Coronavirus Employer FAQs

Please use CTRL F to search for the keyword of your query. These FAQs will be updated on a daily basis. If your question is not answered please email hr@isme.ie 

 

What should I be doing to ensure my employees are safe in work?

Employers should ensure that they are continuing to provide a safe place to work, in accordance with the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005.

In order to do this the employer should ensure that they are providing:

• Adequate hygiene facilities
• Adequate space to practice social distancing
• Adequate ventilation
• Extra sanitisation of all frequently touched surfaces in the workplace
• Increased frequency and intensity of office cleaning, consider a deep clean.

Employers should also ensure that their employees are aware of the current HSE Guidelines and that employees know the correct procedures should they feel unwell. Employers should brief all employees on correct cough and sneeze etiquette.

Many employers are opting to close their premises and either offering remote working options or temporarily closing their business.  Employers can also consider staggering shifts in order to have fewer people are in the workplace at any one time – this may help people avoid being on public transport in rush hour. They can also consider having A and B teams to reduce the number of people in the workplace at any one time and reduce the risk of infection.

Employers should also step-up communications to staff to ensure they are informed of developments and the resources and advice open to them. Also ensure any updated policies, such as advice on travelling internationally, are well communicated.

Employers should complete a risk assessment, including looking at procedures to reduce the risks presented to any vulnerable employees in the workplace (older employees, pregnant or breastfeeding employees, those with underlying medical conditions).

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Can I ask my employees to disclose where they have been on holidays, or where they are planning to go?

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 travelling to a high-risk area and act accordingly.

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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.  Employers must note that if they are requesting this, and it has not been advised by the HSE or a GP the employee will not be eligible for any financial support at this time. 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 organisation’s normal sick pay policy should be applied.

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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.

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An employee is displaying symptoms, can I ask them not to come to work?

The employee should be advised to leave the workplace and contact their own GP. Their GP will then advise them if self-isolation is necessary. If you ask them to leave the workplace for an extended amount of time without medical advice, you will be obliged to pay them as they will not be eligible for any welfare payments.

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An employee has reported that they are waiting for a Covid-19 test. Do I need to close the department/business?

This will be a judgement call for a business owner to make, based on their internal risk assessment. If the measures have been in place to allow for social distancing, good hygiene, hand sanitisation etc., and the risk of infection is low, there is no guidance to state a business must close.

It is also important to remember that should someone on your team test positive, the HSE contact tracing procedure will be put in place, and employers will be advised as to who would be considered to have had close contact with the employee.

In these circumstances an employer must remember that medical information is protected data and should not be disclosed to other employees without consent.

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Do employees have a right to be notified if a colleague has contracted Coronavirus?

No, there is no specific right. Employers owe employees a duty of confidentiality which would normally apply to health matters, but they also have a duty to protect the health of all employees so far as they reasonably can.

The Data Protection Commission guidance advises that employers would be justified in informing staff of a suspected case but employers should avoid disclosing the affected employee’s identity in the interests of maintaining the confidentiality of the employee’s special category personal data.

The disclosure may be required by the public health authorities in order to carry out their functions and in such circumstances, the disclosure should come from the authorities and not the employer.

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My Employee is not attending work, am I obliged to pay them?

There are a number of scenarios where an employee may not be attending the workplace, the table below outlines payment obligations for these:

Scenario	Can Work from Home	Can’t Work from Home
Employee requests to self-isolate	Employee should be paid	No obligation for employee to be paid. If employer is agreeable, annual leave or parental leave could be used here
Employer request to self-isolate	Employee should be paid	Employee should be paid
HSE/Dr recommended self-isolate	Employee should be paid	Employee has entitlement to enhanced illness benefit in this case, Employer should apply normal sick pay policy
Employee temporary lay-off (insufficient work)	If contract allows for temporary layoffs, no payment necessary, Emergency Covid-19 payment will be applicable If Contract does not allow for this, temporary layoff may not be an option for the employer	If contract allows for temporary layoffs, no payment necessary, Emergency Covid-19 payment will be applicable If Contract does not allow for this, temporary layoff may not be an option for the employer
Employer voluntary shut down	If work is continuing from home, employee should be paid as normal.	If contract allows for temporary layoffs, no payment necessary, Emergency Covid-19 payment will be applicable. If Contract does not allow for this, temporary layoff may not be an option for the employer
Government forced shut down	If work is continuing from home, employee should be paid as normal.	If contract allows for temporary layoffs, no payment necessary, Emergency Covid-19 payment will be applicable. If Contract does not allow for this, temporary layoff may not be an option for the employer
Certified absence (during normal business hours)	Employee has entitlement to enhanced illness benefit in this case, Employer should apply normal sick pay policy.	Employee has entitlement to enhanced illness benefit in this case, Employer should apply normal sick pay policy.

 

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I am putting my employees on temporary lay off or short time. What procedure should I follow?

The first thing to do in this instance is to check your employment contract to ensure there is a clause that allows for these measures to be put in place.

Once you have confirmed that this clause is in place, you need to issue notice to employees. This can be done using the RP9 form. Employers should fill in part A of this form. The current legislation governing temporary layoffs and short time states that employers must be given “reasonable notice” if a business is implementing these measures. As soon as you are aware that you will need to put these measures in place it is important to notify your employees of this.

Employees on temporary layoff or short time will be eligible for state aid. Those on layoff can apply for the emergency Covid-19 payment. This can be paid by the employer or claimed from social welfare. Details on how employers can pay this can be found here.

Employees on short time will be eligible for short time support, which can be claimed from social welfare. There is now an online system for claiming these payments, available at www.mywelfare.ie in order to reduce footfall in INTRO offices.

If you opt to pay the emergency Copvid-19 payment, details of the process can be found here.

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Can an employee claim redundancy while on temporary layoff?

 Yes, if an employee is on temporary layoff for more than 4 consecutive weeks, or 6 weeks in a 13-week period, they can claim it is a redundancy situation. They do this by filling in part B of the RP9 form. The employer then has 7 days to reply, guaranteeing work within 4 weeks following the receipt of the claim.

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What employees are entitled to a redundancy payment?

To be eligible for a redundancy payment employees must be over 16 years of age, and have at least two years of unbroken service with the company. Part time workers are eligible for redundancy payments.

In assessing whether an employee has over two years’ service the following do not count as a break in service:

• on maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave or carer’s leave
• illness, agreed absence, holidays or lay off
• dismissal due to redundancy before reaching 104 weeks’ service and then re-employed within 26 weeks of that dismissal
• re-employed within 4 weeks of dismissal by an associate company of your previous employer
• voluntarily transferred to another employer where it is agreed that the continuity of service will not be broken
• placed back in employment under the unfair dismissal’s legislation
• strike or locked out of employment
• There has been a transfer of the business to a new owner

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Can I implement a company-wide pay cut?

A pay cut is considered to be a change to terms and conditions of a contract, even if it is a temporary measure. Therefore, it is vital that the company does not make a unilateral decision to implement this measure.

A pay cut can only be put in place by mutual agreement, so through a consultation process with each employee. If employees are agreeable to such measures it is important to set out the terms and conditions in writing, and to keep evidence of the employees’ agreement (ideally through a signature confirming agreement) to the temporary change on file.

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My employment contract does not allow for temporary layoff, but I need to put this measure in place. What can I do?

If your employment contracts do not have a clause allowing for temporary layoffs, then you must approach the situation as you would any change to terms and conditions of a contract, even if it is a temporary measure.

Consultation must be undertaken and mutual agreement reached before layoffs are put in place. If employees are agreeable to such measures it is important to set out the terms and conditions in writing, and to keep evidence of the employees’ agreement (ideally through a signature confirming agreement) to the temporary change on file.

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Can I ask visitors to the premises to declare if they have symptoms or have travelled to high-risk areas recently?

Yes. In order to comply with your health and safety duties to all employees and visitors to your premises, the Data Protection Commission guidance states that employers would have justification to ask any visitors to inform you if they have been to an affected area or have been in contact with someone who has been infected. If someone has been potentially exposed to the virus, ask them not to attend your premises and offer to postpone any meetings until after the quarantine period or to hold them by telephone or video conference.