NHS advice is that pregnant women are at higher risk of severe illness from coronavirus.
Your employer must consider this additional risk to you and your baby.
Your employer should consider allowing you to work from home if adjustments cannot be made in the workplace to remove the risk.
There’s an existing legal framework that employers must follow regarding pregnant employees (and breastfeeding mothers).
Employers must assess the workplace risks to female employees of childbearing age in a general risk assessment, including the risks of exposure to COVID-19 infection. Once you have notified your employer that you are pregnant or breastfeeding, they should also carry out an individual pregnancy risk assessment.
Depending on the risk assessment, where appropriate, your employer should consider redeploying you and maximising the potential for home working. Where adjustments to your work environment and role are not possible and alternative work cannot be found, you should be suspended on paid leave.
The NHS strongly advises that pregnant women should get the COVID-19 vaccine and complete the vaccination schedule of recommended doses to protect themselves and their baby.
What should a pregnancy risk assessment do?
The employer should identify and remove any significant risks to the pregnant worker by:
- adjusting working conditions or hours to remove the risk, such as avoiding close contact with others who may be infectious
- improving workplace ventilation and
- changing shift times to make travelling to work safer.
If the risk cannot be removed, the employer should provide suitable alternative work on the same pay and conditions e.g. working from home.
If none of this is possible and the risk still remains, the employer should suspend the pregnant worker on full pay for as long as necessary to protect the health and safety of her and her unborn child.
The risk assessment should also take into account other factors that could increase a pregnant woman’s risk of COVID-19 such as her race, age, build and other conditions she may have. Evidence has shown that Black women, pregnant women over 35 and those classed as obese or overweight, or with other conditions such as asthma are at greater risk from COVID-19.
Your risk assessment should be regularly reviewed and updated as appropriate.
What if the risk assessment shows that my job puts me at risk of COVID-19?
Your employer should consider allowing you to work from home.
If your job isn’t suitable for home working then your employer should consider reallocating some of your duties or offering you alternative employment, perhaps temporarily redeploying you to a role that would allow home working for the duration of this crisis, on full pay.
However, you should not be forced to take on a different role in order to keep your job. You should feel able to agree on a voluntary basis.
You may need to ask for support such as additional training in order to take on this new role. It may also mean a variation in your employment contract to allow a change to your job and duties.
If none of this is possible, because of the risks identified, your employer must suspend you from work on full pay for as long as necessary.
You should not be put on sick pay if you are not sick nor forced to take annual leave or unpaid leave. You should be paid as normal.
Your full pay should be based on your usual earnings, not pay based just on your contractual hours.
It could be unlawful discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy if an employer unreasonably pressurises a pregnant worker to go to work or disciplines them for not going to work when they have a reasonable belief that they are at risk of infection.
If you feel you have been discriminated against due to your pregnancy then contact your branch for advice.
If you are absent from work wholly or partly because of your pregnancy (e.g. risks to pregnancy caused by COVID-19) 4 weeks before your expected week of childbirth, your employer may automatically start your maternity leave.
If your employer won’t let you work from home or if you feel you are being put at risk, contact your local UNISON branch for help.
What if I am pregnant and not vaccinated or partially vaccinated?
If you are pregnant and unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated you have an increased risk of becoming severely ill and of pre-term birth if you contract COVID-19. NHS advice is that you should take a more precautionary approach and seriously consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine to protect yourself and your baby.
Your employer must undertake a workplace risk assessment and where appropriate, consider redeploying you and maximising the potential for homeworking. Where adjustments to your work environment and role are not possible and alternative work cannot be found, you should be suspended on paid leave.
Your risk assessment should be regularly reviewed and updated as appropriate.
What if I’m pregnant and have an underlying health condition that places me at a greater risk of severe illness from coronavirus?
If you fall into this category, you should take a more precautionary approach and you should consider the risks of close contact with others. Your employer must undertake a risk assessment, which should be regularly reviewed and updated as appropriate
You may have additional rights under the Equality Act 2010 if you are disabled as well as being pregnant.
Speak to your UNISON branch if you think your employer is not following the guidance.