signed off sick in first trimester rights

[angels1]

A question for you all.

I am only 4 weeks pg but have been getting various symptoms for a week. I was pg last year and suffered greatly with sickness and everything else under the sun! Barely left the house in a month it was so bad. Sadly had a mc.

Am delighted to be pg again, but find those same terrirle symptoms cropping up again. Went to Doc this morning to discuss my concern re: pg and working, as I work with food and cooking (and couldn't even watch come dine with me before - just the thought of food!). I only have 3 weeks until I'm on summer break so wasn't sure whether to try to muddle through or take med this time or what.

She was very sympathetic and in my confusion as to not knowing what to do, she told me she was signing me off until my summer break. She said it would be the best thing and implied that the reduction of stress alone would help (or at least not hinder) the pg and its symptoms. She knew I'd had a mc and said that this pg must be all the more precious...she was very sweet.

So I now feel utterly pathetic and that I should be coping and that I should at least try to work harder.

But my questions are:

-I need to tell work I'm not coming in for 3 weeks today, and will send an email as it's the easiest way to get through to the people that need to know, but shoudl I tell them why I'm signed off ? (cert says hypermesis which is servere morning sickness, but is a bit illegible in docs handwriting)

-does anyone know if I'll get paid for the 3 weeks? (where I work I know you get 1 weeks as normal with a self cert, but have never bene off for longer to know)

-does the time off get taken from my maternity time later on? (someone told me if I had time off in pg for a period of time, it automatically came off your maternity leave, although i thought this was only the case in the 3rd trimester). I can cope if it does, but it would be nice to know.

Any thoughts on this would be very gratefully received.

a
x

1. Yes, tell them you are pg, that it is confidential, and that you are signed off with pg related sickness. You have special treatment so to speak when pg and those rights as a pregnant women only kick in when you have informed your employer.

1. If you are entitled to company sick pay, then this will mean you are entitled to it for any sickness, including pregnancy related. If you do not get company sick pay, only SSP, then I beleive you will only get SSP for the time off. But check this as it might not be correct.

1. Your time off sick is not maternity leave, it is sickness leave. It will not be deducted from your maternity leave. It will also not be included in your yearly sick record as pregnancy related sickness can not be counted towards it. So if you have had say 2 days off work sick due to tummy bug and 4 months off sick due to HG then your sickness record will only state 2 days sickness absence. You cannot be disciplined for the number of pregnancy related sick days you have, but your employers do have the right to refer to OH if it is extensive leave, this may well be beneficial to you. However, once you have reached 4 weeks prior to your EDD, your maternity leave will kick in if you take pregnancy related sick leave. Any time before this and it is sickness, not maternity leave.

I hope that makes sense. It is definitely worth telling your employer, even if it if only HR who know, as you are then able to ensure your needs are met, you might need reduced hours for a while until the HG eases (if it ever does), or to ensure you take more breaks, or do lighter work. Even without the HG, you need a risk assessment to ensure you are not doing things you should not be doing.

Good luck, and I hope the sickness eases. I had HG for the whole of my pregnancy and struggled into work for the first 12 weeks, then after that my attendance was sporadic as I just could not get out of bed a lot of the time so you have my sympathies. Look after yourself and do what your doc says.

Woodlandfairy is right with everything. I am also suffering from hyperemesis and have had time off for this in my first second and now third trimester. Like you I tried to carry on and it got worse until I listened to some very sensible mumsnetters and stayed at home.
Please take your doctors advice, use the time to relax.
Please drink lots, it may come back up but there's a chance it won't and you will avoid dehydration.
Take care. And congratulations on your pregnancy.x

Thankyou woodland fairy, that helps so much. I work in a small school, so no real HR dept. I only work part time anyway and now I've been signed off won't be back until September, so am praying that it's mostly gone by then (must stay hopeful!).

thanks storminabuttercup - I'm still waiting for it to get really bad....

angels the only person then who needs to know is your direct line manager then, no-one else needs to know anything.

And you do not only work part time! Do not minimise your position in your workplace!

I agree with storminateacup you need to drink plenty, little and often. My gp said that if I managed to drink 1 pint, and threw most of it up, about 1/4 would have been absorbed as it starts to be on route to the stomach through linings/walls etc so keep drinking it. Also, i was told that while i could hold nothing at all down, eat anything i liked even if this was a macdonalds as any calories are better than no calories.

In my first pg, i managed it with strict bland diet, eating at very set times, could not waver those times or the food I ate or else i would be violently sick. In my second pg (just gone), i could only manage it by medication, which was only prescribed at 17wks, and then I had to change it as the first did not work, (cyclizine, then metaclopromide + omeprazole). So, try to find a non-medicated way, but if medication is needed in time, do not feel bad. GP said to me I had reached the stage where any unknown risks of the medication outweighed the known risks to me and the baby of long term dehydration which I was suffering from

Thanks. I 'managed' it last time by eating the blandest of bland foods every hour or so, avoiding smells etc that triggered it, and lying down and medidation every time I felt really bad (sounds odd, but kind of helped). I was still feeling desperately sick all the time, but managed to jut about keep food in. It doesn't help that I have a phobia of being sick!!

I need to send an email with instructions re: my work/time off etc to 4 people: the head, the dept head (who is in charge of sickness leave/getting a possible supply person in for me), my head of dept and the person in charge of covering my work in the short term.

I've just set up an email but haven't clicked send yet.....wondering if maybe I should tell them all or not. I don't mind any of them knowing (as they are all discreet and fair and know about my previous mc) except one from the list that is not sympathetic about illness in general and can blab, but equally I can't leave that person out as if I do that they will take offense and when they do find out (which they will!) and be difficult towards me in the future.

I hope that makes sense, as I'm trying very carefully to be as non specific as I can (I know noone knows who I am here...but still...)

could you send one email to just the person who most needs to know the type of illness it is, in order to be protected as a pregnant woman, and tell him/her you will send a seperate email to all of those who need to know with the other details in, then that email can say 'signed of work for xxx time' and the rest of what you need to say? (you could add 'details of which you don't want to discuss right now'? or similar).

yes, I think I'll do that. I'm not sure who the one person is that needs to know the nature of illness, but I'll go with the HT, and I trust him with discretion.

When I had a mc over the christmas hols, I sent an email to say I had been signed off for a couple of days and gave reason at the beginning of term to the list I need to send this to, and without hesitation I got emails from all of them saying how sorry they were except this one person that might blab, who, next time I saw them, told me a long story about their own pg and how terrible it was :/ not so thoughtful I thought!