Coronavirus /COVID-19 - Information for Employers
Coronavirus / COVID-19 - Information for Employers - 8th March 2020
With UK cases almost doubling overnight, airlines collapsing and now Coronation Street affected, we have had a number of enquiries from our clients about Coronavirus and what employers should be doing.
STAY INFORMED
This situation is evolving every day so it is crucial to stay up-to-date with the latest information from Public Health England
and the government website.
Make sure you know where your staff are travelling to.
ACAS have provided a guide too here.
PROVIDE SUPPORT
Keep your staff informed of the latest information too and adjust travel requirements if necessary.
Ensure that Managers recognise the symptoms of Coronavirus.
Make sure they have access to soap or sanitiser and hot water. In certain industries, you may be required to consider protective clothing or gear.
Consider increasing your cleaning provision, particularly of high-traffic surfaces.
Try to be as open as possible with staff and have an open door policy. Do not be afraid to say that you do not know the answer and direct them to the appropriate forum for further guidance or do some research and reply later.
DEALING WITH ABSENCE
- If staff are unwell, they can self-certify for 7 days and then will require a medical certificate. New legislation will shortly be brought in to give workers the right to SSP from day one. Bear in mind though that, if staff are infected with Coronavirus, by only paying SSP (rather than full pay), this may discourage them from staying home. This could be short-sighted as you could end up with a much bigger problem if others are infected.
- If staff are not showing symptoms but have been to an affected country, they should contact 111 by phone or on their dedicated website and get advice. If they are required to self-isolate, how you deal with their absence may depend on a number of factors:
- If they have been to an affected country against government or company advice this could be grounds to refuse pay for the period of self-isolation.
- If they have been to an affected country but the advice regarding that country or region changed after they had travelled there, the best practice would be to pay in full as you are effectively having to suspend them on health and safety grounds.
- If a person chooses to self-isolate but there is no requirement or medical advice to do so, then you could take steps to take disciplinary action and treat this as unpaid, unauthorised leave.
- If a member of staff requires time off to care for a child who has been asked to self-isolate, the usual “time off for dependants” applies.
PLAN AHEAD
Make contingency plans for your business.
If possible, prepare for staff to be able to work remotely and for your business to continue.
Make sure managers have access to contact details.
Request that work is taken home on a daily basis in case a person is required to work from home.
BALANCE YOUR DUTIES
You have a duty of care to provide a safe system of work – this might include asking those who may be infected to self-isolate, curtailing travel or allowing vulnerable staff to work from home where they may be a risk of infection.
You have a duty not to discriminate and to prevent discrimination amongst workers.
You have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers and to conduct a risk assessment for pregnant workers or workers of child-bearing age and this might include allowing vulnerable staff to work from home if possible.
Requiring information about staff travel on personal holidays could be seen as an invasion of privacy but it will almost certainly be justified as you have a legitimate reason to investigate.
You will have to balance these duties with other factors such as your need to protect your business’ reputation, keeping your business profitable and your responsibilities under the Data Protection Act to keep personal data secure (remembering also that health information amounts to special category data).
QUESTIONS
We know that this piece does not cover every aspect of this changing situation and we would be happy to discuss any further queries you might have. If you have a further question or would like to the discuss the fixed-price support services that we offer which includes unlimited legal advice about Coronavirus and any other employment law issues, please do get in touch here.
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