Hello
I am currently 19 weeks pregnant and my pregnancy is deemed as high risk due to a previous neonatal loss and health complications which are present again in this pregnancy.
I informed my manager at about 6 weeks pregnant because I wanted a risk assessment completed straight away as I am a Social Worker and can work in some hostile and stressful conditions, plus I knew I was going to have a high risk pregnancy. The assessment was completed, however the actions set out on the assessment were not adhered to because of "service need".
I was off sick for a 4 weeks due to severe sickness which I gave a fit note for and I kept my manager updated at all times.
I requested a different role within the council as by this point, I was really struggling with the role within our team as it was very intense and I had been diagnosed with further health conditions. I requested a role which would suit my health conditions which meant I wanted a non front facing role where i could work from home.
My manager spoke to HR without me present and they decided that there was no alternative role and that my risk assessment was felt appropriate. I challenged this and eventually had to take it to a grievance as I didn't feel this decision was fair without having spoken to me.
I requested a referral to Occupational Health and requested my manager forward me the referral so I could see what information she had written in it. Low and behold, she wrote that she felt since becoming pregnant and with the level of sickness I had, my performance was lacking and if I was not in the current "fragile state" that I was in physically and emotionally, she would be considering a performance review and placing me on a plan. I was absolutely gobsmacked that she had wrote this as I feel she was trying to persuade the opinion of the assessor to not grant me a new role and paint me in a bad light. I was furious and informed the Director of Adult Social Care, who was dealing with my grievance. There had never been any evidence or mention within supervisions of my performance, this only came about when I became pregnant and was unable to work at times due to illness and fulfil my role to its full potential. Furthermore, she told me that she had received some complaints from clients as they were trying to get hold of me when I was off sick. I informed her, that this was what I was concerned about because I may have to take a lot of time away from work due to appointments etc and that for the best interests of myself and the team/clients it would be better if I was relocated to a new team. I also, did not find it emotionally helpful that she would tell me about the complaints whilst off sick as this upset me as I do not like to think that I have let my clients down in any way. I felt she should have kept this to herself and 'managed' the situation.
The OH referral also stated other colleagues health conditions (no specifics) but mentioned that I was not the only one in the team who had health complications which I felt completely inappropriate to put in the referral.
I am currently still in the grievance process and considering whether this should be made formal. I am wanting some advice as to whether she has discriminated against me due to me being pregnant and whether I should take this forward as pregnancy discrimination.
Please do let me know if there is anything else that I can or need to do in regards to this situation.
Many thanks for your time.
KAM2024.