Enforced holiday or making up lost work days

[LouLou17]

I would be very grateful for a legal opinion on my current situation.

I work full time in an office job and have been asked to switch to working from home. However, I currently cannot work because I am waiting for the company to send me necessary equipment.

The company are saying that I must either take the period as paid holiday or I can continue to be paid and make up the lost weeks by working extra days at weekends when I am able to work again. My question is: is the company within its rights requiring this of me? Is the only alternative for the company to make me redundant?

I presume this is covered by EU law as I am working in an EU country and the company is British.

[ULA]

Are you moving to home working due to the situation with the coronavirus in the EU country you are currently in?

Is your contract of employment directly with the British company and therefore will be governed by legislation here or is the contract based on the legal jurisdiction of the country you are in? In which case please can you tell me which country you are in.

[LouLou17]

Many thanks for replying to my post. I am in Spain and the contract is based on Spanish jurisdiction. I am moving to home working as a result of the coronavirus guidelines.

The other employees in my office have also moved to home working. As far as I have been able to gather, no other employee is in a similar position to me where they waiting on equipment to be able to work.

[ULA]

Thanks for clarifying. This is a UK website and my knowledge of Spanish employment law is non-existent.

However, I have done some research and found this site which provides a summary of guidance for Spanish employers in response to COVID19. It was produced by Bird & Bird a multinational law firm with offices in Spain so should be pretty reliable.

https://www.twobirds.com/en/news/art...oyers-in-spain

Over half way down there is a section titled "What are employers’ obligations in respect of COVID 19" and I think that will answer the question as it states that “From 30 March 2020, employees who do not provide essential services are obliged to work from home where feasible. If remote working is not feasible, the employee must take compulsory paid leave from 30 March to 9 April 2020. The employees must then make up these hours that they have not worked (but have been paid for) before 31 December 2020.”

So your company may be using this guideline to cover the period when you do not have the equipment needed to work remotely.

Hope that helps.

[Law Student 6]

Hello,
I'm sorry you find yourself in a difficult situation like this. Unfortunately, there's little law in this area since we are in such unprecedented times.

In terms of enforcing holiday, Regulation 15(2) in the Working Time Regulations 1998 states that employers can require employees to take holiday on particular days if appropriate notice is given. This notice should be twice the amount of time that they are asking you to take as holiday. With everything going on, I think the employer has a duty to act reasonably in giving you enough time to consider your options.

Moving forward I think negotiation will be key in this situation so you can reach an agreement which suits you and your employer. Ultimately it involves weighing up what you are comfortable with and whether you would like to choose from the options presented or possibly face redundancy. Factors to consider are how long it will take for the equipment to arrive and consequently how many weekends you would have to potentially work.

Since you currently can't work another option is that your employer could put you on furlough until you get your equipment. Through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme your employer could pay up to 80% of your salary. The employer would have to claim for you but I think it's worth bringing up when negotiating.

I hope this helps.

[ULA]

Hi @lawstudent6 this was a very good answer given the situation in the UK and would have been useful if the poster's contract was governed by UK legislation.

I had to do some research myself to try and find out what may be happening in Spain and hopefully the link will help.

[LouLou17]

ULA & lawstudent6, many thanks for taking the time to look into this for me and replying so promptly. It was much more than I had expected. It has really been a great help.
I have expressed my appreciation in my review.

[ULA]

Hi LouLou17 thank you so much for the lovely review which is appreciated by us. Glad that we could help and send you good wished in these unprecedented times. Stay safe.