Pregnancy and WFH

[pommedeterre]

Should women falling pregnant at the moment expect to be allowed to WFH from the moment they tell their employer? Should they be asked to come into work at all? All but two tasks can be done from home.

Government advice is a little vague, I'd quite like a definite yes WFH entire pregnancy or no need to WFH entire pregnancy guideline!

There isn’t a definite answer as the government has only issued guidance not law. The employer should try to support ongoing WFH, but they are not legally bound to.

If the employer feels the employee needs to come into the office then they need to do a risk assessment and ensure correct procedures are in place.

I thought there was no need to wfh if pregnant unless you work in healthcare, and then it is only from 3rd trimester.

If its just normal office work, i can't see why would they need to wfh if no one else is

No need to work from home and no protection for this, but your employer should do a risk assessment.

My employer (public sector) doesn’t want people to travel to work by public transport. They want pregnant women to WFH so I told them I was pregnant early on so I don’t have to go in the office at all.

Looking on the Coronavirus forum, hundreds of people seem to have problems with leaving the house, going out to eat, to the shops etc. If it’s too unsafe to order a takeaway coffee without a mask or travel on a train, why will I be safe in an office?

There's no definitive answer here. I don't think employers necessarily need to allow pregnant women wfh. But at the same time, we don't yet know the impact of contracting covid in the first trimester so I think a decent employer would support a pregnant woman to wfh if she wanted to and it was possible. But you'd need to be doing the same thing for any other employees who are potentially vulnerable.

It's correct that there's no necessity, except in healthcare, for an employer to allow home working for pregnant employees. And is also erroneous to assume that home working is safer. Unless a pregnant employee intends to shield totally, then they can still catch the disease (which is still low risk for most people) whilst out at the pub, the cinema, the takeaway, the supermarket, or mums. There is therefore little substantive argument as to why a workplace is any more dangerous than the things most people seem to be doing anyway.

But people seem to also forget that there is a reason why employers have to do risk assessments for pregnant employees. Sitting at a desk can already carry some degree of risk, even in a well planned office. That is why those risk assessments are necessary. If an employer lets someone work from home, especially now when there are alternatives for many people, then they ought to be doing a risk assessment on that. Sitting at the dining table on a dining chair hunched over a laptop, for example, should never pass muster for anyone, never mind someone pregnant.

Thank you all very much! Lots to think about.

Can a pregnant employee do their own risk assessment on their WFH set up?

Interesting that public sector have gone completely 'safe' and said just WFH entire pregnancy.

I am the employer, small team and wfh could work for this employee bar two tasks which can be reassigned. It is more the general precedent and the fact that the team was definitely more proactive and future focused all together in the office than during lockdown! The employee told me yesterday, she is 8 weeks. She has been coming in to the office 2 days a week since July as part of our 50% rota.