reasonable adjustment

[abigail225]

I'm currently pregnant (30 weeks) and found it difficult to travel into the office due to PGP. As i was working flexibly anyway, The dr gave me a fit note requesting reasonable adjustments for me to avoid commuting and wfh for all 5 days, not that i was unfit for work otherwise.

my manager has got back to me and says he's signing me off as he can't accommodate me wfh for all my days.

I've said I'm fine to stay working as i am then as i can't afford to go on ssp and would rather force myself into work then be off sick. but employer has considered me not fit for work and I'm not allowed back. did i shoot myself in the foot asking for reasonable adjustments? x

i should have mentioned i work 3 days from home and 2 from the office x

Sounds like your manager is a d* head! Is there a HR team you can reach out to?

I had exactly the same situation when I was pregnant - my manager was basically a sexist pig. I got paid full pay for the time I was off sick but had i not I would have been straight on to his manager to discuss.

Presumably if the business can cope with you being completely absent for 9 weeks before your mat leave you don't need to be in the office to perform your role (e.g you're not the receptionist or wanting to do dental operations from home!).

Bear in mind they can start your mat leave automatically if you're off sick in the last four weeks before your due date maternityaction.org.uk/advice/sickness-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/

I need to be clear here, because the words that you are using are unclear and it is important they are not.

Did your GP say that if you didn't get the adjustment you were unfit to go to work? Was there advice "sick" or "adjustment"? Or was it advice that the adjustment would help but you were not unfit for work?

What do you mean "your manager signed you off sick"? Managers can't "sign you off sick", only doctors can?

Because, depending on your answers, if you are fit to attend work and you GO has never told you otherwise, this is a medical suspension, and medical suspensions are at full pay - bet your manager didn't know that.

www.gov.uk/medical-suspensions-from-work
www.gov.uk/working-when-pregnant-your-rights

If you have been suspended, it's time for a grievance if they aren't paying you - and ultimately this would be unlawful and you could make a claim against them.

As you’re 30 weeks I’d you need to be aware of this as if this isn’t resolved it could be an issue: If you are off sick with a pregnancy-related illness or suspended on health and safety grounds in the last 4 weeks before your expected week of childbirth, your employer can start your maternity leave and pay from the day after your first day of absence. They cannot start your maternity leave/pay earlier than this.

My fit note says
'you are fit for work taking in the following adjustments ; avoid commuting to work, wfh would be beneficial due to PGP'

sorry poorly worded but my manager has said he can’t accommodate the above adjustments requested and has therefore deemed me unfit for work and paid me SSP when payday came. I wrote back and said I am not sick and am not unfit for work, but he argues if the dr says i can’t travel to work then i’m unfit for work and that’s it.

What is it you do for work?
Do you have an HR team?
He sounds a dick

no, we're a small company and we don't have a HR team. I'm a logistics co-ordinator.

The next step would be to submit a grievance, but google keeps telling me employers don't have to agree to reasonable adjustments and it's up to them. Im wondering if i have a case for discrimination. Totally happy to go down this route if i have to, this started at 26 weeks pregnant so i've missed out on 4 weeks pay allready.

That's how fit notes work: if the employer can't accommodate the adjustments suggested then the certificate means you are NOT fit to work and are signed off. It says so on the form.

Reasonable adjustments are a different legal concept.

They're following the fit note you provided.

Yeah due to the way it is worded, if they employer cannot accomodate you WFH FT then you arent fit for work and it is correct you are signed off. Where I work if you are off sick 4 weeks before the due date, thats when your mat leave would start so you end up having to come back a month sooner which is crap too.

Reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act are for disabled employees. Do you meet the legal definition of disabled?

An adjustment is only reasonable in the context of an employer and business. It doesn't oblige them to do anything and everything an employee might request.

You haven't asked for RAs anyway. You've presented them with a fit note that suggests some adjustments and says you're not fit for work if employer can't make them. Which they've said they can't. They're following the right process.

I’m not sure it is medical suspension, I think that’s a reach. There are no health and safety issues with the op being in the work place thay poses her to be at risk.

the manager is following the note, which says she cannot commute, Ie she can’t get to work, as such he’s no choice but to sign her off sick, accepting her to make the commute which a doctor and the op have said she cannot do is unsafe.

at 36 weeks they can then force maternity leave.

Can I clarify did you work the 4 weeks when you were paid SSP? or were you absent from work?

Why if you currently WFH 3 days did you get a fit note, was it so you could do 5 days WFH?

If you can go into the office today and work 1 day then revert to your pattern of 3 days WFH 2 days in the office.

understood, thank you.
"so the fit note also says, you can go back to work with the support of your employer. You do not need another of these forms from your doctor."

so if i said to my employer now 'hey i feel better now and would like to return' do they have to let me come back? i know he'l want to refuse as i'll be automatically on maternity leave in 4 weeks.

The GP have said they do not provide 'fit to work' notes. they don't exist

It's not a "medical suspension" , the fit note has signed her off. This is how fit notes work!

so if i said to my employer now 'hey i feel better now and would like to return' do they have to let me come back?

It has to be mutually agreed - it will usually say as much in employer's sickness policy and the terms of their insurance may preclude them agreeing.

Most employers wouldn't because of their legal duty of care to the employee and the risk of someone trying to work against medical advice.

Unfortunately if all you were trying to do was force their hand re wfh this wasn't the way to do it because you have painted yourself into a bit of a corner now. I can't see that they've done anything wrong.

Fit notes are advisory and non binding to start with
Hes not even said youre not fit to work but to do your commute
Bit of pragmatism is required here i think.
You should escalate to another manager state you are being prevented from working and its impacting pay, ask for resolution and a return to work. If no success to that opportunity for them to fix this then i would suggest grievance afterwards.

why cant they accommodate wfh for the interim period to your mat leave anyway? Are they really saying you cant do your job wfh for a few weeks when you already do it most of the week? Or is it just presenteeism ?

You could try pregnant then screwed for advice too

I didn't say it was. I said that it might be but it depended on details not in evidence, hence I asked questions. The information provided then clarified that it was not a medical suspension. The way things work is that you don't exclude the possibility of a right until you know it doesn't apply, you ask questions and don't make assumptions.

I do agree now that this isn't a medical suspension, but I suspect that if challenged in law, the employer might struggle to justify their decision give the existing WFH arrangements already in place. But to go down that route would inevitably mean a claim of discrimination, and that probably isn't a place the OP wishes to go as it would be arguable whether it is or isn't - not clear-cut either way, especially not without knowing why the employer is saying they can't accommodate it.

It's worth taking note that if the GP had worded the fit note differently it almost certainly would have been a medical suspension - so asking for the "right words" is very important. GP's often don't understand the impact of what they are saying in employment terms, so people need to be wised up on such things.

@Jalisco that's really interesting, can you suggest what the dr could have written to have had it classed as a medical exception? i could go back and ask for them to update it? x

That's unlikely to work now as their advice was either correct the first time or not - if the employer refuses to accept the amendment you would have to accept that.

But something like "is fit to work, but would benefit from working from home exclusively for XX weeks / on a temporary basis" would be an example. Obviously whatever they put must be true. But the key to any such wording is that it is clearly stated that you are fit to work - so it mustn't say "unfit but fit with adjustments" or "fit with adjustments". The adjustments need to be "beneficial" or "preferred" but not making you unfit if you don't get them. So if you are genuinely unable to commute to work, then you'd not have a case to argue this. But if, for example, you are fit to commute but it might not be in your best interests (or the interests of the employer) to have you in work, then you have a case to say that if the employer says they don't want you in and can't accommodate the request then it is a medical suspension because the doctor has said you are fit to work.

See this is what gets my back up and puts women back years in the workplace. You couldn't make it into work for 2 days a week but as soon as you realised it would affect you financially you're all better and magically can get back to the office?

You’ve obviously never suffered from PGP, and I am PREGNANT and it is TEMPORARY. It’s incredibly painful to move around, And if I could have avoided it and my work could have accommodated it then yeah I’d have jumped at the chance. But if it means I have to choose between buying food in cash and not credit or not working and living painlessly, i’d choose the former. So no I’m not magically better, I’d asked for an adjustment and it didn’t go how i’d expected it to. I hope others will read and realise that we’re quite far off from a pregnancy-and-maternity-discrimination-free world and people like yourself still exist.

@Jalisco Thank you, that's very helpful, Hopefully anyone who reads this will know what to ask for in future and not make the mistake I made and write themselves off completely x

You may need to go back to gp though, as employer could refuse to allow you to work against their advice.