Ask John: If you feel your pregnant colleague is not playing fair, tell her Q We are a small business (hotel) employing about 10 staff, one of whom is 12 weeks" pregnant. We have gone out of our way to accommodate her condition, in that we have changed her job so that she does not have to carry out any heavy lifting, and made sure that she spends little time on her feet. She is taking advantage of this, and is constantly absent without notice, or demands to go home early. Being a small team, it makes it difficult to plan rosters for staff. It is also a drain on our wage cost. Bearing in mind employment legislation, what could you advise that we do? A Was this employee already a problem before she got pregnant, or did things deteriorate after she discovered the baby was on the way? Being pregnant doesn't make her exempt from toeing the company line, but you have to make allowances for poor timekeeping through morning sickness, and the occasional moody moment due to natural hormone changes. If absence is due to a pregnancy-related illness, you could write to the GP, outlining her role, to check whether she is fit to fulfil the existing job, and if not, what changes need to be made to help her back to work. As soon as someone says they are pregnant, it is wise to chat about how it may affect her job. As you might expect, Health and Safety has plenty to say about pregnancy and see this chat as a risk assessment. You may well have followed their guidelines (see HSE website) - by making sure your employee avoids heavy lifting and has less time on her feet, you have already gone well out of your way to help. If you feel your pregnant colleague is underperforming and not playing fair, tell her. Good people management is much more about having a conversation than issuing a series of warning letters. Hopefully your chat will lead to an immediate improvement or you will agree to part as friends. I suspect you now wish you had taken a firmer line with this employee well before she became pregnant. It is best to tackle poor performers face to face as soon as you detect a problem. It sounds as if you have someone who enjoys playing the system, so you may feel the need to set performance targets, but be warned, if you follow best practice and start writing warning letters, the baby will have been born well before you have built a big enough file to protect you at a possible tribunal.