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Can a pregnant employee benefit from a workstation adjustment?
Verified 14 December 2023 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)
Collective agreement, collective agreement, branch, company or establishment agreement applicable in labor law. They lay down the obligations and rights of the employer and the employee.
Place of production of goods or services constituting a part of the company having its own equipment and personnel located at a place other than the company
Outcome of the negotiations between the social partners (employers and employees)
Accident at work Situation during which the payment of wages by the employer and the performance of work by the employee cease temporarily (e.g. exercise of the right to strike, jury duty, sickness or taking leave, maternity, paternity, adoption or parental leave, sabbatical leave, temporary closure of the company, lay-off)
Location where pressure is above atmospheric (e.g., under water, hyperbaric chamber, nuclear reactor containment)
The employer must ensure the safety and protect the physical and mental health of the employee. Thus, a pregnant employee enjoys protection for her health and that of her child. We are taking stock of the regulations.
What applies to you ?
The pregnant employee's workstation may be adapted in the following cases:
- The employee's health justifies it
- The employee works at night
- The employee is exposed to particular risks (e.g. toxic products)
FYI
All pregnant women should be able to rest in a lying position under suitable conditions.
Health status
Pregnant employee can be temporarily assigned to another post if sound state of health requires it.
Please note
Postal arrangements may be provided for by treaty provisions for example, reductions in working hours.
The pregnant employee may disclose her pregnancy status to her employer at any time. It may inform him in writing or orally.
During this information, the state of pregnancy should be justified by a medical certificate.
The request or the proposal to fit the workstation may be made at the initiative of the employee or employer.
When the employee and the employer agree on the arrangement of the workstation, the occupational doctor is not called upon.
In the event of disagreement between the employer and the employee or where the change of position takes place at the employer's initiative, only the occupational doctor can establish the medical necessity of this change of job.
The occupational doctor then checks the employee's suitability for the new job.
If the assignment is proposed in a other establishment, the employee's agreement is obligatory.
The temporary assignment may not exceed the duration of the pregnancy. It shall end as soon as the woman's state of health allows her to return to her original job.
The change of assignment does not result in any decrease in remuneration.
The employee, who during her pregnancy has been transferred to another job, returns to her previous job when she returns to work after her maternity leave.
FYI
access to the teleworking for the pregnant employee may be provided for in the collective agreement or the charter drawn up by the employer. In the absence of information, telework is possible if the employee and the employer agree.
Pregnant employees are entitled to the maintenance of their pay even if there is no position compatible with their pregnancy.
Night work
Pregnant female employees benefit from a temporary assignment to another post when she usually works at night.
Please note
Postal arrangements may be provided for by treaty provisions for example, reductions in working hours.
The pregnant employee may disclose her pregnancy status to her employer at any time. It may inform him in writing or orally.
During this information, the state of pregnancy should be justified by a medical certificate.
The pregnant employee who usually works at night may ask the employer to be assigned to a day shift during pregnancy.
The occupational doctor may also find that the night shift is not compatible with the employee's state of health.
If the assignment is proposed in a other establishment, the employee's agreement is obligatory.
The assignment change does not result in no decrease in remuneration.
Consequences for the employment contract
In the event of the inability to arrange the workstation or to reclassify, the employer shall inform the employee in writing of the reasons preventing such temporary assignment.
The employer shall also inform the occupational doctor in writing of these grounds.
The employment contract is then suspended until start of legal maternity leave.
Impact on remuneration
Pregnant employees are entitled to the maintenance of their pay.
The guarantee of remuneration consists of a daily allowance paid by the CPAM: titleContent (provided that the conditions for compensation are met) and a supplement from the employer.
The employee must be compensated by the CPAM: titleContent in order to be eligible for the employer's supplement.
The additional allowance shall be calculated as in the case of an ordinary sick leave with the exception of seniority conditions.
Of treaty provisions may provide for more favorable conditions.
Exposure to particular risks
Some activities include health risks for pregnant female employees and children. The employer must offer a position that is compatible with this situation.
The pregnant employee may disclose her pregnancy status to her employer at any time. It may inform him in writing or orally.
During this information, the state of pregnancy should be justified by a medical certificate.
It is forbidden to employ a pregnant woman in the following situations:
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Exposure to ionizing or cosmic radiation and electromagnetic fields
Pregnant women who have declared pregnancy and who are exposed to ionizing radiation shall be informed of possible temporary measures.
She is also informed of the protective rules related to her pregnancy.
Where pregnant women remain in a position where they are exposed to ionizing radiation, the employer shall ensure that the exposure limit values for organs or tissues are observed.
Please note
The employer shall not assign or maintain a pregnant woman to a workstation on which she may receive a dose for 12 consecutive months:
- Greater than 6 millisieverts, excluding radon exposure in the following locations:
- Basement and ground floor of telecommunications buildings
- Specific workplaces including underground works, mines and quarries
- Equivalent to more than 15 millisieverts for the lens
- Equivalent to more than 150 millisieverts for skin and extremities
The exposure of a pregnant woman to ionizing radiation must not exceed 20 millisieverts over 12 consecutive months for the whole body.
For organs or tissues, the exposure limit values shall be set as follows:
- 500 millisieverts over 12 consecutive months, for extremities and skin
- 20 millisieverts over 12 consecutive months, for the lens
Please note
For the skin, this limit applies to the average dose over any surface of 1 cm2, regardless of the exposed surface.
Exposure to certain toxic substances
The list of prohibited toxic agents is as follows:
- Exposure to products known to be toxic to reproduction
- Pest control products that can cause hereditary genetic damage or birth defects (labeled as such)
- Carcinogenic and mutagenic pesticides
- Preparation and packaging Thiophosphoric esters (preparation and packaging)
- Preparation and packaging of thiophosphoric esters
- Subsequent derivatives of aromatic hydrocarbons
- Nitro- and chloronite derivatives of benzonic hydrocarbons
- Dinitrophenol
- Aniline and homologues, benzidine and homologues, naphthylamines and homologues
FYI
The prohibition on aromatic hydrocarbon derivatives shall not apply where the operations are carried out in closed apparatus in normal operation.
Lead metal and its compounds
It is forbidden to employ a pregnant woman who is exposed to metallic lead and its compounds.
Benzene
It is prohibited to employ a pregnant woman who is exposed to benzene.
Rubella virus or toxoplasmosis if not immune
It is prohibited to employ a pregnant woman who is exposed to rubella or toxoplasmosis virus if she is not immune.
Relative pressure greater than 100 hectopascals (hyperbaric medium)
It is prohibited to employ a pregnant woman who is exposed to a relative pressure greater than 100 hectopascals (medium hyperbaric).
Work with jackhammers
It is forbidden to employ a pregnant woman in work using jackhammers.
Mercury and its compounds for secretarial work in the hair-cutting industry
It is forbidden to employ a pregnant woman in work which is exposed to mercury and its compounds in secretarial work in the hair cutting industry.
The employer shall offer the pregnant employee who occupies a work position exposing her to particular risks another job compatible with her condition.
The employer shall request the occupational doctor on the proposal workstation layout or on temporary assignment.
He then proposes to the employee a workstation layout or a temporary assignment to another post. The proposal takes account of the opinion of the occupational physician.
These measures are possible until the date of commencement of the statutory maternity leave and possibly for a maximum of 1 month after the return of the maternity leave.
They must not lead to decrease in remuneration.
FYI
access to the teleworking for the pregnant employee may be provided for in the collective agreement or the charter drawn up by the employer. In the absence of information, telework is possible if the employee and the employer agree.
Consequences for the employment contract
Where it is not possible to arrange the workstation or to reclassify it, the employment contract shall be suspended.
The employer shall inform the employee in writing of the reasons preventing this temporary assignment. He shall also inform the occupational doctor thereof.
This suspension is possible until the date of commencement of the statutory maternity leave and possibly for a maximum of 1 month after the return of the maternity leave.
Impact on remuneration
The employee shall be entitled to guarantee of remuneration if sound the workstation is exposed to the following particular risks :
- Exposure to products known to be toxic to reproduction
- Exposure to pesticides that can cause hereditary genetic damage or birth defects (labeled)
- Exposure to classified carcinogenic and mutagenic pesticides
- Lead metal and its compounds
- Benzene
- Rubella virus or toxoplasmosis
- Relative pressure greater than 100 hectopascals (medium hyperbaric)
The guarantee of remuneration consists of a daily allowance paid by the CPAM: titleContent (provided that the conditions for compensation are met) and a supplement from the employer.
The employee must be compensated by the CPAM in order to benefit from the employer's supplement.
The additional allowance shall be calculated as in the case of an ordinary sick leave with the exception of seniority conditions.
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Temporary changes of assignment for medical reasons
Temporary changes of assignment due to exposure to particular risks
Allowances paid to women who have been released from work
Work involving exposure to biological agents
Radiation-exposed work
Work using machines of the pitching hammer type powered by compressed air.
Work involving exposure to hazardous chemical agents
Load handling
Hyperbaric interventions and work
Exposure to ionizing radiation on board an airplane in flight
Compensation guarantee temporary assignment changes
Limit values for exposure to ionizing radiation
Exposure to ionizing radiation
How pregnant employees can access a teleworking organization
Right to lie down for pregnant women
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