Managing sickness absence during pregnancy - the recent news stories about the Duchess of Cambridge suffering from severe morning sickness in her second pregnancy have brought to mind the issue for employers and employees of sickness during pregnancy. Although Catherine is unlikely to face any disciplinary issues or be required to attend a back-to-work interview when she is feeling better, many employees are met with such things in the course of their pregnancy. In this blog I will look at some things for employers and employees to think about during this period.

An employee suffering from a pregnancy related illness will be protected under the Equality Act 2010. This means that an employee must not discriminate against the employee by treating her unfavourably because of a sickness absence that results from her pregnancy. In practice this means that an employer's sickness absence policy may need to be amended to accommodate how it addresses absences and how this applies to pregnant employees.

Employers have a number of responsibilities towards their pregnant employees and must carry out a risk assessment to ensure that the employee's work does not pose a risk to the health and safety of the employee or her baby. This demonstrates a pro-active approach to managing sickness absence during pregnancy and might result in the employer offering the employee more breaks or alternative work during her pregnancy.

If a pregnant employee is absent due to sickness, the employer needs to know whether or not the sickness is due to pregnancy so as to ensure that their actions and treatment of the employee do not amount to pregnancy and maternity discrimination. Employers should also be aware of any pregnancy-related sickness as the expected birth date approaches as this could automatically trigger the start of maternity leave.

Employers must also ensure that they are paying any pregnant employee correctly if she is absent from work due to pregnancy related illnesses, ensuring that any contractual sick pay does not disadvantage an employee because she is pregnant.