Employer being difficult about pregnancy

[ColdMarch]

Hi, was hoping someone would have some advice as I have no idea what to do.
I work as a personal assistant for a mildly disabled woman, mostly mobility but some mild learning difficulty. Although manages finances and everything else just fine on her own.
I'm employed directly by her and paid through a company but they just handle paperwork, my employer has full responsibility for everything including insurance and hiring/firing.
Since becoming pregnant my midwife advised it's unsafe for her to smoke around me and said my employer should smoke outside an hour before I arrive and while I'm there as well as keeping the windows open.
After going through this with her she agreed but constantly threatens to fire me to my partner who works for her one day a week to help me out.
She hasn't done a proper risk assessment sent by the insurer, she expects me to complete it myself, and she's tried multiple times to make me "make up hours" I've missed for antenatal appointments or tried to get away with not paying me.
All this I can deal with, I'm kinda used to it but now she's started smoking inside before I get there and shutting the windows. I confronted her as politely as possible but she just lied and opened the windows a crack. I'm asthmatic and sensitive to smoke anyway but I could feel it on my lungs and taste it.
She refuses to suspend me and keeps saying if it gets too cold to smoke outside she'll have to "let me go" and makes me feel like I'm being nasty for expecting her to smoke outside and give me paid time off for antenatal appointments!
What do I do?

Call ACAS for advice on this

I think you’re really going to struggle with this OP. Ultimately how can you enforce her doing this? Is there anyone else responsible for her?

When I worked in care, it was very much seen as a client's right to smoke in their own homes.

One lady I used to visit was a chainsmoker, and in the end, I asked not to go there as it made me feel really unwell and I also had to drive to my next client with the car windows fully open to try and shift the horrendous smell of smoke from my clothing.

It's very different to a normal workplace where you'd have protection from smoking.

It's a tricky one because whilst employees are not allowed to smoke in the work place it's her private home and she has a right to do what she wants in her house. I honestly think it's not compatible with pregnancy

Make sure you are in a trade union so you have free legal advice and representation when you need it. You should usually join before there is a grievance but they may take kindly about it. Never attend a management meeting alone, bring a friend or colleague to take notes if you can't bring a union rep. More on what union might fit your profession here:

www.tuc.org.uk/join-union

Then take a look at Pregnant Then Screwed who may also be able to help:

pregnantthenscrewed.com/

Unfortunately there's no one above her, the contract is with her and there's no form of supervisor to make sure she's meeting her responsibilities as an employer. Last time I mentioned my rights as a pregnant employee she made a not very subtle threat that if I said anything she found "upsetting" it would be grounds for immediate dismissal. When I mentioned it was her responsibility to do a risk assessment she said she couldn't read or write and if I ask her to sign anything I'll be breaking the law (then read out loud from the documents I'd printed off about employees rights)

Thank you I'll try ringing ACAS and see what they say

I think that expecting someone with a learning disability to complete risk assessments and understand the laws around pregnancy at work is unlikely to be successful. In your shoes, I would fill in the risk assessment yourself and then read it to her in the presence of a relative or social worker and ask her if she would sign it. I think that you can't really expect to force her to smoke outside the home when you are not there. You could however open the windows when you arrive and go into a different room while she is smoking.

I asked her to smoke outside an hour before as it's what the midwife recommend there's no safe level of secondhand smoke for an unborn baby and I would rather quit and lose the income then put the life of my baby at risk. Her home is open plan but the work requires being in close proximity or it never would have been a problem to begin with. The social workers have deemed her fit to be an employer and have minimal contact, only to assess not support.

I understand your point of view but the fact is that you are asking her not to smoke in her own home. I don't know how you would enforce this.

The midwifes advice doesn’t oblige her to do anything. It’s only advice

I think you either complete the risk assessment yourself and put up with the smoke, or you quit. Functionally, you cannot control where she smokes or require her to smoke outside her own home, and she doesn't want to.

You need to tread very carefully here OP. If you start insisting that she doesn't smoke, you could be seen as trying to bully or intimidate her.

It's a very fine line to tread. For you this is work but it's her home. What your midwife thinks or advises is irrelevant to her and it's really not your place to confront her and start demanding risk assessments........... in any case the risk assessments would be for her and not you.

I second ACAS as with it being her home but your working environment I'm unsure what is legally enforceable.

Good luck

Your manager sounds as bad as mine. Working on care whilst pregnant is hell. The company you work for should have a HR number, call them as it sounds like you have the grounds to be signed off work due to health and safety due to the smoking endless she can find you alternative work that is the same responsibility, pay, hours. You do not have to work the missed hours from appointments etc. I had to do my own risk assessment as my manager refused to do one and I called Hr on her. If you have balls like me I would put in a complaint of bullying the way she has treated you.

Your midwifes advice is just that, advice. You can't make her stop smoking in her own home, I can't see how it could be enforceable?!

Nicola the whole point of the thread is that OP is a PA for a lady employing her directly using Direct Payments. There is no HR.

OP, it will have been made very clear to the lady that she was bound by all the normal employment laws and that part of her Direct Payment should be kept aside to cover eventualities such as maternity etc.

She will have access to employment advice via the local authority, but ultimately she's allowed to smoke in her own home as it's exempt from workplace smoking laws even though you are working there in a care capacity.

If she won't stick to your agreement then you simply have to make a decision yourself whether you are happy to continue working there.

@ColdMarch - what did ACAS say? Personally I'd look for someone else to work for as her behaviour is selfish and she's holding your job and baby over her own want to smoke

She originally offered to smoke outside as no one else she knows will work for her, last maternity leave she had no care for 3 months and still went through 5 employees.
She has the option to suspend me as the insurer recommended but refuses to as she doesn't like strangers in her home and everyone she knows who would have done it has either previously quit or been fired

I ended up working out, after I mentioned it she started sticking to the midwife recommendation although I think this had more to do with my partner saying that he can't cover if I leave as he already has a full time job. I've started being extra nice and hoping she puts up with it until maternity leave starts.

Sounds like she's on the back foot actually, such a cow perhaps she can't get others to work there so you're probably fine lol 😆