Illness and difficult pregnancy
If an employee cannot come to work because of a pregnancy-related illness, they should:
- report in sick in the usual way
- get their usual sick pay
Pregnancy-related illness can include:
- morning sickness (nausea and vomiting)
- tiredness
- headache
- backache
- bleeding
If you're not sure whether an illness is pregnancy-related, you can ask your employee to provide a fit note from a registered healthcare professional.
You should be as flexible as you can about the amount of sick leave they take – pregnancy-related illnesses affect people differently.
Recording pregnancy-related absence
You should record pregnancy-related absence separately from other sickness absence.
You should not count these absences towards any review or trigger points in your absence policy.
Find out more about:
4 weeks before the baby is due
If the employee is off work because of a pregnancy-related illness within 4 weeks of the due date, maternity leave begins automatically. This is unless you and the employee agree together to delay it. The employee's wellbeing should take priority.
Once maternity leave starts, you must pay them maternity pay instead of sick pay.
If they have a difficult pregnancy
It's a good idea to be understanding towards an employee who's having physical or mental health difficulties when pregnant.
For example, consider offering:
- different work start and finish times
- the option to do some work from home
- extra breaks
- an occupational health assessment, for example to look at whether a chair can be adjusted for someone with back pain
If they need long-term changes to how they work, flexible working might be a good idea.
The law on discrimination
It's against the law (Equality Act 2010) to treat an employee unfairly because of a pregnancy-related illness.