Employer breaking covid rules

virginblue4

Hi everyone,

I am just after some advice regarding a colleague / employer breaking quarantine rules after travelling abroad. To set the scene, I work in an office and the director has a complete phobia and a blanket ban of people working from home. 

A colleague travelled to France (transiting through Switzerland) last Thursday and returned to the UK yesterday evening. 

Current rules say that if you are returning from a non red list country (I realise red list countries are being scrapped) then you must take a day two PCR test within 48 hours of arriving and quarantine until you receive a negative result. My colleague took the test this morning around 8am and then came to work just after 9am. When questioned about this (by me), he said that he was sure it was going to be negative as he took a lateral flow yesterday as a precaution and that the country he came from had lower case numbers than the UK. Whilst he isn’t wrong, this is still a breach of the rules and I see it as him putting the office at risk directly before Christmas. 

I raised the issue with our health and safety manager, who had already been told about this by someone else. They raised it with the company director who accused her of ‘stirring up a !!!!!! storm’. The director then advised the colleague who was meant to be quarantining he wants him to stay at work and that if they get fined, he will cover the cost of the fine for them. 

I think this is outrageous behaviour and just says to me that they are putting profits before safety (yet they always bang on about being a family business). 

What are my options? Should I go as far as reporting to the police (through the official covid breach section on their website - obviously this is not a 999 issue). Who else can I report this issue to?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter. 

Thank you in advance!

[Deleted User]

Reporting it to the police is all you can do really.

Other than polishing your CV and looking for a better job. You can probably get more money if you are willing to switch.

missile

Was your colleague travelling for work / pleasure?
I doubt the police will be interested, but if they visit the employer and this may encourage him to comply with rules in the future.
You could report to Health & Safety Executive.

booneruk

Or you could tell the Mirror who'd then print a month worth of headlines about it

sheramber

you can report it online

https://www.police.uk/tua/tell-us-about/c19/v8/tell-us-about-a-possible-breach-of-coronavirus-covid-19-measures/

emmajones1976

I would stay out of it, they could have the result back by the time they bother either looking at it, it is then your word against theirs.

sheramber

As others at work are aware also it is more than the OP's word.

His work attendance would also show he had been at work.

HeinzVarieties

What's the point of reporting it if the director has said he'll cover the fine?

I actually agree with the employee that they've come from a lower risk country so what's the point?  The reason why they don't change the requirements due to different COVID levels is because it'd be an even bigger clusterfudge than the current rule changes are.  And they've done an LFT so they can hardly be accused of having a blasé attitude.

Plus, the employee is going to be penalised for something that isn't their fault.  If you were faced with losing your job or a small chance of a fine I think we all know what you'd do.

CKhalvashi

This is a police matter as a criminal offence has been committed.

The employer covering the fine shows his lack of regard for the rules and is probably also committing a criminal offence (although I'm too tired to bother reading the rules in full tonight).

Morally also this is unacceptable IMO as this is putting those in the same office at considerable risk, with legally mandated PCR tests being more accurate than LFDs.

sheramber

HeinzVarieties said:

What's the point of reporting it if the director has said he'll cover the fine?

I actually agree with the employee that they've come from a lower risk country so what's the point?  The reason why they don't change the requirements due to different COVID levels is because it'd be an even bigger clusterfudge than the current rule changes are.  And they've done an LFT so they can hardly be accused of having a blasé attitude.

Plus, the employee is going to be penalised for something that isn't their fault.  If you were faced with losing your job or a small chance of a fine I think we all know what you'd do.

Who said anything about being fired? 

The employee can be fined and the employer can also be fined.

What is the point of having rules if people can pick and choose what they do.

[Deleted User]

While it is a police matter, apparently the police don't investigate crimes that have already happened, especially when it comes to COVID. So it may already be too late to report it.