Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Employment lawMaternityLegal Guides

How to deal with requests for time off for antenatal care

by Personnel Today 29 Dec 2008
by Personnel Today 29 Dec 2008




  • Be aware that pregnant employees have the right to paid time off work for antenatal care.
  • Take into account that you are entitled to ask for evidence that an employee is pregnant and to see her appointment card, except in the case of the first appointment.
  • Although antenatal care is not expressly defined, take into account that the safest course would be to assume that relaxation and parentcraft classes are included within the definition.
  • Do not ask the employee to make up the lost working time.
  • Encourage part-timers to make antenatal appointments outside working hours but appreciate that employees cannot always control appointment times.
  • Understand that the reasonableness of a refusal will be a question of fact in each case, depending on the amount of time off requested, the employee’s health and whether or not she could have attended appointments outside working hours.
  • Be aware that the time off includes the employee’s travelling and waiting time.
  • Appreciate that an unreasonable refusal of paid time off could result in claims for the pay related to the time off, constructive unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.

More resources from XpertHR on this topic include:



  • How to manage pregnant workers and handle maternity leave
  • How to respond to an employee’s notification that she is pregnant
  • How to deal with maternity suspensions
  • How to deal with an employee who has a miscarriage or stillbirth or whose baby dies after birth
  • How to deal with the holiday entitlement of an employee taking maternity leave
  • How to stay in touch with employees on maternity leave
  • How to deal with keeping-in-touch days during maternity leave
  • How to take disciplinary action against an employee during pregnancy or maternity leave
  • How to deal with maternity pay, salary sacrifice and childcare vouchers
  • How to deal with the situation where an employee becomes pregnant again while on maternity leave
  • How to deal with requests to return from maternity leave on a part-time basis
  • How to ensure employees’ smooth reintroduction to the workplace on their return from maternity leave



Xpert HR - Practical Guidance for all HR Professionals

Practical Guidance for all HR Professionals


Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Learn More



Pregnancy and maternity rights content on XpertHR



  • Pregnancy and maternity rights from the XpertHR employment law manual
  • Time off work from the XpertHR employment law manual
  • Line manager briefing on basic maternity rights
  • Line manager briefing on maternity rights that apply in specific situations
  • Model company maternity policy
  • Model form for an employee to give notification of her intention to take maternity leave
  • Model form for an employee to request to vary the start date of her maternity leave
  • Model letter responding to an employee who has notified her intention to take maternity leave
  • Model letter explaining the right to statutory maternity pay
  • Model letter responding to an employee who has requested time off for an antenatal appointment


External Links



  • Acas – Maternity guidance
  • Business Link – Maternity leave and pay
  • BERR guidance – Pregnancy and work: what you need to know as an employer




How XpertHR Works



  • Search
  • Get Practical Guidance
  • Personalise

Learn More

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Zavvi jobs at risk as retailer goes into administration
next post
How to manage pregnant employees and handle maternity leave

You may also like

Minister defends Employment Rights Bill at Acas conference

16 May 2025

CBI chair Soames accuses ministers of not listening...

16 May 2025

EHRC bows to pressure and extends gender consultation

15 May 2025

Contract cleaner loses EAT race discrimination appeal

14 May 2025

Construction workers win compensation claim against defunct employer

9 May 2025

Zero-hours workers’ rights to be extended from beyond...

8 May 2025

Employment tribunal backlog up 23% in a year

7 May 2025

Ministers urged to outlaw misuse of NDAs

7 May 2025

Employment Rights Bill must be tightened to protect...

1 May 2025

Lords criticise ‘opaque’, ‘on-the-hoof’ Employment Rights Bill

30 Apr 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+