Pregnant and having issues with my boss - advice needed!

[DiffedAgainDachs]

I sadly lost twins at 20 weeks in May this year and required a certain amount of time off to recover. In the end I think I was on sick leave for 3 months.

I returned to work in August and am now nearly 16 weeks pregnant again. My boss was made aware of my pregnancy when I found out and has been kept fully informed of all my doctor's appointments and hospital appointments. This is a v high risk pregnancy after what happened with the twins and I've had a cervical stitch where they discovered the cervix was already soft and slightly open, so they are keeping a v close eye on me and I am supposed to rest a certain amount.

Clearly this is not going down very well with my boss, and her immediate reaction on being presented with a fit note stating that I needed to work from home one day a week was to refuse to let me and state that the note says 'with employer's permission', which I do not have and therefore I must be in the office every day. This boss made the last person who got pregnant redundant while she was on maternity leave, and has now employed the temp who was covering the mat leave as a full time permanent employee, so I am worried about my position anyway.

I thought that if an employer couldn't accommodate the advice on a fit note it was to be treated as a sick note for the noted period rather than them just being able to ignore it completely?

I'm not sure what to do about this situation as it is only one example of how my boss is being, and although I understand it is inconvenient of me to be pregnant again, clearly I want to do everything I can to ensure the successful outcome of this pregnancy whilst still maintaining my role at work.

I need advice on how to deal with this situation in particular, but also my boss's attitude in general. After a very stressful exchange of e-mails regarding working from home after I left work on Tuesday, where she insisted I came into the office on Wednesday even though she then didn't show up in the office herself, I started having contractions on Wednesday after I got to the office and had to have an emergency appointment with my obstetrician, who told me to go straight home and rest. When I relayed this to my boss her reaction was 'it's v convenient for you that the doctor recommended that when you wanted to work from home today anyway', and I really couldn't handle any further conflict so I went back into the office anyway, but I don't feel I should have to if this re-occurs in the future. I'm at the end of my tether and I really need some advice.

Sorry for the long post.

Go back to your doc and get signed off. If they won't- can't meet the fit for work recommendations then go back to your gp. You and your baby are far more important.

You might want to consider raising a grievance against this manager although I'd understand if not due to the stress. I'd there a higher manager you can talk too?

Do you have an HR department? And has a risk assessment been carried out on your working conditions? The company insurance might be invalid if the fit note isn't followed so it's in the employer's interest to follow it.

Thanks guys

I had a risk assessment and the Health and Safety guy was v behind the idea of me needing to work from home - he's even had a chair delivered home that is identical to my office chair so that they aren't worried about me having inappropriate ergonomic furniture. HR also seem to be behind me needing to work from home. It's just my boss who refuses to talk about anything, accept anything or recognise that it is necessary for me to do things a little differently for a while.

Every time I talk to HR they say that when my boss talks to them about me she is concerned for my well being and behind things like me working from home. This does not reconcile with how she actually treats me. I've got an e-mail from her which I'm going to take round to HR on Monday but no other proof of how she is treating me or talking to me, because most of it has been verbal without witnesses so my word against hers. This is one of the problems I've got with trying to get the issue resolved.

The one e-mail I have is quite incriminating though, as it states:

'just to be clear, the fit note states nothing about danger to the pregnancy and it says you can work from home with your employers permission, which you do not currently have. I have yet to determine if it is appropriate for you to work from home and still perform your job so I do not expect you to work from home until and unless I have resolved this to my satisfaction.'.

Which is totally against the point of a fit note. The fit note stated the reason for needing altered hours etc. was pregnancy complications, so it is implicit that it could be dangerous for the pregnancy if I go against medical advice in my opinion and the general tone of the e-mail is actively hostile and how she is acting towards me in general while I am in the office, but I have no other proof of this attitude.

She sounds absolutely horrible. Are you planning on going back to work after maternity leave? If not I would start documenting everything and then take a grievance.

Yes take that email and your fit note to HR and say something like "I don't want to have to raise a grievance against her, I just really don't think she understands the situation and the implications of going against medical advice. What do you think I should do?"

Has your risk assessment been amended to accommodate the working from home requirement? If so, take a copy of that too, if not ask for it to be amended and point out it's a legal requirement.

This is a health and safety issue as well as possible discrimination. Failure to ensure a worker's health and safety at work is a criminal offence. It is the only area of employment law that is subject to criminal proceedings. It may help to remind HR or your line manager of that... (or not).

If HR don't sort it out for you in a week put in a grievance and possibly sign yourself off work.