In this article we want to focus on employees, support employees can get and the issues they may have that are caused by the current coronavirus crisis. If you are an individual who is wondering what will happen with your workplace and if you are somehow protected under the circumstances, please stay with us and spend few minutes of your time to find out what may happened and what your rights are.
If you self-isolate to comply with government guidance and are worried to do so, because you do not know if you will receive your work pay for that period we can say that yes, you may be entitled for sick pay. As an employee you have a legal right to get £94.25 per week by your employer for up to 28 weeks.
According to the most current information from ACAS you will receive Statutory Sick Pay if you have coronavirus, coronavirus symptoms, someone in your household has a coronavirus symptoms or you have been advised by your doctor or NHS to self-isolate.
Your employer may ask you for a proof that you are ill and if it decides to do so, you should follow the internal procedure of sickness reporting. You should find it in your employer’s staff handbook or in your contract of employment.
There is a project of legislation for Statutory Sick Pay to be paid from day one rather than day four and once it is passed, it will work retrospectively from 13th March 2020. The legislation is called Coronavirus Bill 2019-2021 and its details were published first on 17th March 2020. It is not binding law yet, so please check here for any updates.
If your employer requires you to provide a sick note after seven days of your absence, you should contact your GP or visit NHS 111 website: https://111.nhs.uk/isolation-note/
If you are working at the most affected businesses, including schools, nurseries, theatres, cinemas, pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes, gyms or leisure centres, you have without doubt already experienced severe impact of the coronavirus crisis.
From employment law perspective, the employer may lay you off or put on short-time working only if there is a relevant provision in your contract of employment. We therefore encourage you to check your contract or seek professional legal advice, if you think your rights may have been infringed.
If there is no such provision in the contract and your workplace is temporarily closed, you are still entitled to receive full payment, even if in fact you are not working or not working full time.
If the employer is contractually allowed to lay you off or put you on short-time working, you usually will be entitled to so called ‘Statutory guarantee payment’ of up to £29 a day from your employer (for maximum of 5 days in any period of 3 months).
Your employer may also ask you to sign an annex to your employment contract or new contract with reduced number of hours and reduced salary. You cannot be forced to sign it, however, if you do not wish to do so, employer may consider to lay you off or put on short-time working (if applicable) or even start redundancy process.
We understand how stressful it may be for you, if you have been notified by your employer about the redundancy at your workplace. You will have certain legal rights, but only if you have been working for the employer for two years before you are made redundant and if your status is one of an employee. If this is a case, you should be paid a redundancy pay that depends on your age and how long you have actually worked for the employer.
When calculating your redundancy pay, we strongly encourage you to use verified sources, for instance this on-line calculator: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay
It does not mean that redundancy is always fair, even if the business needs have diminished as a result of coronavirus outbreak. The employer is still required to follow fair procedure, carry out consultations, apply fair selection criteria, etc.
If you require any further legal advice with regards to the redundancy process and your rights, please do not hesitate to contact our IMD Solicitors team on 0330 107 0106.
If you are not on sick leave, the employer may ask you to use your holiday entitlement now whilst the workplace is temporarily closed. However, the employer should normally notify you about it in advance at least twice as many days before as the amount of days you will have to take.
If the employer cannot cover costs of employment and at the same chooses not to start redundancy process at the workplace, it can designate an employee who will be considered as a ‘furlough worker’. You do not have to agree for it if you do not have lay-off clause implemented in your contract of employment. If you agree, however, your employer will be able to claim 80% of your wages (up to £2,500) from HMRC under a new Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme.
If the employer chooses not to pay you remaining 20% then, in the absence of lay-off clause in your contract, it will require your consent to change the terms of the contract between you and the employer.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be available to every employer in the UK, no matter if this is a company, partnership, sole trader or charity. The Scheme will apply to employees that were on a payroll on the 29th February 2020.
We know that the Scheme will cover wages of furloughed employees from 1st March 2020, however, online portal to notify HMRC about the details of designated employees and their wages is yet to be set up. The employers will be allowed to backdate their claim. Further details will be published by the government shortly.
Your employer may require its staff to start working from home to prevent risk of spreading coronavirus among the employees.
As an employee you are responsible to take reasonable care of your own health and safety. If there are any arrangements that should be done before you start your homeworking, you should discuss it with your employer.
If no amendments have been done to your contract before you were asked to work from home, you are entitled to get the same pay as if you were at the actual workplace if you are working same number of hours.
It is perfectly understandable that employees may be afraid to attend the workplace as they do not want to be exposed to risk of catching the virus. If the anxiety is severe enough to prevent employee from working, it is possible that they may be regarded as on sick leave and as such entitled to Statutory Sick Pay. Each case should be treat individually and appropriate solution should be adopted depending on the circumstances. Noone should take advantage of the situation and any measures should be based on mutual understanding and some doze of flexibility on both sides.
If you require additional information employment or suspect that your rights may be violated, please contact one of the lawyers in our employment team on 0330 107 0106 or email info@imd.co.uk.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.
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