QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS SECTION:

• Can I ask my employees to disclose travel plans?
• My employee has just returned from holidays, can I ask them to stay at home?
• If the country my employee intends to travel to is declared a “Green Zone” and isolation requirements are lifted, can I ask them not to return to work for 14 days?
• Can I deny my employees annual leave if they plan to leave the country?
• An employee has returned from a country outside of the green list, and has offered to take a COVID-19 test. If this is negative can they return without completing the 14-day quarantine period?
• Many employees have cancelled annual leave due to the COVID-19 virus. I am worried this will lead to an unsustainable number of annual leave requests later in the year.
• My employee has annual leave booked but they are in receipt of the wage subsidy scheme. Do I allow them to take it?
• My employee needs compassionate leave but is not working at the moment. Does this entitlement carry through to when they return?
• I have temporarily laid off my employees. Are they entitled to payment for public holidays?
• We are availing of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, and my employee wishes to take annual leave. Can I use the subsidy scheme to pay for this time?

Can I ask my employees to disclose travel plans?

Employers can ask staff to voluntarily disclose where they have gone or are planning to go on holiday. In most situations it is hoped employees would voluntarily disclose the destination in order to help protect the workplace from potential infection.

Should an employee refuse to disclose this information an employer cannot force the situation. It would be prudent at this point to assume that the employee has travelled or is traveling to a high-risk area and act accordingly.

My employee has just returned from holidays, can I ask them to stay at home?

Yes, you are entitled to request that an employee stays at home for a period of 14 days if you feel this is necessary.  Current Government and HSE guidelines state that any person entering the country from anywhere outside the island of Ireland is required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days.  An employer is not obliged to pay an employee during a required 14-day self-isolation period. Employers can agree that further annual leave may be used to cover this period.

If the country my employee intends to travel to is declared a “green zone” and isolation requirements are lifted, can I ask them not to return to work for 14 days?

Yes, employees can be asked not to return to work, and it would be deemed to be a suspension on health and safety grounds, Therefore, an employer should pay the employee during this time in order to avoid a claim under the payment of wages act. If it is possible for the employee to work from home during this period that can be put in place. If not, employees should be paid their normal weekly payment for the time.

If an employee is advised by a GP or through the HSE guidelines to self-isolate they will be eligible for state financial aid, and the organisations normal sick pay policy should be applied.

The Covid-19 Green list has recently been updated, and is available to view here.

Can I deny my employees annual leave if they plan to leave the country?

Ideally, you will be able to discuss potential travel and come to a mutual agreement in relation to whether it is safe to travel. However, employers can cancel annual leave that has already been authorised, so long as the minimum notice is provided.

If this is not stated in the employment contract, the general rule is twice as long as the annual leave period, i.e. if an employee has two weeks booked, four weeks’ notice would need to be given.  Employers can stay up to date on the latest developments regarding travel on the Department of Foreign Affairs website.

If the employee has already booked a holiday, based on leave which has already been approved, then the employer is causing financial loss to the employee. The safest course of action is to consider offering compensation or allow the employee to take their holiday but self-isolate on return.

It is important to ensure that any actions taken regarding annual leave do not disproportionately affect certain groups. This could be indirect race discrimination if it affects more staff of certain ethnicity than others. If employers target certain staff specifically and request them not to travel or come to work, this could lead to direct race discrimination claims. Any request to avoid travel and not attend work should apply to all staff regardless of nationality or ethnicity and be linked to potential exposure to the virus not racial origins.

If an employee is travelling to an area that will require self-isolation on return, an employer can factor this time in when deciding if the annual leave can be granted.

An employee has returned from a country outside of the green list, and has offered to take a COVID-19 test. If this is negative can they return without completing the 14-day quarantine period?

On 13 October, Member States adopted the EU Recommendation on a coordinated approach to travel restrictions in the context of COVID-19. This ‘traffic lights’ approach provides for regions across the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) (+ UK) to be categorised as green, orange, red or grey, on the basis of the risk levels associated with COVID-19.

Passengers entering Ireland from red, orange and grey regions are requested to restrict their movements for 14 days. There are some exceptions for those travelling for essential purposes.

Until further notice, passengers arriving into Ireland from Denmark are requested to self-isolate for 14 days after their arrival, including those travelling for an essential purpose.

The map displaying how countries are categorised is available here with the first map titled Combined indicator: 14 day notification rate, testing rate and positivity rate showing the colour categories. The classifications are broken down to regions within countries, and are updated on a weekly basis.

With effect from midnight 29 November 2020 passengers arriving from an “orange” or “red” or “grey” region are to restrict their movements for 14 days (other than the categories outlined above). This period of restricted movement can end if the passenger receives a negative/’not detected’ result of a PCR test that has been taken a minimum of five days after arrival in Ireland.

Further information is available from Gov.ie  here and the Department of Foreign Affairs here

Your employees can opt to get a test after 5 days of restriction to cut short the time they need to remain out of work for.

You have no obligation to pay them for the time they are restricting movement and not coming to work as it is following public health guidance.

Many employees have cancelled annual leave due to the COVID-19 Virus. I am worried this will lead to an unsustainable number of annual leave requests later in the year.

An organisation can assign annual leave to be taken if 30 days’ notice is given and appropriate consideration of the employee’s circumstances is taken into account.

Employers can also decline annual leave requests, and once there is business requirements preventing an employee taking annual leave in the year it is accrued, they can legally carry over for up to 6 months. This should only be done in exceptional circumstances.

My employee has annual leave booked but they are in receipt of the wage subsidy scheme. Do I allow them to take it?

If the employee is working while in receipt of the wage subsidy scheme, annual leave can be taken and processed as normal.

If the employee is not working, but still getting paid through the scheme, the annual leave should not be deducted from their balance.

My employee needs compassionate leave but is not working at the moment. Does this entitlement carry through to when they return?

There is no legal entitlement to compassionate leave, and no legislation governing it. This means that your own policy, and management of this in previous situations will govern the decision made here. It will be a call for the business to make.

I have temporarily laid off my employees. Are they entitled to payment for public holidays?

Yes, an employee is entitled to benefit for any public holidays that occur in the first 13 weeks of layoff.  This benefit can be given through one of the following:

• A paid day off within a month of the public holiday
• An extra day’s annual leave
• An extra day’s pay

We are availing of the temporary wage subsidy scheme, and my employee wishes to take annual leave. Can I use the subsidy scheme to pay for this time?

Yes, if your employees are in work as normal, the temporary wage subsidy scheme can be used to pay for annual leave taken during this time. If the employee is not working, they are not accruing annual leave, but also cannot take it while they are not working.