With immediate effect, employers and employees have new legal obligations following a notification via the test and trace service of the need to self-isolate because of a positive coronavirus test, or because the worker has come into close contact with someone who has tested positive. The new regulations came into force at midnight (12.00am on Monday 28 September 2020), with only seven hours' notice, having been introduced at 17:00 on Sunday 27 September 2020.
What are the new obligations on workers and employers?
The new regulations introduce a wide range of measures designed to make self-isolation a legal requirement and making parents responsible for ensuring their children self-isolate where necessary. Of particular interest to employers are:
- Workers are legally obliged to notify their employers of their need to self-isolate, and the start and end dates of the isolation period, if they are expected to work anywhere other than their place of self-isolation (usually their home);
- If an employer is aware that a worker or agency worker is required to self-isolate, the employer must not knowingly allow them to attend any place other than their place of self-isolation (usually their home) for work purposes, until the self-isolation period has ended.
The combined practical effect of these changes is that, during their period of self-isolation, workers will only be able to work if they can do so from their place of self-isolation (usually their home) and, if they try to attend work, the employer should send them home. Any employer who permits a worker or agency worker to attend a place of work anywhere other than their place of self-isolation, will face a fine, starting at £1,000.
Separate provisions require agency workers to notify their employment agency, the principal (ie the end-user) or the self-isolating agency worker's employer of the requirement to self-isolate and the start and end dates of the isolation period.
For these purposes, the self-isolation notice must follow a positive coronavirus test after 28 September 2020, or close personal contact after 28 September 2020, with someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020
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