Hello Legal Beagels!

[RogueOne]

Good morning everyone. I hope we are all keeping safe in this currently, crazy world!

I am supervisor to a tiny team (3 of us in total) of landscape operatives, who are employed by a small town council, my direct line manager being the town clerk.

One of our staff, who does 16 hrs a week, was instructed by the town clerk, with my support and his agreement, to stay at home for the next few weeks on full pay, due to the Covid 19 pandemic and the difficulty we have in social distancing while at work.

This particular employee has been with us for a year now, but not received any formal training. So can't be left operating machinery unsupervised. The vast majority of our work at the moment is cutting grass. There is a limited amount of work I can leave him doing by himself and due to the fact he is in a relationship with an ambulance driver, we were concerned about his potential exposure to Covid 19 and the risk therefore to the rest of our small team.

When he was first employed, he was living with a (now ex) girlfriend. They split up and he moved into a caravan. He then met his current partner and has since moved in with her, but still owns the caravan.

My employers are now saying he needs to move out of his girlfriends house, which is an hours drive away, go back to living in his caravan in this town and self isolate so that he can return to work ASAP, claiming that it is the address he has on his records. He has supplied an updated address of where he is living now, just to clarify he isn't trying to deceive anyone.

Where does he stand? Where do we stand?

[ULA]

In my opinion, you as the employer, cannot determine where someone should live just because there has been a delay in him updating his home address. Bearing in mind it seemed like his colleagues knew of his living arrangements and there could have been a reminder to him to change his personnel records to reflect his new address.

In the same way you have a duty of care to the team and your concerns over him living with an ambulance driver, who potentially has the risk of greater exposure to COVID19, you also have a duty of care to the health and safety of this employee. You would have to consider any mental health implications of asking someone to self-isolate for 14 days on their own.

If the majority of the work has been cutting grass is this something he can do or have you other duties in mind that he can carry out without the necessary training?

As a small town council are you receiving public funding for staff costs, and is that funding continuing through the current situation? Just checking whether there could be a consideration for furloughing if the criteria could be met.

Have you spoken to him and explained that you need to bring him back to work, however there are these concerns over health and safety for the rest of the team given the environment he is living in? In doing so you need to let him know that you cannot continue to pay him indefinitely for him to stay at home not working and you need to find a solution to the problem.

There are potentially further options but just wanted to give some initial guidance and find out the answers to the further questions I have asked.

[RogueOne]

Thank you for responding. I've tried to answer as best I can..

In my opinion, you as the employer, Just to clarify, I'm not the employer, I just supervise the other two landscape operatives, one of which is the person in question cannot determine where someone should live just because there has been a delay in him updating his home address I agree completely. It seems wrong they should dictate where an employee lives. If he wants to commute an hour to work, that is surely his decision, not the employers? Bearing in mind it seemed like his colleagues knew of his living arrangements and there could have been a reminder to him to change his personnel records to reflect his new address. We were indeed well aware he had had a change of living arrangement and he willingly gave me the updated address to pass on to our line manager, which I did. As far as I was concerned, the caravan was never a 'permanent address' anyway. It was very obviously a stopgap while he got back on his feet. I'm not even sure he could/can receive post there, either and he has no access to the internet, which isolates him even more.

In the same way you have a duty of care to the team and your concerns over him living with an ambulance driver, who potentially has the risk of greater exposure to COVID19, you also have a duty of care to the health and safety of this employee. You would have to consider any mental health implications of asking someone to self-isolate for 14 days on their own. Again, I agree completely. This was something that had crossed my mind. I personally think it is an unfair ask of this employee.

If the majority of the work has been cutting grass is this something he can do he can do it, but can't be left unsupervised as he has not received any training to use the various motorised items of machinery or have you other duties in mind that he can carry out without the necessary training? He could do other tasks, but my concerns are over potential cross contamination if he returns to our workplace. We know he is at higher risk of catching Covid 19 due to his girlfriends occupation. We share welfare facilities, touching padlocks and doorhandles and share a vehicle. We wash our hands regularly but the fear of contamination is very stressful for myself and my other colleague. I live in a house with another vulnerable person. So it's not just me I have to consider.

As a small town council are you receiving public funding for staff costs, As a town council, I believe we get our funding from the county council which would come from council tax, I guess.. and is that funding continuing through the current situation? Yes, the money is essentially already there. Just checking whether there could be a consideration for furloughing if the criteria could be met. We are not currently on the PAYE system, so I don't think my employers can furlough any of us.

Have you spoken to him and explained that you need to bring him back to work, I'm just a grunt, So that will be a task for the clerkhowever there are these concerns over health and safety for the rest of the team given the environment he is living in? From a personal perspective, this is my main concern, as I will be working with him/supervising him, so I'm quite happy for him to stay at home! I'm concerned for my welfare and that of my other colleague. We can manage our social distancing easily with just the two of us. He doesn't need supervising as he has been given the relevant training. Which minimises our need for contact even more during the working day. We come to work, then after, we go our separate ways. Our families haven't been out since lockdown began and we feel relatively secure that when we go home, we're not inadvertently taking the disease home too. If my other colleague returns to work and is still living with his paramedic, it will add extra stress to our working life. But at the same time, I don't want to see him forced to live in a caravan by himself, just so he can work 16hrs a week with us. I would like them to furlough him but because of the PAYE problem, its not looking like an option. I want to get through this situation with everyone intact. Mentally and physically. In doing so you need to let him know that you cannot continue to pay him indefinitely for him to stay at home not working and you need to find a solution to the problem. The solution is surely for my employers to do everything in their power, to keep us as safe as possible. Everything else is surely negligible? The work is still getting done by us, the remaining employees and we are more than happy to carry the load.

There are potentially further options but just wanted to give some initial guidance and find out the answers to the further questions I have asked.

[ULA]

Your employer has a duty of care for the health and safety of all of you. Ensuring that you are operating in a way that adheres to all the advise that has been given by Public Health England.

[RogueOne]

Thank you for your help with this.

[ULA]

if you have any more questions regarding this situation if things change, then just pop back to this thread. Stay safe