Fines up to £10000 for employers who break self-isolation rules

Employers could face fines up to £10000 if they break the new self-isolation rules that have been brought in as a response to the increase in coronavirus cases. A new law came into action earlier this week to crack down on individuals and firms who are not following the rules. It is now a legal duty for individuals to self-isolate if they test positive for coronavirus or if they are told to by the NHS Track and Trace System. The introduction of this law also comes with fines for those who break them. Both the individual who fails to self-isolate and the businesses who allow that worker to breach the rules will face fines. This is to help crack down on employers who are encouraging someone who is self-isolating to come into work.

The new law includes:

• Employees must tell their employers if they have tested positive or been asked to self-isolate by the Official Track and Trace service.
• The employer is then prohibited from allowing that individual to go anywhere other than their designated self-isolation space for the purposes of work
• Fines for firms breaching the rules start at £1000 and can be as much as £10000
• The amount will increase for those repeat offending
• The severity of the fine is likely to depend on the situation. For example, if the employee is forced to work out of fear of losing their job, the fine will be higher.

What actions you should take in HR:

• Communicate this new law to your staff, ensuring everyone understands
• Outline how you plan to manage this situation
• Ensure employees know who to contact if they are required to self-isolate
• Explain how the self-isolation will impact the employees normal working arrangements
• It is advisable to inform staff they may face a disciplinary if they fail to make you aware as the employer that they are required to self-isolate

How oneHR can help you:

oneHR contains an absence management function. Absence can be logged onto this system which can be seen by both the employee and employer. This provides a clear overview of absence within your company. If one of your employees is required to self-isolate you can log this absence onto the system. You will then be able to see when the employee’s self-isolation period is over. The employee will be able to see this too, therefore understanding clearly when they are able to return to the workplace. This will ensure that there are no accidental breaches of the 14 day self-isolation period. So you can have the confidence that your company will be operating safely and lawfully.

Other functions of oneHR that are useful with current restrictions:

• Unlimited document storage

This storage is accessible from wherever you are and at any time. This is useful to store relevant return to work documents, including Covid19 risk assessments. All communications in regard to changing guidelines can be uploaded in this section. Therefore employees can access them whenever they need to. Ensuring all employees stay up to date and compliant with any changes to guidelines and laws.

• Task Management

If you or any of your staff are working remotely this function will be very useful. The task management function ensures you keep up to date with important tasks as an employer. Additionally it helps to assist employees with time management in completing tasks to deadlines. This helps to keep employees productive and efficient no matter where they are working.

If you have any further questions or queries with regards to the content above or would like to request a demo for oneHR, please don’t hesitate to contact the oneHR team today.

E: contact@onehrsoftware.com

Twitter: @oneHR_