being bullied at work while pregnant

Mark_h_4

pondskater wrote: »

She posted a thread, now deleted, to say that she is leaving because of a few very persistant trolls who were snapping at her heels basically because they did not like her straight talking, to the point, no nonsence persona. Hope they are happy now:o

Im not I liked her advice. Atleast it was honest and realistic

wantnomoneyworries

Are you in a union? If yes get in touch with them and tell them what is happening. Also as others have said is there a HR dept?

vickynleon

liney wrote: »

Apart from the H&S issues, whereby a risk assessment should now have been completed (?) pregnancy related illness is required to be treated differently than normal illness, and cannot be used as a point to discipline or dismiss without being guilty of sexual discrimination.

For this reason it would be foolish not to 'declare' the pregnancy when one is taking time sick because one is offered additional protection when in this more vunerable state.

This fact sheet might be of interest to you, OP: http://www.maternityaction.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/sicknessduringpregnancymaternityleave.pdf

i found this earlier and i have printed it off to be sent in with my self certified slip just so that they know i know the facts, i havent got a union so no hope of that. i wouldnt have a clue how to ring my hr department. i may be able to find a number for head office though so that might help, they are very funny about sickness but if your sick your sick there's nothing you can do about it, once i offered to work a sunday for someone because she was ill on the saturday, i never work a sunday but wanted to be kind, i felt fine on the saturday but sunday early hours i woke up with an upset stomach and couldnt stop being sick, i had to ring into work on the sunday and when i had my reaturn to work my manager said, i hear your sister was down this weekend if that was the case you should of come to me and asked for the day off, i said if that was the case that i wanted to have the day off then i wouldnt of offered to work for someone else just so i could ring in sick. its ridicolous.
so basically every time i've been off i've been called a liar, i should of really complained before now, alot of people in work say they will complain but never have but someone needs to put their foot down and i think it's my turn. thanks for any advice and thanks to everyone for being so nice

Tiddlywinks

vickynleon wrote: »

i'm sorry i'm not very smart i dont have a clue about grievance procedure and what that would entail lol.

LOL? I don't think this is really a laughing matter - you need to make yourself familiar with your company's policies. After all, how can you comply if you don't know them? Or, how can you complain that you are not being dealt with fairly without knowing them?

As a supervisor, the expectation will be that you have been proactive in making yourself familiar with company requirements.

vickynleon wrote: »

normally i would ring up myself as i am a grown up but think i'm going to have to leave this to my partner because i'm getting very upset and stressed and i really don't like the way i'm being spoken to, i really don't think my partner will take them speaking about me like that. i wish i could afford to finish work because today i would of just handed in my notice if i could of but my partner doesnt earn enough to cover all the bills and obviously i want to keep a roof over our heads.

Unless you are physically unable to make that call, you need to call in yourself. You do not need your partner making a scene over this do you? That won't help matters at all.

If you do feel you are being bullied then you need to see a copy of the company policy and take action within that framework.

vickynleon

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

LOL? I don't think this is really a laughing matter - you need to make yourself familiar with your company's policies. After all, how can you comply if you don't know them? Or, how can you complain that you are not being dealt with fairly without knowing them?

As a supervisor, the expectation will be that you have been proactive in making yourself familiar with company requirements.



Unless you are physically unable to make that call, you need to call in yourself. You do not need your partner making a scene over this do you? That won't help matters at all.

If you do feel you are being bullied then you need to see a copy of the company policy and take action within that framework.

i no that i need to know things now, but that's why i've come on here because i don't have a clue with thing's like this. i'm trying to read up now so i can talk the talk if she starts saying things to me but i know that i am being treated unfairly because no-one should be accused of lying and no-one should be spoken to like that, i havent been home today since the doctors to dig out my contract and we also had a booklet which explains about sickness and stuff so hopefully there will be some info on there to help. my partner wouldnt make a scene he talks alot more sense than me so would just put her in her place. i'll have to see what midwife says tommorrow and i'm going to ask her advice.

Emmzi

many company policies say it must be the employee who gets in touch, that it must be by phone, and it must be by a certain time of day. I would not risk breaching a policy that you do not know the terms of.

make sure you state each time it is pregnancy related illness. This affects how it will be dealt with under attendance procedure.

start a diary of incidents for sharing with HR when you have a few gathered, as a grievance, should you need to.

agrinnall

Emmzi wrote: »

many company policies say it must be the employee who gets in touch, that it must be by phone, and it must be by a certain time of day. I would not risk breaching a policy that you do not know the terms of.

I'm sure you're right that companies have a policy that says that, but it doesn't seem to be completely enforceable - what if the employee has lost their voice, is in a coma, has a tube down their throat, etc., etc.

To the OP, I would say find out exactly what the sickness reporting policy is so that you know that you are following it and not giving them any excuse for taking action against you - although it sounds like they are pretty horrible to work for so perhaps you should also be thinking of looking for another job in the future if you intend to work again after your maternity leave.

Emmzi

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm sure you're right that companies have a policy that says that, but it doesn't seem to be completely enforceable - what if the employee has lost their voice, is in a coma, has a tube down their throat, etc., etc.
.

Exceptions of course. But for a pregnancy related illness which OP will want discounted - call herself. There is no valid reason not to. Why take a chance when they are already out to get her? It simp;y isn't logical and MAY give an easy reason to dismiss.

vickynleon

agrinnall wrote: »

I'm sure you're right that companies have a policy that says that, but it doesn't seem to be completely enforceable - what if the employee has lost their voice, is in a coma, has a tube down their throat, etc., etc.

To the OP, I would say find out exactly what the sickness reporting policy is so that you know that you are following it and not giving them any excuse for taking action against you - although it sounds like they are pretty horrible to work for so perhaps you should also be thinking of looking for another job in the future if you intend to work again after your maternity leave.

yea i will certainly be looking for a different job when i return, they are not very nice at all to work for. i remember about 6 months after i started there my son who was 1 at the time was taken into hospital and kept in over night because he had croup and was having difficulties breathing, i slept the night on the floor and we didnt leave the hospital until mid-morning the following day and i was meant to be working so i rung and said i couldnt come in because we were still at the hospital and they were really funny about it and to be honest with you i should of left there and then because no matter how much i need money my son will always come first especially when he's in hospital ill. with most people working with me their children are in child care but because my mum looks after my son while i'm at work they expect her to do everything but there's certain thing's a mum has to do and thats the reason i became a mum, not so i could fob him off at any little hurdle but so i could look after him, even if that means missing work, thats what a mum is all about.

Sambucus_Nigra

I've sent a PM of where you can get that advice spoken about earlier

From my point of view; you need to follow the procedure rigidly when calling in sick.

When you are at work; if anything is said - take out a notebook, and your pen, look at your watch and note the date, time, person and exactly what was said - word for word. If she asks anything - you must say 'I have been advised to record every incident'. And say not one word more.

This will either stop her in her tracks or it will give you a good base of knowledge on which to base your discrimination complaint which I suspect may be coming.