Many women like to wait until they're past the 13 week stage. If you're worried that parts of your job could be dangerous to your pregnancy, you might want to tell your employer sooner rather than later. Heavy lifting, having to stand for long periods, and long working hours can all be risky to pregnancy, and in such cases an employer must consider other more appropriate employment alternatives.
An employer must also allow a pregnant woman to attend all antenatal appointments without it affecting her employment terms. This time off work isn’t taken from an employee’s normal annual leave, so it makes sense to tell your employer that you’re pregnant, otherwise you may find you have to take a ‘half-day holiday’ to attend an antenatal appointment.
In fact being allowed ‘paid time off for antenatal care’ is one of the four key rights given to a pregnant employee. The other key rights are; the right to maternity leave (up to 52 weeks), the right to maternity pay or a maternity allowance, and the right to not be treated unfairly, or dismissed, or discriminated against because of your pregnancy.
This all means that an employer must not negatively change a pregnant employee’s terms of employment. To do so would be against the law. If you feel you have a pregnancy-related complaint to make against your employer then you may want legal advice.
Call us at QualitySolicitors on 08082747557 for Free Initial Assessment; this is a free five-minute chat to talk your issue through with one of our legal representatives so we can then explain how can help.