Buddy says: All pregnant employees, irrespective of length of service or other employment terms, are entitled to a reasonable amount of paid time off to attend antenatal appointments during working hours (with the exception of employees in the armed forces, share fishing and the police service).

Employer information:

Ante-natal care will include all medical appointments to assess the health of the mother and unborn child, but does not automatically extend to parent craft classes. However, it has been suggested that it is wide enough to cover attendance at parent craft classes, although it is likely that an employer can reasonably refuse a request by an employee to attend ‘optional’ classes, such as parent craft, or yoga classes as in this case, when the class is within working hours, unless the employee can provide evidence that it is unreasonable for them to do so, for example, the class is only run throughout the working day. It is important to remember that this is a grey area and it is therefore advisable for the employer to be as accommodating as possible to prevent claims. Tribunals will judge reasonable refusal to grant leave on the merits of each individual case.

In order to be entitled to time off for ante-natal care the employee must have informed her employer that she is pregnant and her request for leave must have been authorised.

Once an employee is permitted to take time off, she is entitled to be paid for it at the appropriate hourly rate. Where the employee is paid a fixed annual salary, the employee should simply be paid as normal. In other cases, the appropriate hourly rate is found by dividing a week’s pay by the number or average number of normal working hours in a week. The rules governing the calculation of a week’s pay are set out in Chapter II of Part XIV of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Sections 55-57 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 provide that an employee must not be unreasonably refused a request for paid time off during working hours to attend an ante-natal appointment.

Employers cannot:

• Require that working hours are altered, or time made up to accommodate the request. However, if an employee is refused a request and nonetheless attends the appointment, or takes an unreasonable amount of time off, the company’s disciplinary procedure can be invoked.
• Require the worker to provide evidence of her first appointment. For future appointments you can request to see a certificate confirming the pregnancy or proof of the appointment, such as an appointment card.

If an employer breaches its duty to give time off for antenatal care, or refuses to pay the employee for the time off, the employee can make a claim to the Employment Tribunal. Claims must normally be brought within 3 months of the date of the ante-natal appointment concerned. The grounds for such a claim will commonly be sex discrimination and if a dismissal has resulted, a claim for unfair dismissal. Any dismissal for a reason connected with an employee’s pregnancy is automatically unfair.