3rd trimester, covid guidance and being made to work despite it not being safe to do so. Help!

[Irishgal27]

Hello,

I am 29 weeks pregnant. I work as a private nanny for a family supporting a teenage male with Autism. I work in the family home and in school as his 1:1 normally. However, after I reached 28 weeks of pregnancy school informed his parents that I could not be on site in school anymore, as per government guidance on pregnant women and coronavirus risk after 28 weeks of pregnancy.

I tested positive for coronavirus last December, because of this my bosses (the young person's parents) believe I am fine to come to work in their home as I am not at risk of getting covid. I have explained to them that I can still get covid again and as such, there is still a risk to me by coming to work because I cannot socially distance at work due to the nature of my job. However, they are still making me come in to work in the home. Bringing him to and from school and doing things around the house each day to prepare for my cover to take over soon.

I have read all the guidance and know that they should have put me on early maternity leave and I am entitled to my full pay. But they do not listen to my concerns and I am unsure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Is there a doctors letter or anything I can get to bring to them to say I have to be put on leave? My concerns are not enough for them.

Additionally, I work 50 hours a week - if I was to ask for my hours to be reduced, can they reduce my pay? I don't want to impact my maternity pay if so but the long hours are very difficult for me.

Finally, the young person I support at work, can be aggressive towards me and others. The stress of this has been another concern of mine but I am unsure what I can do about this either?

Thank you for any help you can provide!

[Seb9]

Hi if you're employed by the family you can get support from ACAS or from a site dedicated to mums called pregnant then screwed.My understanding is that they should carry out a risk assessment, and put measures in place to prevent you from any risk during pregnancy, with covid this includes social distancing and following lockdown guidance. If they can mitigate the risks then you would work up until you decide to take maternity.

If they cannot mitigate the risks to you or adapt your role to be safe, they need to suspend you on full pay. Not put you on maternity as this would eat into your maternity leave and put you at a loss money wise when it's their problem that they cannot adapt your role to protect You also can't start maternity leave until 11 weeks before the due date of baby or until their birth if they come early.

I would contact ACAS today and get advice from them straight away, they're a totally free service and will give your all your rights and tools to go back to your employer

Good luck xx

[Irishgal27 in reply to Seb9]

Thank you so much for this. I will definitely be contacting ACAS or pregnant then screwed today for further advice! X

[roxannacar]

As seb9 mentioned. The only question is are you their employee or are you self employed working via subcontract? Eg do they pay your pensions? It quite unusual for a private nanny to be an employee,.unless you work for a bigger company. If you're self employed it's a whole different story.

[Irishgal27 in reply to roxannacar]

I’m an employee!

[roxannacar in reply to Irishgal27]

Then you should push for a risk assessment and are they are unable to do this then they should pay for a specialised occupational risk assessment. I'd also have a look at the latest advice for royal college of obstetricians, as guidance has changed over time. I didn't mean to doubt you just unusual for nanny arrangements.

Best of luck

[Irishgal27 in reply to roxannacar]

Ok, I will say this to them. Thank you. I'm fairly certain they haven't done any risk assessment, which is crazy. I will check that out too. Thank you for your advice and no problem!

[Kurstx]

Hi Im 26 weeks and work in the community and I’m going to be working from home when I get to 28 weeks. Your employer should of been doing risk assessments (I’ve had 2) and if they can’t make arrangements for you to be working safely or doing some sort of work from home after 28 weeks they need to put you on leave with full pay. I had a bit of trouble at 1st but I went to hr with all the government guidelines on this and they have been great since. I hope it all gets resolved for you X