Hazardous work for pregnant woman
I am a technician in a company where I have been working for about four years now. Although the foreman knows that I am presently expecting and my due date is in the next two months, he has been assigning very hard jobs to me where I have to stand for long hours. I know he is intentionally doing this as my sister had turned down his proposal to marry him. Is there anything I can do to address this?
CM, Dar
We wish to point out that the Employment and Labour Relations provides clearly that no employer shall require or permit a pregnant employee or an employee who is nursing a child to perform work that is hazardous to her health or the health of her child.
The test above is subjective and depends on what exact job is assigned to you. All in all, if the assignments given to you are hazardous to your pregnancy then that is against the law and the foreman needs to desist from such behavior.
As a matter of creating a good atmosphere at work place and preventing abuse of powers, you may report this to your superior otherwise the matter is actionable under the law above.
On a different note if you expect to deliver in one month we wonder why you are still at work. The same law has given you an option of commencing your maternity leave any time from four weeks before the expected date. You may hence also ask your employer to start maternity leave. Your lawyers can guide you further.