Furlough or Suspension with full pay?

[DPSawMyUsername]

I'm 29 weeks pregnant, my job called me back 5 weeks ago from furlough. I'm the assistant manager but they brought me back last for safety with the whole COVID situation (very grateful).
Instead of face to face roles on the shop floor I was chucked upstairs to do online business only keeping me away from staff and customers.

The company have decided to suspend all online business from all of its stores which takes away my safety bubble.

HR matter of factly threw out we have the option to re-furlough.
Felt relieved!
My boss had a stay behind chat with me and I quote "yeah furlough is crap because the money will drop but you'll be safe. If you decide to stay then you'll have to be on that shop floor and being the assistant manager you're paid to be"

There is now no real safe role for me there which in all my reading up leads to suspension with full pay and my boss clearly has no understanding of any maternity rights as he emailed payroll to note up that I'll be out the business for a scan on Friday morning which he got knocked back on.

I joined a union last night and will be emailing later today but are they right to just re-furlough or are they hoping I don't challenge to save themselves some cash?

Have they confirmed (in writing) using a risk assessment that due to your pregnancy it would unsafe to put you on the shop floor?

If so, and they cannot make reasonable adjustments, then you should be at home on full pay.

Why is being on the shop floor unsafe?

Why can't you be on the shopfloor?

RCOG guidelines state over 28 weeks shouldn’t undertake frontline clinical duties. That won’t apply in a shop.

They need To ensure you can social distance at all times, but why would you need to be suspended? (I’m in senior HR).

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz It took them nearly 3 weeks to do the risk assessment since returning.
Going through one for the floor, so easy that I can't be kept 2m away from staff or customers. Staff don't wear masks and no ones enforced customers for a couple of week now.

There's only Pregnant Then Screwed that I've read they can furlough you, I don't mind the battle but why should I be financially penalised for something they have took away? I just don't want to look at it arguing it back if they clearly can furlough with hardship blah blah

Why is it unsafe for you to be at work if you keep to the guidelines. Or have they said it.

@Feminist10101 The guidance was coming away from face to face roles. Even if I stayed behind the screens they've got on the counters there's less than half a metre width for staff to cross through.
If I'm physically on the shop floor there's no chance of 2m distance anywhere.

I read if they can't offer a safe alternative role regardless of pay or position then it's suspend with full pay (maternity suspension).
This is why I'm asking out because someone will know better than I will x

@Viviennemary There's no 2m distance available on shop floor or behind counters. We deal with preowned electronics and jewellery I can't show a customer a phone or necklace without being pretty much up their bum 😆

The question isn't why you aren't suspended. Pregnancy alone isn't the issue. If you are claiming that the shop isn't Covid secure then that is the issue, and is an issue for everybody. If it is Covid secure then being pregnant shouldn't, in itself, be any additional risk.

@Moondust001 It's not COVID secure, (especially within RCOG guidelines) boss has said so himself, just not in front of the regional who I quote "thinks it's all bullshit anyway".

From what I've read I have the right to the full pay route but I don't want to debate it if there is something I've missed where they can re-furlough for this scenario not just because they have the option to in general.

They could furlough. That doesn't require a reason. But if you want to go down medical suspension then you would have to challenge that it's not Covid secure and that you (and therefore everybody else) are unsafe. The problem is that they are not accepting that the workplace is unsafe - as you have been told, the guidance you are quoting does not apply to shops. Shop workers are not required to wear masks. And it could be argued that the staff are equally responsible if customers aren't - health and safety law says that employees are equally responsible for protecting their own health and safety. So I'm struggling to see any legal reason why your being pregnant means that you are entitled to be suspended. In law you are not unsafe. Unless you prove its unsafe.

And joining a union when you have a problem won't help. They might give some informal advice, but they actually don't have to, and they certainly won't provide anything like legal advice or representation , which is costly. The point of being in a union is that you join before you have the problem, not after. There are qualifying membership periods before they can support you. Just like you can't buy insurance after the house had burnt down.

Is furlough better than mat pay would be for you?
The government guidelines only really protect healthcare workers who are pregnant, otherwise it just says more stringent social distancing in the 3rd trimester but it delibrately doesn't give extra rights through that.

Furlough pay shouldn't replace maternity pay. At the point that maternity pay becomes payable, then that is what should be paid.