Can a pregnant woman be excused from her usual duties because she is tired?

[GloriaInEleusis]

Don't want to give too many details here as prefer not to be identified in RL.

But, she is in the second trimester and is complaining that she can not take a one to two hour flight to go to the project site. This is a normal part of her job. She says she can't do it. Other people in the office are getting fed up with all of her special requests.

And if she can legally refuse to do her job, can her employer require a sick note from the GP? Can she be replaced (i.e. her project given to another employee while she does something else from her usual desk keeping in mind something else might not be as rewarding as the job she does now)? Is is important that person responsible for this project appear on site from time to time, and she has all but refused to go.

what's it to you what my opinion of eleusis's workplace is? i've heard about it here on mnet for years not just this one thread. wind your neck in.

and i don't believe previous bad experience necessarily makes one necessarily supportive.

previous bad experience does not necessarily equal supportive - is what i meant to say.

yeah, but QofQ, whilst you were there you did your job. this woman is not wanting to do that.

so again, see a doctor about getting a note of exemption saying she's unfit to fly and why.

perhaps it's a situation like this

perhaps it is.

in which case, SEE YOUR DOCTOR and get either a sick note or a certificate of exemption from certain duties.

i fail to see what is so horrible or unsympathic about that.

Do you have access to an Occupational health Service she could be refered to?

i think everyone is agreed this woman needs to see her doctor. what i am reacting to is the air of martyrdom here and the mean spirited assumption that she must be skiving.

oh and as darthvader said, because someone's been pregnant they understand and can judge all pregnancies.

Well

Refusing to work when you are not sick is skiving in my book!

So if sick take time off
if not do the blardy job

CD when I was extremely sick, I went in for about 4 hours at a time as I was trying to "do the right thing by my employer". Perhaps I should have just taken the whole pg off sick, but I was trying my best to help. I now see that many of my colleagues viewed this as lazy behaviour, which is really sad.

back to work then cd you skiver

I think you will find I am outside my contracted hours

with my 1st pg i was very sick and was signed off, with my 2nd i had bad spd and some infections and again was signed off. other girls at my work looked down on me and it really infuriated me. i work outside at an airport so fairly physical and shift work. They have since became pg themselves and are also finding it hard, one even apologised to my dh for what she thought about me when i was pg!

I think people are much more incined to be sympathetic to others' conditions (pregnant or just 'normal' illness) depending on the attitude of the person concerned. If you try to avoid making a fuss and do your best, then on the whole, youll attract much more sympathy than those who adopt the pained 'look at me and be sympathetic' stuff. It seems the the girl involved here is being demanding about her situation (without any actual official medical complaint) and has therefore hacked off those she works with. It's nothing to do with bullying or picking on her. If she altered her attitude and looked as if she was at least trying, she might get the reception she wants from her colleagues. I remember being seriously narked when I'd been up all night in hospital with sick dd, organised dh to sit with her during the day so I could go to work, to be told that I had to accommodate part of the workload (which meant 40 kids to teach all day instead of 30) of a colleague who'd gone home again with yet another headache (no, not a migraine! This girl had form as a major hypochondriac!) I'm afraid to say I made my feelings plain to my colleagues!

ok, this woman:
1- is a staffy on a salary.
2- Does not work for or with me.
3- She is a slacker. Definitely. I know things I haven't typed.

If I thought she was trying but was genuinely having a hard time with the pregnancy I would be the first to defend her. But, she is taking the piss big style.

What I am looking for is what are the legal rights/obligations of her employer. She is not making an honest effort to be a team player.

diffucult one. have not read whole thread what else is it that she has not been doing?

GloriaInEleusis: I accept she is a slacker if you say that you know for definate. However, I really think you can't do anything - I have been into many companies and seen people go to tribunals etc for things that were not discrimination.

eg I worked at a company that had major financial problems. There was a department that had a "head" person and there were 3 staff working for him. The management of the company said to the "head" person, look, we have to let all 3 of your staff go because we can't pay them. You can scale down the work of the dept. and do all the bare essentials yourself. So...all 3 staff were laid off. One of the three (pregnant) took them for sex and race discrimination and WON because they settled out of court - they could not allow that kind of thing in the press even though it wasn't even vaguely true.

If the issue is that this woman is a slacker and isn't doing her job properly, then really the pregnancy is irrelevant. It's a sad fact though that being pregnant probably makes the employer far more vulnerable because she can act the martyr, which is an insult to people who genuinely need time off.

Correct its not in chat - so if it is employment issues look at www.direct.gov.uk and Duty of care

www.direct.gov.uk Health And Safety At Work

Has a link to Risk assessments more here

Conducting a risk assessment
Common risks include:
shocks, vibration or movement
handling of loads entailing risks over and above those regulated by the Manual Handling Regulations
radiation
physical, biological and chemical agents (which may also be the subject of other health and safety regulations)
extremes of heat or cold
movements and postures
travelling
mental and physical fatigue and other physical burdens

I think the works HR department will have all this info.

This woman sounds like someone at my place. The woman at my place is only 10 weeks pregnant but has taken this piss since she found out. She has had every ache and complaint going, it's like she is reading a txt book and acting out what it says. You know when someone has been throwing up all morning because they look like shit but this woman looks perfectly normal and is eating so much crap she will be about 20 stone by the time the baby is born.

If you geniuinly feel like crap or actually have medical problems with the pregnacy then fine, see the gp and go from there. But these women who take the piss purely because they are pregnant give women in work places a bad name. Why would you want to make things difficult for everyone just because your pregnant? Your not ill, your pregnant.

How do these women think mums who are pregnant with kids already cope? They just get on with it because they have a job to do that needs to get done.

I agree with inthegutter. This thread is not about whether someone is pregnant or not. It ia about someone slacking and giving other women a bad name.
She is using the pregnancy as an excuse, but if she could manage it, she would find anything else to use an excuse.
at women like her, givng women like me, (as I type on mumsnet , whilst at work} , a bad name.