Paid time off?

It should state in your employers maternity policy, I work in the NHS and these appointments are paid time off

I'm mostly working from home and the midwife centre and hospital are close to my house, so I usually take an extended lunch break to attend, unless it takes hours like the glucose test, I took half day off. Your work should allow you to go to your appointment as long as you don't take too long. If the midwife centre or hospital is far from you it might be challenging though....can you ask your manager or HR?

Yes you should be paid for these appts. I had to have a meeting with my previous employer because she was deducting it from my wage and she was an absolute ass about it and demanded to see every appt letter I was ever given. I also had to have extra appts weekly to be monitored for reduced movements and she tried to get out of paying me for those by saying it was only the regular scheduled appts that are paid for. I argued it and said it was out of my control and would much rather not have the extra appts but there’s a reason I need them and eventually got reimbursed for the deductions for these also. Hopefully you have a much nicer employer but if they’re anything like mine was, stand your ground ☺️

My work place pay for all my midwife appointments/blood tests etc I guess it depends on employer but legally it should be paid

Essentially you should just receive your normal wages as if you had not attended the appointment. It should not be unpaid leave. It should not be taken as holiday. You are allowed reasonable time off to attend antenatal appointments at full pay

Thanks ladies! Having a horrible time with my manager, everything is a battle from appointments to maternity uniform, so stressful I’ve been sitting in work crying (hormones I know 🙈) but honestly just not enjoying it at all

Yes should be paid your normal rate including allowing time to get to and from your appointment! X

@Grace don't let them discriminate against you because you are pregnant, it's against the law and they have a legal duty to support you. Raise with HR/more senior management if you can. They are treading on very dangerous territory! Also @Meena I would be taking this further

@Hannah honestly that was just the start. There were so many things that happened that felt like I was being purposely treated differently. I called her for a meeting but she was really patronising and said ‘you need to get it out of your head that I’m treating you differently just because you’re pregnant’ and I just got to the point where I couldn’t wait to leave. Luckily was just SMP so safe to say I never went back! @Grace out of curiosity, what field of work are you in? Our experiences sound fairly similar

Yes it’s a legal requirement. Is there a HR team you can get involved?

@Meena that's constructive dismissal, aka, she made you want to leave and it was because you were pregnant! You have a case to pursue!

@Meena im a dental nurse, it’s a small company so theres no HR department it’s literally my manager then the two owners!