| We currently have the traffic light scheme in place with regards to foreign travel, with many of the most popular holiday destinations still on the amber list (including Spain and Greece). The only common summer holiday destination on the green list is Portugal. If staff want to book holiday, therefore, you may wish to check where they plan to go. If they go to an amber list country, they will have to quarantine at home for 10 days after they return. If they are able to work from home, that may well be manageable, but if not then that will cause some difficulties. If they travel to a red list country they have to stay in a government approved quarantine facility for 10 days. That may prove difficult to manage even for those who are able to work remotely.
It would be a good idea to talk to your staff in advance and set out your position on quarantine. You may decide that it will have to be unpaid leave or you may permit them to cover it from their holiday entitlement (particularly if they have accrued a lot of holiday). You may decide to impose a restriction on any future holiday bookings, making it clear that you will only approve holiday which does not result in the need to quarantine. It would not be reasonable to introduce that retrospectively for holidays already booked, however.
Of course, this is a very tricky issue, and many hope that more countries will be added to the green list as we move into summer. Employees may be tempted to gamble on that happening and book holidays now to try to avoid missing out. If that means they have breached a company rule on booking holiday (as set out above), there is little you can do other than take disciplinary action. That can cause resentment and a loss of morale. So this needs careful thought and careful handling.
Please contact us to discuss the matter further if you are not sure how best to handle it in your own workplace. |
