my pregnant girlfreind

[nothappy]

hi all,last week me and my girlfreind who are both royal mail post people found out we are expecting our first baby,we didnt want to tell anyone just yet but my girlfreind is having realy bad pains and bad back pain,so i decided to inform the union rep,my girlfreind currently does a massive too big job and has hassle because she only wants to work to her time,the round she does is full of druggies and basicly every charictor known to man,i and neither does she feel safe at all especialy now shes 6 weeks preg,nor does she feel able to take part in any form of a duty,her mam had about 8 miscarrages before she had my g.f so we are also worried about that,now the depo manager has said the only work they can give her is to change her hours from 9-3 and send her out doing packets on her own from 1-6,i am realy against this idea for reasons already stated,i thought the 1st trimester was the most inportant?if so how can they send her out lumping packets about on her own?

sorry for long message and any advice much apreciated

[feduppostie]

Has the manager completed a risk assessment - a written one?

[clashcityrocker]

Congratulations.
See if your Branch has got a woman's officer. She should be able to help.

[fishtank]

Employers have three specific duties:

1.To carry out a risk assessment. As soon as it is known that an employee is pregnant, a risk assessment should be carried out on their job.

Risk assessment should:
Identify all significant hazards to health and safety
Assess the risks they pose
Implement necessary effective control systems
Inform, instruct and train employees
Check the system works
Review the system controls and plans

2.To make temporary changes to working conditions and/or working hours to avoid exposure to health risks. If, having assessed a duty, the employer identifies a risk to a pregnant woman or an unborn child, they must provide alternative work which does not present any risk. Where a risk is identified as being the result of shift-working, the employer must provide alternative working patterns which do not
present a risk to the mother or unborn child.

3.To send an employee home on full pay if suitable alternative work cannot be provided. If suitable alternative work is offered, it is expected that an employee will undertake such work. Should a woman refuse to do so unreasonably, she would forfeit her rights to be sent home on full pay.

http://www.cwu.org/assets/_files/docume ... Rights.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg373.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[nothappy]

Has the manager completed a risk assessment - a written one?

they are gonna do a risk assesment when she has got back of her week of,appearently there is no hours in our office for her to do indoor work,they are saying she might have to go to another office to do bag tipping or whatever they get her to do,my girlfreind has sufferd from severe depression a while back,also her mam commited suicide while she was 3 which is a big cause of her depression,we have planned this baby and we were so happy,now i can see my g.f starting to get depressed again because of work,hop this all dont effect our baby

[tiredm]

" Bag Tipping ".

I hardly think that's suitable work for a pregnant woman.

[nothappy]

" Bag Tipping ".

I hardly think that's suitable work for a pregnant woman.

i know it makes you wonder how far they try and push people when they arnt suppose to,youd think they would wrap preg people up in cotton wool,i mean its a massive deal to me and my g.f,its our future

[UnhappyGremlin]

Think you'll find the manager and/or DOM is only interested in their budget/bonus.
Which is clearly wrong.

Get the Rep/Area Rep involved, and ask them for the Area H&S Rep's involvement maybe, if they think it appropriate.

P.S. Congratulations.

[Stella102]

umm wtf tell them to f**k off and do indoor work-- that is total bs you dont want her out pounding the streets with drug adickts about it is not worth it mate look after her priority number 1 mate

[koolishy67]

delivery..

[oldpostie]

Tell them to go and shite, stick to your guns until they offer
Alternative work which is suitable in duty content and attendance times.
Congratulations & good luck

[ninja]

Fishtank has covered the safety side and these should be completed on a monthly basis.

The other issue is that whilst pregnant she will be covered by the equality act and considered disabled within the act and so your rep should be making contact with your branch equality officer, who then should come and help with agreeing a suitable duty for her.

In my area any pregnant employee is basically put onto special duties and is provided work/attendance times that best fits the needs of the individual and allows flexibility for them.

If you still have problems then contact the equality dept via cwu.org

[Glenno]

Fishtank has covered the safety side and these should be completed on a monthly basis.

The other issue is that whilst pregnant she will be covered by the equality act and considered disabled within the act and so your rep should be making contact with your branch equality officer, who then should come and help with agreeing a suitable duty for her.

In my area any pregnant employee is basically put onto special duties and is provided work/attendance times that best fits the needs of the individual and allows flexibility for them.

If you still have problems then contact the equality dept via cwu.org

Sound advice Ninja

[music4essex]

Also
When i was pregnant with my son in 1998 I was on late shift and done driving the mornings I also done a SA duty delivering bulk/pkts, couple of times a week this was from sept till xmas after that I had to come of driving duties BUT Royal Mail had to pay my SA to me up till I left for maternity leave , even though I did not perform the SA,

Not sure if it still stands but it was at the time. divisional CWU who found it out for me and not RM ,

Essex mum

[cloherty1976]

My wife's pregnant too and yes they have to do risk assessment and in my book delivery could well be too much for her. If they can't find suitable work for her they have to pay her full pay until they find suitable work but remember they can put her on statuary maternity pay or smp for short from week 26 you'll find. They way you sound I think whatever you do to be safe she should start her smp as soon as possible. Sorry that's at her firm but you better read Royal Mail policy first. This is my 5th and all pregnancy are different but only 10 more weeks to go for me. Can't wait