Employer forcing quarantine period after travel to unrestricted location

bradders1983

Booze? What on earth are you on about?

sheramber

markjim1980 said:

Holiday to France booked since end of 2019, booked and accepted by employer in Jan 2020. My company has its own travel policy enforcing quarantine after international travel (overriding government advice). My employer's advice since the lockdown began is that after international travel employees should quarantine for 14 days and work remotely if possible. I was continually encouraged to take annual leave during lockdown so my employer did not face a large amount of holiday requests at the back end of the year, so I did as encouraged and continued taking my annual leave. I then found myself 11 days away from going on holiday when I was verbally told the policy had changed (and told it was also communicated in an email a few weeks previous, but nobody can find evidence of that) and I would have to cover the quarantine period from my own annual leave pot (of which I do not have enough left to cover it, so would have to take unpaid leave). I have been working from home since May (last day on site was 18th May), I am classified as a home worker for the foreseeable future so I am able to work from home, but I’m being told I’m not allowed to work from home during my quarantine period in the interest of fairness to people who cannot work from home.

 

Is this a reasonable decision?

Do you have a union?
Maybe try ACAS?

louby40

My boss has also enquired about this.
He's a headteacher and has a holiday home abroad. He was considering going in the 6 week holidays. It's a very small, low risk area. HR told him that if he couldn't return to work after travelling abroad he may be in breach of contract and could have his pay stopped. 
I have also got a holiday booked so this has worried me slightly and i.  currently trying to change the dates so that it gives me some leeway at the end of my holiday. 
I did ask him to fine out what happens if I go to Cornwall and get picked up via track and trace and have to quarantine then, HR couldn't answer and said it was a very grey area!!!

sharpe106

epm-84 said:

ic said:

 I don't believe they can force you to take unpaid leave. 

They can't, especially considering some foreign countries have fewer cases of COVID-19 than certain regions of England.  Are they going to say someone who visits family in Leicestershire or Lancashire needs to self-isolate for 14 days as well?  If not they have invented a policy which makes no sense and consequently they need to pay the employee's wages if they want them to not work for two weeks.

Maybe they are getting ready to apply for a job in government. Making policy’s that make no sense. 

Westin

Westin said:

The company my wife works for (a large energy provider) has also come out with this ‘rule’ telling staff that they need to self quarantine at home for 14 days after returning from any overseas travel and to take this as annual leave. Bizarrely she has been working at home for them since mid-March so it is not like she would even be in an environment to spread the virus should she have it.  Staff are perhaps naturally challenging this and hoping this directive is one that gets changed.  Not that we are currently planning an overseas trip in the short term but I have told her that she just shouldn’t mention where we go on holiday should we try to get away in the late summer or autumn.  

Update
My wife’s employer has since backed down and accepted that policy should mirror current U.K. Government advice on quarantine after overseas travel.  Extra holiday time taken to self quarantine at home after a holiday would not apply or be necessary to those returning from the ‘safe’ countries on the U.K. Government list.   Seems that someone in HR was rather overzealous in their approach, perhaps not understanding the situation fully.  The staff challenge was worth it.