P.A Advice

beadles93

Hi everyone 
Currently employ my own team of P.A’s. Currently one of my casual workers on zero hours contract is pregnant. I'm wondering where I stand about her working for/with me due to my diagnosis of cerebral palsy spastic quadriplegia full-time wheelchair user. I use hoist for all transfers 

Rosie_Scope

Hi @beadles93, hope you're well. 

Are you worried about your PA going off on maternity leave or being unable to do some parts of her job, or is it more of the legal and financial side of things you need advice on?  

Hopefully some of our members might have had similar experiences and can offer some advice soon

beadles93

@Rosie_Scope as I employer it where I stand legally? Also it's personally if something were to happen she was to get hurt. Or if she wasn't to wake up in the night when I need her. This did happen the other day then I found she was expecting.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @beadles93, if you have insurance set up, perhaps you could chat to the insurance company to see what's covered and whether anything additional needs to be sorted out. I think sometimes this may include a risk assessment for the worker, but I'm by no means an expert on these things. 

There's some information about employing pregnant workers on the Health and Safety Executive website that might be useful to read through to see if any of it applies to your situation.

Perhaps you could also set up a meeting with your PA to discuss whether anything needs to be changed, and whether you need to put any plans in place to cover emergencies or any problems that crop up over the next few months. It's probably best to keep a copy of anything you say in writing or typed up, just so you have it recorded. Hopefully you can come to an agreement together on the best way forward for you both