Annual leave / pregnancy discrimination?

[Jammymare]

Hello

I am third trimester and wanting to use annual leave to reduce from full time to 4 days per week before I start maternity leave.
For the most part this has been approved, but I’ve had two days declined by my manager as he is concerned that there are some deadlines in those two weeks and there’s no maternity cover in place yet.
I thought that was fair enough until I’ve found out that other people in the same job role as me with the same deadlines have since had their leave approved during the same period.
I’m really struggling as it is and that one day off a week is such a help - is there anything I can do to argue my case?

If the rest of your leave was approved apart from a couple of days due to operational reasons then it’s seriously unlikely to be pregnancy discrimination.

Are the other employees on your team and doing exactly the same job? Did they request their leave after you?

Maybe your manager is letting all employees share the available leave? Why should everyone else be denied leave because you have decided you want it all?

It makes sense that if there are deadlines coming up that you should not be allocated all the leave and that others may want to take some too.

It would be a different situation if all theirs had been approved and all yours had been denied but you’ve been approved for most of yours.

Your manager is being fair to other staff, its not all about you.

This faux 'discrimination' just makes things more difficult for women who are being discriminated against

Ok thanks. I don’t think I would have questioned it at all if my manager had said it was because others were taking leave, he made out that nobody was allowed leave in the 2 week period

Just to clarify, we all have same job descriptions but work completely separately and don’t cover each other’s areas, so me taking leave doesn’t impact others ability to take leave.
No one is picking up any of my work when I’m off, it’s expected that we manage client expectations ourselves (although I’ve not been allowed to tell clients about my impending maternity leave yet as they haven’t recruited any cover yet).

Is the approved leave full weeks rather than odd days? Where I work, they tend only to approve full weeks during popular holiday periods, so that people aren't struggling to find a slot to book their main annual holiday because there are odd days rendering all the full weeks unavailable.

Why have you jumped straight to maternity discrimination?

You have had some holidays denied for operational reasons.

They have granted other people's whose jobs, have nothing to do with yours. They have approved most of yours can't see why it would be discrimination at all.

@Turningpurple

Why have you jumped straight to maternity discrimination?

You have had some holidays denied for operational reasons.

They have granted other people's whose jobs, have nothing to do with yours. They have approved most of yours can't see why it would be discrimination at all.

Because I was told by someone on a pregnancy thread that refusing leave because there is no maternity cover in place could be discrimination. That was the reason I was given and it was also implied that no leave request would be approved during these two weeks, although it wasn’t explicitly stated. I was also asked why I wanted to take leave at all and that I should be carrying it forward to take at the end of my maternity. I’m quite prepared to accept that it’s not discrimination, I’m no expert!

Nope its not discrimination. They have given a business reason and have approved the rest.

Surely the difference is also that others are working full weeks most of the time, while you are doing 4 day weeks? This is especially true as you presumably also (rightfully) are having extra leave for medical appointments.

If you're struggling this much, it's unlikely that you are being as productive as usual. That's ok - but it's also reasonable for your boss to therefore decline leave at this point if there's a high chance of missing a deadline.

You are pregnant and they need to take reasonable care of you as an employee - however they are still a business, and you are still being paid to do a job. If it gets really hard, you can possibly start maternity leave early, would that work for you?

@OverTheRubicon

Surely the difference is also that others are working full weeks most of the time, while you are doing 4 day weeks? This is especially true as you presumably also (rightfully) are having extra leave for medical appointments.

If you're struggling this much, it's unlikely that you are being as productive as usual. That's ok - but it's also reasonable for your boss to therefore decline leave at this point if there's a high chance of missing a deadline.

You are pregnant and they need to take reasonable care of you as an employee - however they are still a business, and you are still being paid to do a job. If it gets really hard, you can possibly start maternity leave early, would that work for you?

I’ve not dropped to 4 days yet I’ve done the past 4 weeks as a nine day fortnight - still got 7 weeks to go before my mat leave. I fully expect to be doing over my contracted hours in the 4 days anyway as as there’s two of us covering a vacancy and there’s been no mention of me handing over any work yet. I’m contracted 37hrs but usually work closer to 50. I’m really hopeful that they’ll sort some mat cover soon and that will take the pressure off. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m trying to take the piss, but I’ve used annual leave for all my scans so far, I’m working in the office next to the hospital for all my appointments to minimise time off despite everyone else still working from home and I’ve only had one sick day the whole 7 months so far. I don’t want to be that woman that uses pregnancy as an excuse to slack off, but I really am starting to feel exhausted. I have to give 4 weeks notice to start mat leave early anyway, so that doesn’t help for the two weeks where there’s no flexibility.

I think I naively thought I’d be one of those people who floated though pregnancy without a care and took work calls whilst in labour, but the reality is I’ve put on a shit tonne of weight, I’m not sleeping well and I can’t believe there’s still so many weeks to go

but I’ve used annual leave for all my scans so far

Why have you used annual leave? You are entitled to reasonable time off for ante-natal appointments.

My choice, I didn’t want to tell work I was pregnant before the 20 week scan as it was a high risk pregnancy.

I'd speak to your manager and explain that you're not booking leave for shits and giggles, you're doing it because you're knackered. Explain that you're trying to reduce the risk of you going off sick, which, past a certain point, will probably trigger early mat leave anyway.