I don’t want my bosses to know I’m trying for a baby – but they are sending me to a Zika virus zone

Have you got a work-related problem? In this series we invite you to send in a short description of your predicament – so that other readers can offer solutions
  
  

Businesswoman drinking coffee in airport
Pregnancy dilemma ... Photograph: Nick White/Image Source/Alamy
Photograph: Nick White / Image Source/Alamy

I work in a role where I am required to travel about once a year. My partner and I are now trying for a baby and on checking I found that some of the places I visit on my work trip are listed as moderate risk for Zika virus. I obviously don’t want to take that risk, but equally I am reluctant to share with my workplace that I am trying to have babies. I know it can often take time and so don’t want to change the way they treat me as a colleague if they know this is in my plans. (My entire reporting line is male, so as much as I would like to be optimistic I know this will change the way I am thought of.) I am also reluctant to travel at all (even to the “safer” places) once I get pregnant as I am a bit nervous of being away. Am I within my rights to say I’d rather not?

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