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Mix & match - your other rights in pregnancy

A bag of rights and benefits you might be entitled to when you are pregnant

You have the right to take reasonable time off for your antenatal appointments, including time needed to travel to your clinic or GP, without loss of pay.

You should let your employer know when you need time off. For appointments after the first one, your employer can ask to see your appointment card and a certificate stating that you are pregnant.

Antenatal care includes parentcraft and relaxation classes. You may need a letter to show your employer from your GP or midwife, saying that these classes are part of your antenatal care.

Health and safety rights
If you are pregnant, have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, your employer must make sure that the kind of work you do and your working conditions will not put your, or your baby’s, health at risk. To get the full benefit of this legal protection you must notify your employer in writing that you are pregnant or have recently given birth or are breastfeeding. Your employer must:

• carry out a risk assessment at your workplace and do all that is reasonable to remove or reduce the risks found
• if there are still risks, alter your working conditions or hours of work to remove the risk.
• If this is not possible or would not avoid the risk, your employer must offer you a suitable alternative job
• If this is not possible your employer must suspend you on full pay for as long as is necessary to avoid the risks

If you do night work and your doctor advises that you should stop for health and safety reasons, you have the right to transfer to day work or, if that is not possible, to be suspended on full pay. You must provide a medical certificate.

Dismissal or unfair treatment
It is against the law for your employer to treat you unfairly, dismiss you or select you for redundancy for any reason connected with pregnancy, childbirth or maternity leave. If you are dismissed while you are pregnant or during your maternity leave, your employer must give you a written statement of the reasons.

If you are dismissed or treated unfairly, you must put in your claim to the Employment Tribunal within three months. Any claim will probably include a claim for compensation for sex discrimination.

Redundancy
You have special rights if you are made redundant whilst on maternity leave. Contact the Maternity Alliance for the leaflet Redundancy, which covers your rights in detail. You can download the fact sheet for free from the Maternity Alliance website.

Breastfeeding
Health and safety rights described above also apply to women who are breastfeeding.

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