Help ! I need some advice about pregnancy and the ability to do my job

[mosschops30]

Have posted in pregnancy but someone suggested I post here too as lots of knowledgable HR people about so here goes:

Because I have come to the conclusion that I cant!

I dont want to be seen as a wimp in work, and I know thats how they already see me, having had 3 weeks off (not all together) on bed rest during the last 6 weeks.

I will not be taking Mat Leave until 35 weeks, and I know they cannot force me to take until 36 weeks.

My job is quite physical, lots of stretching, standing, pushing, pulling, lifting (although can be minimised). I can spend up to 2 hours at a time standing in pretty much one place.
I have had weeks off due to sheer exhaustion, I can manage a week (4 x 10 hr days) but then feel like I need a week to recover.

Do I see my doc about getting a longish sick note or speak to my employer

You need to see your GP and then given your recent work history, I would expect OH to get involved anyway, tbh.

There are options. You could ask to do 5 7.5 hour days. Temporary redeployment to a department like outpatients. Perhaps taking one day holiday per week then 4 7.5 hour days. This all presumes that you are fit to work but can't cope with your work load.

Of course, you could be signed off for 10 weeks if the GP thinks it is the right thing.

The other thing you could do is have (with OH approval) 2 days work spread over 4 days and then 2 days sick.

If you only have service since Sept 2008 though (did a search), you must be out of sick pay though?

You should be having health and safety risk assessments, and given the nature of your job these should be frequently updated. That's your first port of call.

Following a RA, if risks are identified to your health, your employer has an obligation to make appropriate adjustments. In your case I would think adjusting your duties might be something they should consider, or reducing the length of your days. Keep on top of them about reviewing your RA and adjustments frequently.

If you are actually not well enough to work, and it's not a case of making adjustments on a health and safety basis, then yes you could ask your GP to sign you off.

You also need to have a think about whether you really want to be still working at 34 weeks though. Pregancy is different every time for every woman, and depending on how the pregnancy is going, how big and uncomfortable the woman is getting, the nature of the job she is doing and the length and nature of her commute, some will feel comfortable continuing until 39.5 weeks, some will feel they need to stop at 29 weeks. Obviously I have no idea about those or any other factors as far as you are concerned and identifying health and safety risks that can be minimised is definitely the first thing to do and might solve the problem completely, but I thought it worth mentioning.

lou - what do you mean out of sick pay?? We dont have a limit to the amount you can have (AFAIK)
I cannot work fridays as I have no childcare so doing 5 days is out.
I cannot take holiday pay as I am finishing at 35 weeks with 2 weeks annual leave, so my SMP starts when I am 37 weeks. I have no further holiday entitlement until April next year.

flowery - i know what you mean about pregnancies being different, I worked up to 39 weeks with dd, finished at 34 weeks with ds and could quite easily finish now

I dont have the option of finishing earlier, as I said I have been saving enough to live on during my mat leave and only have enough to last me 6 months i would love to have longer off, especially the other side, with the baby

If Im honest I dont think I am well enough to work, but cannot think of anything to tell GP other than Im fat and Im tired which IMHO is not a good enough reason to be signed off from work!

Agenda for Change terms and conditions:

"14.2 Employees absent from work owing to illness will be entitled, subject to
the conditions of this agreement, to receive sick pay in accordance with
the scale below (see Section 12 for provisions governing reckonable
service):

• during the first year of service - one month?s full pay and two

months? half pay;

• during the second year of service - two months? full pay and two

months? half pay;

• during the third year of service ? four months? full pay and four

months? half pay;

• during the fourth and fifth years of service ? five months? full pay

and five months? half pay;

• after completing five years of service ? six months? full pay"

You are still in your first year, so according to AfC, you should be entitled to 1 month full pay, 2 months' half pay.

Unless you are not employed under AfC?

that is constant sickness though, not inddividual episodes.
I have already had outside of that:

one week for d&v
two weeks for flu
one day migraine
3 weeks sick (after compassionate leave)
1 week bed rest, pregnancy
2 weeks bed res, pregnancy

have been paid full pay for all of these, and all have been certified by doctor other than odd day for migraine

Mosschops, it is not continuous sickness, it is cumulative sickness. I'm not sure why you have had full pay (although pleased for you), but the AfC terms and conditions relate to sickness within the year of service, not 'constant' sickness.

If you get s note from your gp to cover you to recover from exhaustion then you can warn work that you will need a risk assessment on your return. You should have a back to work interview as well so you can highlight issues although I would go in with some suggestions as to how things could be worked around.

It mat be worth considering taking mat leave earlier if you are going to run out of sick pay because next year you will have longer service and more entitlement if you follow? Dont forget your holidays - it may be possible to take 1 day a week to make it easier? And remember your mat pay is calculated between 16 and 24 weeks so you need to be in then! Good luck.