Digital pregnancy tests recalled in new alert amid false positive results READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/digital-pregnancy-tests-recalled-in-new-alert-amid-false-positive-results

Valproate banned without the pregnancy prevention programme READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/valproate-banned-without-the-pregnancy-prevention-programme

Hi, I have a question, I moved into a property around November 2013 and it was a fairly old house needed a bit of tidying up but we were happy as it was cheap £480 PCM. My partner found out she was pregnant around March 2014 and my son was born in the November. I think we finally discovered the problem with the water when he was around 6 months old, and all this time we were using it as normal. We moved out 2-3 weeks ago finally after finding our own place, my question is do I have a right to seek compensation for potential damages to my son and how would I go about this?

Hi everybody I'm new to CAG as of today,and i just wondered if anybody could give me some advice - or just tell me it's hormones that are making me irrational! I'm reaching my 20th week of pregnancy and I am in receipt of JSA. I usually attend fortnightly sign on appointments and I do all my job searches,check local paper,internet search,ask family and friends etc, to the letter. I have no problem with that, it is my duty to do so as this is the deal, I look for work and the DWP help me out by not letting me starve. I'm homeless and I'm having such difficulty finding somewhere its a joke, I'm sofa surfing and its a massive pain in the buttox,especially with a bump. Last week i was told I'd have to sign on every week. The adviser ( I've never had a regular adviser,just randoms) told me its just something that happens every now and then, and gave me an appointment for this week. I arrive at my appointment early, I'm never late, and this very uninterested told me I look like I'm having problems finding work, so I will have to come in everyday. I wouldn't have a problem with this ,but for a 20 week pregnant woman, with a child off school, ante natal appointments ,looking for a place to live, does everything to find work, I find this so infuriating. Is there anything i can do? They know my circumstances. I've been on JSA since March, and no, I haven't managed to secure any work as yet, but pregnancy waits for no woman and pretty soon no one will want to employ an elephant with flatulence

Hi, I urgently need advice with regard to my Resignation Letter and what it should say. My maternity leave officially ended on 31st March. As the tribunal was set for Tuesday 7th April, I did not want to resign before the hearing. I am happy to say, after 18 months of upset, financial hardship and my poor mother's relentless efforts to get justice for me, I won my case for Pregnancy Discrimination and Victimization outright on Tuesday (7th April) After announcing the verdict, the Judge told me that, now, I must resign immediately and make a further claim for unfair dismissal. I would like to know, what I need to include in my letter bearing in mind my new claim for Unfair Dismissal Many Thanks

Hi, I'm as mad as hell about this, but I will try to keep a level head to explain, and any advice you can all give I'd really be grateful. I run a small business - 7 employees. But I was hoping to expand a few months ago and realised I needed to take on an office administrator to deal with the day-to-day running of things. (Simple tasks like photocopying, ordering toner cartridges and paper, etc). I found someone and from the start she was awful. Incompetent, bolshy, not right for me or the other 6 workers in the company. But I'm not a monster so I gave her direction, training and advice on how to improve. She seemed to take my offer of help as a criticism. I let things go for 6 weeks, but she's made so many mistakes and her attitude has deteriorated big time. So after careful consideration I decided to let her go today. I tried to do it as respectfully and honestly as possible, but she turned round with a massive cynical grin on her face and said (and I'm quoting) - "Haha, f*** you, you can't fire me I'm pregnant and if you try to fire me I'll tell them that you're discriminating against me. I now want £3000 or you're stuck with me". I'm not joking! She was only on minimum wage and had already taken time off in her first month due to hangovers, 'flu', etc. But reading around this forum I fear she may be right that there are certain cards women/ethnic minorities can play to excuse the fact they are crap at their job that suddenly mean I can't do anything as a hard working small business owner. Please tell me this isn't true? (Sorry if my post sounds bitter, but right now I'm fuming because I can't see anything that contradicts her legal rights now she's told me TODAY that she's 'suddenly' pregnant') Advice please. Thanx Rx Admin - please can you edit my thread title, I put new 'employer' should be new 'employee' (changes meaning. thanx

Hi all, I really need some advise on my current Employment Case and what to do next. Im currently representing myself, I do not belong to a Union or any org that helps me other than ACAS. I cannot afford Legal Rep and I do not qualify for Legal Aid because my partners savings count as household income(savings are for our new mortgage deposit) I will start by telling you the most relevant points from the beginning. Im from a non EU country. I arrived in the UK when I was 16 years old and I have remained here for the last 12 years. I currently live in Scotland. The main concern of my story goes back to January 2012, when I had applied for a permanent residence card which I was entitled to after remaining under the same EEU family member residence card visa for 5 years continuous. At the time I was working full time and my daughter was only 5 years old. I also had already engaged in a long term relationship with my present partner for a few years. When I was asked in 2012 by my employer to show them my passport status (standard checks by employers) I advised them that because my visa came to renewal point (expiry date 16 January 2012) and I was entitled to Permanent Residence under the EU regulations, I had sent my documents to the Home Office along with my application. My employer was happy with my answer and never asked my again for the time being. In June 2012 I received a letter from Home Office saying that I had not right to stay in the UK and I had to make travel arrangements back to Chile with any dependents(my daughter was born in the UK and held Spanish residence and attends full time education, I could not possibly remove her from her environment when she had no connections to my home country!) Their grounds of refusal were astounding! Apparently I had to show HO a divorce certificate (I never married) from my ex EEU family member but I had showed HO that I was the main carer of a EEU child and my previous relationship broke down due to Violence (evidence provided) I then made then a brand new application, this time with a help of a Immigration solicitor who assured us that my application was going to be successful, so we submitted it again. I was always open and honest to my employer as for what had been happening with my application at this stage even when they didn't ask for any further documentation, I continued working no issues. In October 2012 I was moved to a new team within my department and so I had new colleagues to work with. Comments and bullying about my race/ where I Was from" was from started to become common practice for my new colleagues. They mocked my accent almost everyday and picked on certain words I said and they would repeat it among themselves and laugh, I was certainly not laughing and it made me feel ashamed of myself. Even one of the more senior colleagues made comments about my country and its people, asking me if "we" lived in tents and If I had ever seen clean water before I arrived in the UK, it made me feel very inferior and insulted by those comments and the constant mockery. I raised a grievance with my new manager. He read my email I sent him about the situation and he acknowledged it, he then replied stating that there was a "dignity at work" policy but he didn't say or do anything else. The mockery continued and I did confront my colleagues about it, but it just kept happening on a weekly basis. Then, in December 2012 I found out I was pregnant! delightful news for our family (we wanted a baby so bad after I had a miscarriage in May that year) In December same year, I had two one to one meetings with my manager to address the racially fueled comments and also to discuss a few absences from work due to pregnancy related illnesses I was suffering. I had to tell my manager I was pregnant. My manager did nothing about the racial discrimination comments but instead decided to victimized me and mock me as well in one of those meetings, he said "but you speak funny"- He then asked me who was making such comments and laughing at me, but he then did nothing and excused himself saying that " he obviously was never there present in the team to witness" During the course of December I fell ill with my pregnancy, I had some bleeding at 9 and then 12 weeks and I was panicking. I then developed Sciatica and PGP which left me grounded in bed for several days before I could start Physiotherapy, I could hardly move or walk without the help of crutches. I was signed off by doctor for a couple of weeks(xmas celebrations/new year) When physio started I commenced a new year at work, January 2013, but I was still taking time off for my physio appointments and my weekly check ups because of my bleeding., I could see that my manager wasn't happy and he started asking me to work time off for appointments back. Then, at the beginning of Feb 2013 I received the outcome of my latest Home Office application. Home Office refused to grant me Permanent Residence(grounds were again divorce certificate) and were asking for my removal from the UK. Our world came crashing down, especially when learning that the Home Office grounds of refusal were not valid and they had clearly made a mistake in law. We went ahead and appealed their decision, the appeal was accepted by Tier1 tribunal and my case was going to be allocated for a hearing date. I, then innocently shared the devastating news with some of my colleagues and my manager heard. Immediately he asked me to provide the latest letter from HO to me because he wanted to look at it. I did. He then took a copy of it and disappeared with it in hands. Later that day he called into a meeting room to say I should provide any valid paper work to prove the right of work in the UK. I obviously couldn't provide any evidence because the HO retained all my docs and they wouldn't give me any evidence with regards to my work status.( My manager was pushing me to ask HO to provide a direct email that very same day to HR confirming my work eligibility, yeah right! ) I phoned my Immigration solicitor asking for advise. He then wrote to my work and advised them I had all rights to continue working and that my appeal was going to be held shortly. My employer then said this info was only my solicitors opinion and they then continued demanding from me evidence of my right to work. My manager, continued calling me into meetings for 3 days straight about 4 times a day!, threatening me with suspension/ dismissal. I was told not to tell any of my colleagues at work of this meetings even though I was throgh out suffering with stress/crying fits. I cried my eyes out, I was so scared of losing my job and I was confused, I didn't know what else to do, I was no part of an union, my only support was my family. I tried contacting HR (who were never present in these meetings) in what to do and what were my rights, but they never came back to me. I felt harassed during my meeting with my manager and very scared, worried and no one to turn to.(within my colleagues) It was all too much for me. My partner had to take me to my GP who refereed me to counselling (10 weeks waiting list) by my doctor was very concerned about my deteriorating health that she had to prescribe me with Diazepam!. I was only to take it when in deep stress. Before I knew it I was suspended for the whole of March 2013 with full pay. Through out the suspension we had weekly meetings with employer, this meetings were all very one sided : do you have documentation to prove your right to work? I didnt know who else to ask for help, I then went to my local MP to see if she could contact HO directly and confirm my right of work, My MP was then told by the HO that employers have a service available to them called the Employee checking service" I forwarded a letter from my MP confirming of this service to my employer, this letter stated that its an employer responsibility to establish the employee residential status, not the employee. In April 11th 2013 I was dismissed. Grounds of dismissal: "you were unable to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK" "under the Immigration, Nationality and Asylum act 2006 you must prove your right to work" I appealed the dismissal on grounds that I had an immigration appeal ongoing and further evidence would be available to me, but at the same time I made a full application to the employment tribunals for unfair dismissal, race discrimination and preg/sex discrimination in July 2013 before my 3 months were up. When I had my appeal meetings with ex employer, there was a lot of finger pointing and "its your burden to prove you are not illegal immigrant" etc etc.Before the very first meeting of my appeal against dismissal, I wrote to my ex employer and I pointed out that I was going to make an unfair dismissal claim to the ET including race and sex/preg discrimination. The head of department then called me into a hearing and asked me full details of my allegations in order for her to carry out a full investigation. At the time I had copies of the very email of my grievance to my manager. Ms head of department took copies of this and asked If i possessed any further evidence of my allegations. I responded no.( I do but I will tell more about it later) I was sick, it all got too much, I collapsed at home with panick attacks and uncontrollable crying fits. In August 2013 I had our baby, he was healthy and great! I lost my SMP thought, and future earnings, and to date my employment tribunal is still ongoing. My Immigration status has now been sorted and I have been granted residence based on my daughter entitlement to be in the UK (which I am also going to appeal) but because I am her main carer I need to work to provide for her. I am claiming Unfair dismissal, race discrimination, preg/sex discrimination, the respondent denies this allegations on the ET3 form and also claims that unfair dismissal was to prevent future fines under I, N and Asylum act 2006. They also say that my race, sex/preg are time barred and therefore put of time, also say that I never raised grievances with my employer My case was accepted. We already had a Prem hearing at the Tribunals and this went ok. We are now waiting on a final hearing date. Im going to cut to the chase here. I want to ask about settling. We have a mediator from Acas, who has been very helpful and neutral, but also the respondent keeps messing around with in respect with lies and none clear information in order to have a fair settlement. When I didn't have my Immigration status through yet and my ex employer wanted to settle (they wanted me to withdraw all claims) they started their offer with £500, currently they offered a "without prejudice" £5000 (on a commercial basis), but that is because they now saw my immigration status has now been confirmed that I always had the right to work. I submitted this infor to the Judge who then accepted this as evidence.(he had previously sisted the case awaiting on my immigration status) My grounds are here: 1) I was unfairly dismissed because, when you have an open and ongoing application/ appeal with the HO your rights continue as they were attached to your previous visa, ie right to work and create business, Also unfair because, its not for me to prove the dismissal was unfair, it is for my ex employer to rove that that they fairly dismiss me. They could of Investigated my immigration status a bit more and instead decided to assume I had no right to reside in the UK 2) I raised a grievance into the race discrimination which my employer decided to ignore at any attempt I made to raise it, therefor the grievance was never carried out and still open and ongoing, therefore it is not time barred- taking the circumstances of how things happened (to support this, I had made a detailed explanation of my claims to add to my ET1 and already submitted it to ET. (oh gosh! my fingers hurt) Based on all the info above (please ask questions if you need) how much should I be settling for? what calculations should I be using to see how much my case is worth?? what are my success rates? How an I go Pro-bono ( you need to understand we have a family and losing my job has been a financial nightmare!-not to mention the mentally/physically draining battle) I am on anti -depressants. Please help, any advise is appreciated, and please dont be judgmental towards me , I have never cheated, my visas have always been up to date and I have always worked and paid my NI and taxes into the UK.- I think I have suffered enough already. Before hand, Thank you very much. Ps: I do have further evidence but this is retained by my partner who works for my ex employer, he currently has all my conversations with him via an IM system at work, in where I told him about the racial comments while they were happening! ie all mocking, name calling, names of the people involved etec. Can I use this evidence if the Respondent fails to provide me with it (they have dragged their feet with their internal investigation outcome, I have now asked for an order which the judge says he will consider if the Respondent fails to update me on the outcome of the Investigation)?

been working full time in a bar since november and in march i found out i was pregnant and i told my employer straight away. since announcing i was pregnant i have rang in sick 3 times, all pregnancy related the latest being a bad back after standing for 8 hours while working in a kitchen. my manager wants a chat when i am next in on weds and i am worried i'll get sacked. any advice?

All, I know that this is not the right forum to post this question but I did know where else to post. My sincere apology. Im 8 weeks pregnant and joined my new work on August. Im still under probation period until November. Im not sure when to announce pregnancy to work. Please can expert guide me here. Thanks

Hello, Its a bit long winded but please stay with this. I would be greatful for any help. In February my girlfriend told work that she is pregnant. She works as a senior care worker in a nursing home. She was expecting a risk assessment to be carried out but there was no mention of it. After continually asking, her manager said that one had been carried out and she told my girlfriend that she was not able to work up stairs where the more difficult residents are. My girlfriend did not see or sign this "risk assessment" and she was not given information about the works maternity policy and pregnancy notification form. This is set out in the companies own policy and procedure. My girlfriend only received this when she raised a grievance about this. Now the fun begins. On the 11th of March my girlfiend was off work sick when she received a phone call from her manager asking if she remembered losing any confidential information she answered the questions unaware that minutes were being taken or that someone was present with the manager while the phone call was made. The minutes of this conversation were then put forward as evidence. On the 15th of March, my girlfriend received 2 letters from work. One was for a gross misconduct meeting regarding the loss of information and the other was an investigatory meeting for a medication error (which the company stated as being poor performance) for which my girlfriend is not responsable. She has been suspended due to the investigatory meeting since the 30th of March. My girlfriend raised a grievance because she never saw a risk assessment and other reasons for which she feels unfairly treated at work. During the grievance meeting, the person who was chairing the meeting showed my girlfriend the risk assessment that was carried out which could only be described as a joke. It was not on the correct form (it was filled out on a residents care plan risk assessment). The person who was chairing the meeting screwed up the risk assessment and then carried out a proper risk assessment. At this time my girlfriend was 25 weeks pregnant. The person chairing also went through the other points that my girlfriend raised and agreed that there was a case for grievance and the outcome was that my girlfriend and her manager should have mediation meetings. On the 6th of May, my girlfriend went into the gross misconduct meeting with a union rep. She explained that she did not realise that she had the confidential information which had been lost. When they challenged her over her having this information, she then told them that all senior carers were given this information and that they were allowed to complete care plans in their own time at home. The union rep blew them out of the water on all points they raised during this meeting. (She is still waiting for the outcome of this meeting) Today my girlfriend received a letter from work asking her to go to a meeting about the medication issue this has now turned into a gross misconduct meeting. The letter states that she could be dismissed from work and also put on the POVA list which would stop her working in care in the future. As mentioned earlier she is not responsible for this issue. The medication was ordered not collected. She had no way of knowing this due to the fact that the information was recorded in a diary which is held upstairs where my girlfriend was told not to work. To me this seems like her work cannot uphold the earlier case of gross misconduct and they are trying to get my girlfriend sacked on another issue for which they previously stated as been poor performance. My girlfriend only has 1 week and 4 days from today until her maternity leave begins. Do you think that we would have a sucessful case for a tribunal? Would this come under constructive dismissal and would my girlfriend also have a case for sexual discrimination.

I am pregnant and being made redundant. My qualifying week will fall within my notice period (if I choose to work this). Will I still be entitled to SMP? If so, am I also entitled to any other benefits such as accrued annual leave for the SMP period, keeping in touch days etc. Thanks for any advice!

Hi, I'm new to this site and in need of some advice. I work for a local council and we have been given letters stating that our jobs are at risk of redundancy. They are deleting all our current posts and creating new ones. There will be 31 redundancies. I am currently pregnant and am wondering if I should start my maternity leave early to try and avoid the risk of redundancy. There are lots of suitable posts I could be offered and believe that once on maternity leave I should be offered a suitable alternative position before any of my other colleagues are offered the positions. If this is the case then it is worth me starting my leave early to guarantee being offered one of the new positions and not risk losing my job. If this is the case I'm trying to find the relevant legislation that confirms this so I can take it to my employers so they are aware that they have to do this. They have also said that we all have to interview for the positions, if I was on maternity leave would I still have to go through this process? Can anyone be of any help - any please if I've got this wrong and being on maternity leave will not be of any benefit to me please let me know! Thanks in advance. Kim