hi ya :)

[gerb]

im new here- may find the answer to my question by having a search thru the posts but i thought id ask anyway

we are getting married towards the end of the year and considering trying for a baby soon. i work full time and are the major earner of the two of us but have been suffering with the stress of the job and really need to reduce my hours at some point.

one of the girls has recently had a baby where i work and has been allowed to 'suggest' the hours she would like to work wen she returns (which i believe they are able to turn down but are likely to accept). we have about 4 part time workers who have school holidays off and only work part time.

now i do work a slightly different role to her and 2 other girls in the past few years who have the same role as me had a baby and were told that they HAD to come back full time or leave. one left and the other is expecting her second baby tho rumour has it that she wont be returning as they will not allow her to work part time.

this is something playing on my mind- i cannot afford to give up work completely, but i do not want to come back full time- can they insist on this? sometimes my hours are so long i know i cant cope with this and a baby and i feel i need to know my rights before i consider getting pregant

any advise please girls would be great x

 

[Nicky_Jones]

I believe they are legally obliged to considered your request for reduced / flexible hours but not to accept it. I know other mum's who were told they couldn't return part-time to the same job and had to take a different role within the company. I have been very lucky in that I have been able to keep the same role and return on reduced hours. Is there any chance you will be able to change your role to the same as that which they have allowed reduced hours for?

Good luck

 

[gerb]

oh i just wanted to say- also sometimes i have to be on call all night and then work the days either side- is this allowed. again the other people in my role were made to do this until 7months pregnant i think, but the people in the other role didnt have to do it as soon as they said they were pregnant

 

[Nicky_Jones]

As soon as you tell them you are pregnant they have to carry out a Risk Assessment and look at aspects your work / working environment which could adversly affect you and the baby. I didn't know about this until I was about 35weeks, and we finally got it done at 36weeks and I went on maternity leave at 38wks. However I didn't have any issues with my work or environment which I was concerned about so it wasn't a problem to me.

 

[gerb]

hi thankyou for your replies

i think that if a risk assessment all went ahead then they couldnt insist on me working prolonged hours

as for returning part time- this is a difficult one. in my current role i could afford to go back part time as i earn fairly well. if they put me in another role- i would be looking at minimum wage and if i did that part time we could never pay the mortgage.

its difficult looks like id be doing a greater than 50hour week with a tiny baby
thanku

 

[Nicky_Jones]

The risk assessment isn't voluntary. So insist that it goes ahead. Also greater than 50hrs a week is illegal. Lookup the details on the EU working time directive. It is illegal for you to work greater than an average of 48hrs/week. It is averaged over an 8 week period IIRC. Anyway google the details and if you are doing that now I would point this out to your employer.

 

[gerb]

i know its illegal but currently because its not compulsory that im at work during the nights they can get away with it- i had spoken to my doctor about it.i usually get called in 3 times in a night on average- sometimes ill be there a couple of hours sometimes all night, sometimes i wont need to go in tho this is rare

i had been keeping a diary about it all one week i did 92hours including time on call but then it evened out.

if i counted hours i could be called out id be way over the limit
eg i work 9am to 7pm 5days a week but get to go home in the middle- sometimes for an hour, sometimes for 4, sometimes not at all (but during this time i could be called back). this weekend i have to work all friday night too and saturday morning
so if i calculated hours at work or wen i could be called this week would be 68hours, saying that i will actually 'be at work' for less time than this. saying that it doesnt stop me being continuely stressed for the whole time i could be called out

at least i know during pregnancy i wouldnt be able to be under this pressure, however after woulds it seems lieklyt id have to go back to it