Coronavirus has topped the news for the last 6 months and it’s not going anywhere any time soon. We are now entering the normal cough and cold season and as the kids return to school they are helpfully sharing their germs with their friends and their households. Managing normal seasonal illnesses and now COVID-19 is something we are all going to have to adapt to. What this means for you as an employer is that you may need to keep a closer eye on your staff, be a bit more flexible around your sickness absence procedures, and make some changes in work.
While we’ve all had to make lots of changes already, there’s still more to come. At the moment, being flexible is probably going to be the top thing on your to-do list when it comes to dealing with employees and Coronavirus. The bigger picture here is that we are all trying to follow the rules set out by the Government and Public Health Wales to ensure that the spread of the virus is minimised. An employee having to take time off, again, due to Coronavirus may be disruptive to your business, but it is in the best interest for us all that they do.
When it comes to the workplace, we should all be practising social distancing and / or wearing PPE. This should then reduce the risk to your employees. Unless employees have been in close contact* with each other while in work, they should be OK to continue working if a colleague develops symptoms.
* Examples of close contact include:
We’re advising people not to jump straight into disciplining people because they need to take time off. If they have taken all necessary precautions and they’ve been advised to self-isolate then there’s nothing anyone can do to change the situation. However, if you have employees who are continually putting themselves at risk by not following the guidance (e.g. the coach load of people who went to Doncaster Races and didn’t follow the guidelines), then disciplinary may be an option. If you do feel that this is something you need to do, then we would advise that you speak to your HR department, or give us a call.
Recently, we’ve been asked questions about what to do in certain situations, so we’ve put together this handy table for you.
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Situation |
What to do |
When can I return to work |
|
1. You have COVID 19 symptoms
|
You must
|
You can return to work if the test is negative provided you
|
|
2. You test positive for COVID 19 |
You must
|
You can return to work after 10 days provide you
This is the case even if you still have loss of taste/smell or a cough as these symptoms can last several weeks. |
|
3. Someone in my household has COVID 19 symptoms |
You must
|
You can return to work immediately if
|
|
4. Someone in my household has tested positive for COVID 19 |
You must
|
You can return to work only when
|
|
5. Contact Tracing has identified me as a close contact |
You must
|
You can return to work only when
|
|
6. I work with someone who is self-isolating due to having COVID-19 symptoms |
You can:
Unless
|
Continue working as normal unless close contact.
If you have been in close contact – you have to complete the 14 days of self-isolation without any symptoms |
|
7. I live with someone who has been identified as a close contact |
Although not required by law you can request that you
|
You can return to work when
|
|
8. I have been in contact with someone who has been identified as a close contact, but I do not live with them |
You can
Unless
|
|
|
8. My County has gone into lockdown and I work in a different County. |
You can go to work even if the place you live is in lockdown. Travelling to work is a reasonable reason to leave the county |
Continue to work as normal |
|
9. Someone in my child’s school has COVID-19 and my child has been told to stay off school to self-isolate even though they have no symptoms. I have no childcare for them. |
You can:
|
Continue to work as normal |