Being threatened with termination because of pregnancy sick days

EssexGirl

I had a fair few periods of sickness during my pregnancy when I was working for a local council. I was sent letters about the sickness procedures, but a quick phone call to the Union told me that as long as it's pregnancy related (morning sickness, spd, pre-eclampsia etc) , not a cold or cough then it is still recorded but doesn't count as normal sickness.
Don't let it worry you both too much, you wife is quite well protected work wise whilst pregnant. Get the manager to do a risk assessment to make sure she is comfortable and safe in her work environment.

Kynthia

Please remove the council name from your post as it could be breaching her employer's internet policy.

I wouldn't worry too much as the public sector and civil service disregard disability and pregnancy sickness when dealing with promotion and attendance management. However a monitoring process does kick in over a certain number of absences. Funnily enough four short episodes of sickness triggers this before one or two longer periods of sickness. So the letter is fairly standard and isn't a threat of termination.

Make sure your wife's line manager has actually recorded the sickness with HR as 'pregnancy related', assuming it is, as it makes a difference.

DVardysShadow

marybelle01 wrote: »

And you are not helping matters any at all by deliberately naming the employer so that even if the OP now wisely edits their OP, the employers name remains linked to the thread.

I have reported the post in question. While labayu has an arguable point, it is very bad manners to pre empt the OP's chance to take the employer's name out.

ktothema

marybelle01 wrote: »

Yes
But it isn't clear whether the sickness is pregnancy related or whether it's just sickness - normal ordinary sickness - and coincidental to the pregnancy.

True, but considering OP stated in the 5th post that they weren't sure when anything pregnancy related would crop up it's pretty valid advice.

marybelle01

ktothema wrote: »

True, but considering OP stated in the 5th post that they weren't sure when anything pregnancy related would crop up it's pretty valid advice.

Yes it is, but you did assume that the manager didn't know this and needed it poiinting out to them. It would be superfluous and rather annoying to point it out to a manager who does in fact know this and had already done so! Although it all seems a bit superfluous anyway since the OP appears to have never been back...

John_Jizzle

Hi - the sickness was pregnancy related. Hospital said it was all down the to the hormones (which have luckily calmed down now). This was all told to the boss who said it doesnt matter its all counted the same (said he spoke to HR)

marybelle01

John_Jizzle wrote: »

Hi - the sickness was pregnancy related. Hospital said it was all down the to the hormones (which have luckily calmed down now). This was all told to the boss who said it doesnt matter its all counted the same (said he spoke to HR)

In that case it doesn't, he hasn't, or HR don't know what they are talking about.

Check what has been put on the returns to BSC - they are done on line. HR don't do them, they just get returns from BSC. If the wrong categories have been used this would throw up a false report. It happens a lot.

Emmzi

indeed, what marybells said!

ktothema

marybelle01 wrote: »

Yes it is, but you did assume that the manager didn't know this and needed it poiinting out to them. It would be superfluous and rather annoying to point it out to a manager who does in fact know this and had already done so! Although it all seems a bit superfluous anyway since the OP appears to have never been back...

I said it is possible they may not know and it may need to be pointed out. Very different the manager doesn't know and does need it pointed out. The assumptions are yours.

OP - as Marybelle01 has said it doesn't count the same. Has your wife been given an Emma's diary pack from her midwife? In there is normally a leaflet from BIS (I think) which lays the law out about these things, and has a section for providing to employers.

Ok - they've updated the leaflet since I last looked:
http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/p/10-1169-pregnancy-and-work-employer
This one isn't as clear as the last one but does state that you are not allowed to be dismissed for reasons relating to pregnancy. Sadly also states its not a legally binding document at the bottom, but doesn't mean the law doesn't protect your mrs.

Horseunderwater

I had to have many many days off sick when I was pregnant way back - nearly 3 weeks in hospital on a drip due to severe hormonal sickness which was 24/7 and nothing could be kept down at all. Lost 3 stone in weight. I was in civil service back then and pregnancy related illness definitely does not count towards normal sick record and never has. Any employer who thinks it does is a total knit wit. Employee rights can usually be defined on the ACAS website and you should be able to print off relevant legislation to hand over to the employer. A letter from her GP/hospital may be of help. Just to clarify why.