Law Queries
Antenatal appointments
Q. Our member, who is pregnant, wants to attend an antenatal
appointment. The employer has agreed to her attending the appointment but says that
she’ll only be paid minimum wage for the time she is away from work — is that right?
A. Provided that the antenatal appointment has been made on the advice of a registered medical practitioner, midwife or nurse, the right to have paid time off will apply. Under section 56 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, your member is entitled to be paid at her usual rate of pay. Where her rate of pay fluctuates then an average is reached by looking at her rate of pay over the preceding 12 weeks.
Please note that an employment tribunal claim about a failure to pay your member the correct rate should, as usual, be brought within three months of the date of the relevant incident — in this case the date of the antenatal appointment.