As Coronavirus COVID-19 continues to spread across Europe, with 15 confirmed cases in the UK to date, partner Sue Dowling, in our Employment Law team, outlines the advice for employers and employees.
Advice for employers
Employers are obliged by law to take reasonable steps to safeguard the health and safety of their employees. Current steps should include ensuring that workplaces are thoroughly and regularly cleaned, providing hand sanitisers and communicating the latest advice to all staff. The government does not recommend wearing face masks to protect against COVID-19 but does suggest that those exhibiting symptoms should do so to reduce the risk of affecting those around them.
Employers may also want to review those likely to be visiting their offices and premises, to identify if any further measures need to be put in place to ensure that individuals have not recently visited affected areas.
Employers should consider cancelling or postponing any overseas business travel to areas where there has been an outbreak of COVID-19. This might include routine visits to international offices, planned meetings or attendance at conferences and exhibitions.
Whereby employees plan to travel for personal reasons, for example to visit family, employers should direct them to the latest advice from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Employers seeking to impose a complete travel ban could face a resulting claim of discrimination.
If an employee is suspected of having COVID-19, the government’s current advice is that no immediate action need be taken until lab tests are completed. However, the dominating concern should be to exercise caution to prevent spread of the disease – therefore an employer could suspend an employee who may have been exposed to the virus, in line with its health and safety obligations. That employee could also be permitted to work from home until the risk has passed. In both of these situations, it would be safest to continue to pay the employee’s wages and to be consistent and sensitive in any similar situations.
Advice for employees
Employees also have a duty of care in the workplace and to the colleagues around them. Anyone coming to work who knows or suspects that they may have COVID-19, or has returned from an affected region, could be breaching their contract of employment.
Employees who need to self-isolate for more than seven days will require a medical note and confirmation of their fitness to return to work, as with any illness.
Whether and how much an employee is paid after an initial seven day period of sickness will depend on their contract of employment and their employer’s policies. In some situations, employees may receive statutory sick pay of £94.25 a week for a period of up to 28 weeks, instead of their normal pay.
According to Health secretary Matt Hancock, self-isolation should be considered "sickness for employment purposes".
Acas recommends that employees advised to self-isolate should receive their normal pay but this is not a legal requirement.
Employees choosing to self-isolate without a clear reason, and may be considered to be seeking unnecessary time off work, could face disciplinary action through the normal channels.
‘Gig economy’ workers including Deliveroo drivers receive little protection in such a situation. Organisations operating in this way should provide at least basic advice to individuals.
Please also see our more recent piece, The Budget - Chancellor Announces Measures to Support Employees and Employers in Light of Coronavirus Outbreak'. And Acas has published further advice on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
For further information or legal advice, please contact law@blandy.co.uk or call 0118 951 6800.
This article is intended for the use of clients and other interested parties. The information contained in it is believed to be correct at the date of publication, but it is necessarily of a brief and general nature and should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific professional advice.
