Employee Compliancy
It’s now been a year since the UK’s first lockdown was announced. We’re just a few weeks away from restrictions being eased but the government has made clear that restrictions can only be eased if the public are compliant with rules such as social distancing.
So how should you handle it if a member of staff refuses to comply?
In the workplace, you can enforce health and safety to keep staff and customers safe, instructing staff to comply with social distancing, hand sanitising and wearing PPE (unless exempt). You can also require them not to come to work if the law says they should self-isolate. If they don’t comply then you can apply your disciplinary procedures.
But what about outside work? You don’t have the authority to discipline employees for actions in their personal time but your business can be affected. Behaviour outside the workplace can become your issue if it can affect the employee in the performance of their duties or it endangers the health and safety of their colleagues. Failure to follow social distancing outside of the workplace may lead to disciplinary action but you should be cautious, judge each case carefully and take professional advice.
It makes sense to make sure you have the right policies and processes in place now and that staff are aware of and understand them. It’s also worth encouraging staff to read the government and NHS websites for Covid updates.
Quest, our Chamber Protect service providers can help you draw up the right policies, taking into account Covid concerns. And as a Chamber members can speak, free of charge, to the Quest HR & legal advice team for further help. Become a Chamber member here.
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