Solitary chicken - need advice

[Willow]

I have a lady in my group who is pregnant. She had quite a bit of morning sickness first trimester so a few days off sick here and there and is a little anxious about her pregnancy. I've been urging her to not worry about missing work for appointments etc just to make sure she goes to every appointment and to take the time off if she feels rough. It's been a good few years but I remember what it was like and some women have tougher pregnancies than others.

 

She's just been called to a meeting with Occupational Health and a Dr to talk about her sickness/absence record. Occupational health apparently said to her 'We get that you're pregnant but that shouldn't make you ill'

 

I am so unbelievably cross, she's quite young and worried that they might try and force her to finish work before she wants to or tell her off.

 

This feels so wrong but seems to be standard policy

[Patricia W]

I don't know if it helps, but the Gov.UK website on maternity rights says

 

"Pregnancy-related illnesses

 

If the employee is off work for a pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before the baby is due, maternity leave and Statutory Maternity Pay will start automatically - it doesn’t matter what has been previously agreed."

 

I'm sure others will come along with advice, but employers' attitude to pregnancy related illness earlier in the pregnancy seems to vary.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Poor girl . Have they not heard of morning sickness .

 

I know my employer (Edinburgh District Council) has started being really draconian about sickness days. If you're off with a similar complaint 3 times (it could be a recurring cough/cold and you've only had one day off each time) you have to have a meeting about it. Strangely, you could be off for weeks on 3 separate occasions and you'd be treated the same .

 

I get that they're trying to crack down on skivers but it's tough on people who take time off genuinely (often to protect their colleagues). It just seems to be a tick box exercise which makes no allowances for any personal circumstances.

[JellyBean2605]

She's just been called to a meeting with Occupational Health and a Dr to talk about her sickness/absence record. Occupational health apparently said to her 'We get that you're pregnant but that shouldn't make you ill':

 

Let me guess, was it a bloke who said that?

 

The NHS are just as bad regarding sickness absence, if she's a member of a union she should contact them because that is out of line!

[merlina]

I think we're seeing more and more workplaces taking what, to me anyway, are really weird and punitive attitudes to sickness absence.

My University has just got a new policy which is quite draconian - not what you expect from the public sector.

 

And last week I was treated by a nurse with a streaming cold who one minute was blowing her nose into soggy tissues and the next medical equipment that I had to put in my mouth! I pulled her up on this as she was not washing her hands in between and she was quite short and said there was only so many times she could wash her hands. I made sympathetic noises and asked if she should be at work and she said quite angrily that they weren't allowed time off for trivial illness. Fair enough - but she deals with lots of already poorly people for whom the consequences of catching her cold can be quite bad.

 

So we're getting a situation where no-one is 'allowed' to be off sick for fear of being disciplined and encouraged to go to work, spread their germs and potentially make themselves worse.

 

In some industries this is nothing new - I remember when I worked in newspapers being with a pregnant colleague who just threw up every few minutes into her waste paper bin and became quite adept at not being sick while interviewing people! She knew she'd be sidelined if she was 'soft'. Not surprising in that industry, but astonishing the way that kind of policy seems to be considered the norm by employers.

 

I'm really not sure how many people riddled with germs, who are throwing up or crying in pain (have worked with the latter also) is good employment practice

 

/rantoff

[Willow]

Let me guess, was it a bloke who said that?

 

Sadly it was a woman That upset her and made her feel maybe she was the person in the wrong more than if it had been a man.

 

I've told her they can't discipline her or force her to stop work. Daft thing is after first 4 months she felt much better so hasn't had time off sick just recently, I'm not sure what triggered the review now rather than earlier

 

Ah well at least she feels she has support of her manager

[C&T]

Ah well at least she feels she has support of her manager

 

And don't underestimate that!

 

I've found women can be a lot worse than men for some reason (speaking very generally). Men accept they don't understand and back off, whilst a woman seems to have something to prove. Stupid!