Employees want to travel to Coronavirus affected area on holiday - can I ask them not to?

Thanks Peter and Keith.

To put things in a bit of perspective. We have several people visiting our facility for one form of sporting activity or the other. Some of these people are children, those recovering from medical conditions that have been advised to try out some form of fitness activity, etc.

We also offer enhanced sick pay for staff after probation. The staff have been with us for a while, so if they come and have to be isolated/sick with the virus, they know they can claim this.

I had advised the manager to remind them of the risk they are exposing themselves to by going for the holiday and the potential impact for other employees and our customers. But what I would like to know is if the enhanced sick pay can be withdrawn, if they go into quarantine/get the virus - as it is a premeditated decision on their part to go to a high risk area.

If they HAVE to self-isolate as advised by 111/GP then sick pay should be paid even if its voluntary travel. If enhanced sick pay is contractual then I'd say it does need to be paid.

It must be difficult for employees - they can't claim the £ back from their travel insurance if their holiday isn't cancelled, and the public is being told to check advice etc. before travelling, so if there are no restrictions then I can understand (only slightly) why they would still go. But there there's the responsibility to other employees...

Its an unusual situation, but to look at it in basic terms, if you'd pay someone sick pay if they broke their leg playing football - a voluntary activity - then I'd think the same applies here. I think employers need to bite the bullet and take one for the sake of the rest of their workforce.

Could there be any working from home provisions? We have some employees here who do need to be in the office for their particular role, but they could carry out some non-urgent admin tasks and work for other teams, so we'd swap duties around temporarily.

If they HAVE to self-isolate as advised by 111/GP then sick pay should be paid even if its voluntary travel. If enhanced sick pay is contractual then I'd say it does need to be paid.

It must be difficult for employees - they can't claim the £ back from their travel insurance if their holiday isn't cancelled, and the public is being told to check advice etc. before travelling, so if there are no restrictions then I can understand (only slightly) why they would still go. But there there's the responsibility to other employees...

Its an unusual situation, but to look at it in basic terms, if you'd pay someone sick pay if they broke their leg playing football - a voluntary activity - then I'd think the same applies here. I think employers need to bite the bullet and take one for the sake of the rest of their workforce.

Could there be any working from home provisions? We have some employees here who do need to be in the office for their particular role, but they could carry out some non-urgent admin tasks and work for other teams, so we'd swap duties around temporarily.