whukst you check in etc? 1.5 hours does soundd excessive if its 30 mins away

They do need to give you time off for classes. Obviously most are held in the evenings, but from the ACAS website:
https://www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/time-off-for-pregnancy-appointments I would have thought that tests are also covered under "pregnancy health checks".

The antenatal appointments need to be on the advice of a doctor, nurse or midwife and can include:

scans
pregnancy health checks
relaxation classes, for example pregnancy yoga
parentcraft classes

There’s no dispute about them letting op go
it’s the fact the boss thinks OP can get there in an hour and OP thinks she needs 90 minutes to get to appointment

so OP needs to have a discussion with boss explaining why she needs to leaves 90 minutes before appointment what would be useful is some screenshots of google maps at the time of day she’s going as that would show live traffic and give a good idea of how long it would take to get there
then how long from parking to appointment
OP did say she wants to get there early as they might call her in early tbh as long as your there for appointment time there’s no need to go early

they are letting her go

So when I had a scan at 3 weeks, I wasn't able to see heartbeat etc but they were able to see a subchorionic hematoma which explained the bleeding I was having. Scans from 4 weeks on showed foetal pole development etc. But again, this isn't actually any of your business and is quite invasive questioning.

Google maps won’t help if the problem is unpredictable delays due to roadworks, problems parking at the hospital and time to get to the unit from the car park. The LM is also only allowing 50 minutes travel as the attendance time is ten minutes before the formal appointment time. Google maps will tell me that my neares early pregnancy unit is 20 minutes drive away. In practice its nearer to 40, more at peak times, its often 30 mins to find parking and pay due to inadequate facilities and the relevant unit is on the other side of a very large site. It could very easily take 80-90 minutes from front door to unit. I don’t think my local large hospital is unusual in any of this.

Employers who get arsey about antenatal appointments tend to be bad employers. Needing multiple appointments at seven weeks is an indicator of risk or a problem in the pregnancy, good employers are not going to be arsey in this situation for the sake of 30 mins. They know that supporting staff in this situation leads to longer term retention and loyalty. Bad employers will use to these appointments to manage out pregnant women.