Advice needed - rights during lockdown

[Marvolo]

I recently started a job on the 30th November 2020. It’s a sales call centre so it’s obviously not an essential job and therefore we shouldn’t be in the office due to the current coronavirus lockdown. They have provided all staff with laptops and asked us to work from home, but it transpired that my home wifi isn’t strong enough to support the applications needed and so I’ve been asked to work from the office. The problem is that I don’t feel comfortable being in the office, firstly because I live with my 71 year old father who I cannot afford to expose to Covid, but also because a number of my coworkers have developed covid over the past week after being in the office, proving it’s not a safe environment even with reduced staff. My question is that if I cannot work from home, do I have the right to refuse to enter the office due to the aforementioned reasons? I don’t think I’m eligible for the furlough scheme as it’s for people that were employed on or before 30th October 2020, which I was not. So what other options does that leave me with? What can I ask my employers for? Thank you for any advice you can provide.

[ostell]

What do you mean by "wifi isn't strong enough"?
Have you moved closer to the router, or moved the router?
Have you tried connecting by cable from router to laptop?
Have you considered a power line adapter to get the signal closer? Here's some info

[Marvolo]

I mean that the “wifi isn’t strong enough”. I’m only going off of what the IT guys at work have told me. I’ve been sat right next to the router with no luck. It’s not that the wifi doesn’t eventually work, it’s just the sites take too long to load or have issues with connecting. I’ve not tried a power line adapter so I’ll look into that, but the question was more about where I stand if I’m unable to work from home.

[ostell]

Get the IT guys at work to properly define what they mean. It sounds as though your broadband is not fast enough OR their own server has problems and wasn't designed for a lost of people working from home.

Go to this site Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test , press go and see what speed it gives for your broadband.

If you can't work from home then they may require you to go in,

[Marvolo]

Thanks for your help. I’ve just used the site and it’s still saying my internet is slower than needed for work. I’ll ask the IT guys but as far as I’m aware I’m the only person that’s struggled with WFH.

My dad is currently shielding so really I shouldn’t be around other people either. Surely there has to be a plan C for people in this situation?

[ostell]

OK so at least you have found that it is your internet and not the wifi. As a check can you use a network cable between the router and the laptop? Get's rid of wifi connectivity problems. If the speed is still slow then what speed are you paying for. If what you are getting is very much less than what you are paying for then complain to your supplier and they should be able to up the speed so that you can work from home

[ULA]

All the advice from ostell is good and practical as you certainly need to see if you can improve your internet speeds. I presume that your father is clinicially vulnerable in which case support from your employer would be allowing you to work from home which they have done.

Thought would be that if indeed your current package does not provide the necessary speeds and you need to upgrade you could take advantage of the working from home allownace of £6 per week or £26 per month which is normally paid tax-free by employers or, during the pandemic, HMRC has confirmed invidivual can claim a deduction from earnings for this allowance and information is available on how to do this. This allowance could then be used to cover the cost of any difference in upgrading your broadband connection.

[Marvolo]

Thank you both for your help. I’ll try the network cable and see if it works. I’ve already been in touch with providers to see if I can upgrade my internet but because I live in a rural village there aren’t many options and they’re all about the same speed. I’m paying for 4mb/s-9mb/s and the speed I get is within that range so they’re not at fault.
I just feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place because I don’t want to upset my employers since I’m relatively new but I also don’t want to bring anything home to my dad. He’s not clinically vulnerable but his health hasn’t been great over the past year and I’m not willing to take the risk. Realistically, if I’m not able to get my internet sorted soon, where does that leave me?

[ULA]

If you cannot get your internet sorted then:

1. Your employer can request that as you cannot work from home you need to attend an office to carry out your duties and this would be considered a reasonable management request.
2. Your father is not clinically vulnerable and therefore having to shield so that may be difficult for you to argue in which case my suggestion is possibly around your concern over the safety of the work environment, given the number of covid cases, if they can be associated with the office and not other factors - Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 may be your friend here.
3. If you refuse to go to work then your employer can refuse to pay you.
4. Ultimately with your length of service your employer could consider dismissing you and unless it could be considered discriminatory or for a number of other specified reasons, they could do this "fairly".

[ostell]

So if you are getting within the range you are paying for then not a lot you can do. A cable, about £2 you may even have one, will probably improve matters a little bit so it might get you just into useable.

can't really comment about what your employer will say/do, though I completely understand your reluctance to risk your fathers help.

There is the option of sattelite broadband but can be expensive, unless your neighbours want to club together