time off for antenatal appointments

skeptik

not sure if this is the right place to post so mods please move if needs be! I took a full day off for an antenatal appointment thinking that some of it would be paid by the company and some would be holidays. I checked my payslip today and it's all holidays. HR have said as there is no actual amount of hours written anywhere there's nothing can be done to get my holidays back, it's at the discretion of the supervisor. Any body know if this is right? All I can find is that I am entitled to paid time off for appointments but it doesn't say how much time. Thanks

Mrs OBumble

Pretty sure you only get the amount of time that's actually needed for the appointment. Maybe two hours? (guessing).

TBH, if you didn't get this agreed beforehand, then I think you're going to be pushing your luck to get it back.

Eoin

From here, emphasis below is mine. A full day seems a bit much unless it takes ages to get there and/or you were left waiting for a good few hours.

If it really did take most of the day, then I'd get a note from your doctor stating this.

Medical visits
Once your pregnancy is confirmed you may take reasonable time off for medical visits connected with the pregnancy. There is no maximum or minimum amount of time off specified for these visits. Rather, you are entitled to as much time off as is necessary to attend each visit. This includes the time required to travel to and from the appointment and the time taken for the appointment itself.

You will need to provide your employer with medical evidence confirming the pregnancy, giving 2 weeks’ notice of your medical visits. You should show your appointment card if requested by your employer at any time after your first appointment. You may also take time off for medical visits after the birth for up to 14 weeks following the birth. You are entitled to be paid while keeping these medical appointments both before and after the birth.

skeptik

I took the full day because on that particular day it was too much hassle to do otherwise. I'm not looking for the full day, as I said, I'm looking to see if any part of the day should be covered by the employer. The rest should be my own holidays as I only took the full day for handiness sake, I didn't NEED to take it. This was, as far as I knew, sorted with my supervisor before hand but of course he has since left.

Eoin

skeptik wrote: »

as I said, I'm looking to see if any part of the day should be covered by the employer.

Well, then the answer is yes; the time taken to travel to & from the appointment, and the appointment itself should be covered by them.

coolabula

I used to take a half day's holidays (4 hours) and my employer would pay my wages for the other 4 hours, as it would take that long to get through the cattlemart that is the Coombe Hospital!!
That was over 7 years ago now, so it could all be changed now

Wishbone Ash

skeptik wrote: »

I took the full day because on that particular day it was too much hassle to do otherwise. I'm not looking for the full day, as I said, I'm looking to see if any part of the day should be covered by the employer. The rest should be my own holidays as I only took the full day for handiness sake, I didn't NEED to take it. This was, as far as I knew, sorted with my supervisor before hand but of course he has since left.

Did you re-check with your employer beforehand. It's standard practise and courtesy to do so. We would also insist on a note from the hospital certifing that an employee had attended and an approximate time.

skeptik

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Did you re-check with your employer beforehand. It's standard practise and courtesy to do so. We would also insist on a note from the hospital certifing that an employee had attended and an approximate time.

Yes, I checked with my supervisor before hand and as he has 4 pregnant women under his supervision who have all done the same thing then I presumed there wouldn't be any hassle (which is my own fault really because the place where I work set out to make hassle). I gave him my appointment letter weekes before the actual date also.

How Strange

As others said you're entitled to enough time off to travel to, attend and travel from your hospital appointment. My appointments were always around 9am so there were minimal queues and I'd get to work around 11.30.

However if your appointment is later in the day you could be queuing for hours.

You need to ask for your day to be refunded. You should also inform your manager or hr or both about the time of your appointment so they know in advance roughly what time you'll be expected back in work or if you'll be back at all that day. However they have to understand that if your consultant is late you could be waiting for hours. If that happens just ring your manager and let him know.

I know some women in my company take the day off but I was either too conscientious or foolish because I went straight to work afterwards. I'd advise you don't take advantage and are upfront about your appointment times etc.

Wishbone Ash

I have a query on the same subject:

Most of our staff do shift work - 8am to 9pm, 7 days per fortnight and rotational night duty. While they have as many days off duty as on duty, all their ante-natal appointments seem to fall on the day that they are working. I've no doubt that they are organising the dates to do this. It's frustrating to other employees who have to pick up the slack (essential services which can't be posponed). Are employees entitled to contact hospitals/clinics to rearrange dates to fall on their work day?

We managed to stop a lot of this for ordinary hospital/dental/doctor appointments but anything maternity related seems to be a lot more difficult.

hairyslug

We had our first daughter back in 2008 so things probably havnt changed, there was a social worker in the rotunda who was helping my gf out with other work issues and she told me i was entitled to 2 1/2 days, even got a letter from her about it but my job never asked for it

Wishbone Ash

hairyslug wrote: »

We had our first daughter back in 2008 so things probably havnt changed, there was a social worker in the rotunda who was helping my gf out with other work issues and she told me i was entitled to 2 1/2 days, even got a letter from her about it but my job never asked for it

Sounds like you are referring to Paternity Leave which is usually 3 days (8 hour days).

Eoin

Paternity leave doesn't exist in law. It's totally discretionary.

Mrs OBumble

skeptik wrote: »

This was, as far as I knew, sorted with my supervisor before hand but of course he has since left.

So forward the email / leave form / whatever else you used to "sort it" to HR.

hairyslug

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

hairyslug wrote: »

We had our first daughter back in 2008 so things probably havnt changed, there was a social worker in the rotunda who was helping my gf out with other work issues and she told me i was entitled to 2 1/2 days, even got a letter from her about it but my job never asked for it

Sounds like you are referring to Paternity Leave which is usually 3 days (8 hour days).

nah, deffo 2 1/2 days for antenatel, think it was recommended to go to 1st and 3rd class

was never offered paternity leave of any kind

Eoin

More info here on the antenatal classes
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/birth_family_relationships/before_your_baby_is_born/antenatal_visits.html

bisset

Reply to Wishbone Ash. In my experience once you are in the system your appointments are usually the same day of the week. There is a standard schedule of when in your pregnancy you need to attend appointments however if someone has a medical problem they may have more frequent appointments. Depending on where you live, work and what hospital you are attending I would consider it reasonable to miss half a day to attend hospital appointments and maybe 1-2 hours to attend GP appointments. In my experience most pregnant women wish to continue to be seen as a professional part of their work team right up until they go on maternity leave.

skeptik

JustMary wrote: »

So forward the email / leave form / whatever else you used to "sort it" to HR.

I don't have it, the supervisor who left did!