Work being difficult over pregnancy illness

[LJ2011]

Hi,
I am 21 weeks pregnant and didn't feel great in my first trimester (suffering with an ear infection for the first 9 weeks and random bleeding) which meant I had a couple of days off sick backed with proof from my doctors.
I've felt much better over the last six/seven weeks and not had any more days off until last Friday as I felt dizzy and lightheaded.
They aren't aware but I've seen nasty emails from my boss to HR telling them to keep a record of my days ill and asking if they can dock money after a certain amount of days and to keep track. I feel the sarcastic tone in the note totally unnecessary. Is this the type of behaviour to expect from an employer? Are most companies likely to respond in this way or is my boss just ignorant to how some pregnancies can be?
Does anyone have any wise words for me. It's upsetting and putting more stress on me not to be ill which I obviously have no control over.
Many thanks

Hi lj I'm not sure if its law but my work (civil service) say you cannot accrue proper sick days when you are pregnant. It gets recorded as sick but with the reason pregnancy next to it and doesn't count in your annual record. Can you do a bit of research and see if this policy is at your work too? I wouldn't have thought they could dock pay at the very least.

Pregnancy related absence does not count as sick days. It is the law.

They can not in any way discipline you for it. If they try the will open themselves up to a tribunal.

Surely you wouldn't expect this kind of behaviour from a boss over any kind of illness. ..I'm guessing he either doesn't have kids or his wife was fortunate in having easy pregnancies?? Idiot.

try this..

www.maternityaction.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/sicknessduringpregnancymaternityleave.pdf

Of course, I'm sure your HR department will tell him where to goput him right.

He's gay...and not a very nice person. The amount of unprofessional emails being bounded around about other people too is unbelievable. Keeping records of everything to show the type of company that they are in case I need proof.

It's worrying what people say behind your back and what they may or may not be planning. It's not nice to be worrying about peoples ulterior motives.

I won't be coming back after I have had my baby that's for sure. Thanks for the document to read!

Not sure HR did to be honest ...saw a partly sarcastic reply back from them too.....

not sure what him being gay has to do with anything

Lal, someone mentioned "what if his wife or daughter had illness whilst pregnant", so as much as I pick up on homophobic comments more than the next person, having seen my close brother struggle to come out fo the closet for years, in this case the ref to him being gay was totally relevant. By definition he's unlikely to have had a pregnant wife or pregnant daughter to deal with and empathise with (although not impossible, admittedly).

p.s. forgot to give support to answers to the OP, as far as I'm aware, other posters are correct - you certainly can't be docked wages for pregnancy related illnesses. I would take care to gather evidence if you can, ensure you keep logs of dates, times off, conversations, print off copies of emails, etc - you may need them if your company go further down this route. good luck!

I'm afraid it's perfectly fine to dock wages for time taken off for pg-related sickness, as long as that would be the case for 'normal' sickness.

You can't be disciplined for pg-related sickness, or have it held against you in a redundancy selection situation or similar, but there is no requirement for an employer to provide sick pay if they wouldn't normally.

What's your normal sick pay arrangement LJ2011?

Eglu can you provide a source for that information? everything I've found is that it is the same as any other sickness, except it cannot be used to dismiss or discipline.

The info I've red (on link provided above by another poster) also states that you are only entitled to the same sick pay and SSP as any other sickness.

Flowery and Hairy are right. Pregnancy related sickness is the same as any other sickness for pay, but you can't be disciplined for it.

that's right hairytriangle, no need to pay any more than normal sick pay just because it's pg-related.

Thanks all. Fingers crossed it will settle down but will keep records of all conversations and emails in case I need them. Thanks all for taking the time to respond.
Fingers crossed I won't feel poorly for the remainder of the pregnancy.