DISCRIMINATION - 02.07.2020

£4,000 award for antenatal appointment comment

An employee who rushed back to work after her boss said that she’d “taken too many antenatal appointments” has been awarded £4,000 by the tribunal. Is there a limit on the number of appointments a pregnant employee is entitled to take?

Facts of the case

Sali Jallow (J) began working for QBE Management Services (UK) Ltd (Q) in 2015. She had her first child in 2017 and returned to work from maternity leave in January 2018.

In October 2018 J had a miscarriage which Q knew about. A few months later, in March 2019, J notified her boss, Mr Flack (F), that she was pregnant again and had an antenatal appointment on 21 March.

Running late

On the morning of her antenatal appointment, the hospital was running about an hour late and J phoned F to advise him of the delay.

Apparently, during that phone call F said that J had taken too many sick days and antenatal appointments and this was affecting her output plus letting her team down. Because of his comments, J rushed back to work and missed her antenatal appointment.

Tribunal claim

J subsequently brought a tribunal claim for pregnancy-related discrimination in which she also alleged that F had made similar comments about her antenatal appointment attendance record in a meeting on 25 March 2019.

In his evidence to the tribunal, F stated that he could not recall making any comments about J’s antenatal appointments. Nevertheless, the tribunal preferred J’s evidence and found in her favour (see The next step ).

Injury to feelings

For the upset she had experienced due to F’s comments, J was awarded £4,000. The tribunal also noted that F’s behaviour had “compelled” J to miss an antenatal appointment at a crucial stage of her pregnancy.

The first point to take from this ruling is that negative comments shouldn’t be made about antenatal appointments. Furthermore, issues shouldn’t be raised with an employee if she advises you that her appointment is running late.

How many appointments?

But how many antenatal appointments is an employee entitled to take?

Tip 1. From day one of employment a woman has a right to “reasonable” paid time off for antenatal care appointments advised by a GP, registered midwife or health visitor. She isn’t entitled to time off where antenatal care is advised by another individual, e.g. a pre-natal yoga teacher.

Tip 2. Unfortunately, “reasonable time off” isn’t defined anywhere. Neither is what would amount to an “unreasonable” refusal on your part. Every situation must be considered individually.

Tip 3. You can ask an employee to try to schedule an antenatal appointment at the start or end of her working day, but you can’t insist on this. Remember that some women may need more antenatal appointments than others.

For the tribunal’s ruling in this case, visit http://tipsandadvice-personnel.co.uk/download (PS 22.14.04).

A pregnant employee has a statutory right to “reasonable” paid time off work to attend antenatal care appointments, but what’s reasonable isn’t defined anywhere - you must use your discretion. You can ask an employee to try to schedule antenatal appointments at the start or end of a working day, but you can’t demand this.

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