Employers who pressure employees to return to work may be sued if Covid-19 infections occur

Following on from the TUC warning that the government may expose employees to bad bosses

Latest government guidance is ”an open goal” for bad bosses, warns TUC

the legal profession and insurers are getting ready for a swathe of people seeking to sue employers who hastily expect employees to return to work and who then become infected.

Whatever the government decides in relation to relaxing social distancing rules it will ultimately be down to employers if their preparations are not sufficient to avoid infections. This may well also be the case if members of the families of employees are also infected and it can be shown that the infection derived from the relatives… workplace.

Legal firms expect many people to come forward especially amongst those who have been put in harms way by unscrupulous and rogue employment practices. Insurance companies also expect employers to be making claims once the courts… become involved.

However, it will not only be a financial hit for employers found to have breached the law but also the stigma and social outing of such businesses that could also have a profound effect as communities respond by boycotting them. This could lead to redundancies and potential bankruptcies becoming much more likely.

The HSE are very clear with their guidance and should be visited… if any person is seeking to take action against an employer.

On top of this the government is getting a very hard time from across the board as they continue to play politics whilst disregarding some medical and legal advice.

‘Health Secretary Matt Hancock said talks are ongoing with firms and trade unions about what rules should be in place to ensure “safe distancing”.

But he avoided spelling out what extra sanctions businesses might face to ensure workers feel protected as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

Labour is calling for a “national safety standard”, with leader Sir Keir Starmer warning that the “enforcement machinery been stripped down to the bare minimum”.
He called the consultation documents on protection measures circulated to businesses over the weekend “pretty vague”.

Some companies have been putting pressure on the government to start lifting the lockdown in an effort to revive the economy.

A review of the strict social distancing measures will take place by Thursday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson expected to lay out “phase two” of his plan to tackling COVID-19 on Sunday.

Mr Hancock refused to give any early indication of what extra measures businesses might be told to follow, telling Sky News’ Kay Burley@Breakfast: “There’s already rules in place that we’ve brought in to deal with the crisis.”

Sir Keir said there should be “consensus” about how to lift the lockdown but called for the “core principles” of how the UK will operate in the next few months to be laid out.
“People are very worried about going back to work – understandably, they want to know what they are going back to is safe and that means there are rules in place,” he told Sky News.’

As can be seen the government are floundering and the bill for their potential ignorance and negligence will almost certainly be piled on to employers. In the case of small businesses this could prove terminal.

One huge problem faced by many employees however. is the lack of legal protection given when

‘employers’ instructions to continue coming into work will be backed by the threat of dismissal (express or implicit) means that many employees will feel they have no choice but to obey, even if they reasonably believe this puts them in serious and imminent danger. They are unlikely to fancy their chances of finding alternate work during the crisis, and the prospect of a successful claim for unfair dismissal in future does not help with the immediate need to pay rent and bills. This weakness of individual legal rights in checking employer power during times of crisis highlights the need for cooperation between employers and employees to identify appropriate responses to COVID-19.‘

The absolute success of any relaxation will be where the government and employers fully supports all those who are either at risk themselves or have family members who are at risk. Anything less could be catastrophic for all concerned.

Read more about legal recourse… here.

My advice is to join a strong proactive trade union and do not put yourselves or your loved ones at risk.

Unions warn of mass walkouts over government return-to-work guidelines

Jason Cridland