Employment law
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reimbursed payments to workers) for new equipment such as laptops to make home- working possible during lockdown. This investment could be further rewarded by assessing whether it is necessary to bring all workers back in-house. A temporary income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) exemption has been put in place for those employees who are working from home due to COVID-19, and applies to home office equipment purchased by the employee out of necessity due to working from home. The exemption applies to reimbursed payments made from 16 March 2020 until the end of the tax year 2020/21, where the equipment is purchased for the sole purpose of facilitating an employee to work from home due to the coronavirus outbreak. ...in breach of their duty of care responsibilities. In addition, where an employer can settle the tax and NICs due on any expenses or benefits which are related to the coronavirus outbreak, this can be reported in the employer’s PAYE settlement agreement. Employment contracts Some workers may ask to continue working from home and if this is not possible then it could come down to what is stipulated in the worker’s contract of employment. If an agreement cannot be reached and an individual does not want to come back to work, then consideration could be given to allowing them to take annual leave or even unpaid leave; however, the employer does not have to agree to this. If a worker refuses to come back to work and the employer does not consider the reason to be valid, then it could result in disciplinary action. If an individual has been told by a health organisation, such as the NHS, that they need to shield, their employer cannot force them to return to work. Government guidance states that those who are extremely vulnerable should not work outside the home. Employers should allow these workers to continue to work from home or provide equipment to help them do so, and if not provided, they could be in
breach of their duty of care responsibilities. Changes to working patterns or hours may need to be made to allow for measures to reduce risk and, as such, an employer can change the employment contractual terms and these must be agreed by both parties. It is advisable to put any new arrangements in writing and ensure that it is clear whether a change is a temporary or permanent one. Guidance Employers are used to the devolved administrations across the UK adding layers of complexity to the business function. And concerning coronavirus, this still rings true albeit for different reasons. Due to the infection rate of COVID-19 varying across the country, the advice for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and even some localised areas where the infection rate has spiked, differs. Care should be taken by employers (and employees) to adhere to the correct guidance for their locations. Gov.uk includes guidelines for England (https://bit.ly/30IBGYM), Scotland (https://bit.ly/3hFDGYX), Wales (https:// bit.ly/2ZTfkod) and Northern Ireland (https://bit.ly/3eOHIfr). n Research During July, the CIPP ran a poll with several options asking how employees believe their employers are treating a return to the workplace. Of the 533 responses received: ● the most favoured option (34%) was that a return was ‘dependant on individual circumstances’ ● 24% opted for a ‘compulsory’ return, followed closely by ‘no intentions to return to the workplace, as work will be performed remotely’ (19%) ● 15% cited an ‘optional’ return, and ● the remaining 8% selected ‘nothing confirmed as yet’. Although the poll represents only a snapshot in time, from an arbitrary number of CIPP website users, it indicates the variety of approaches being taken to returning to the workplace. Other research (https://bit.ly/3hwVPYP) conducted during lockdown has shown that many businesses have seen improved productivity in home-working so we may well see employers re-modelling their businesses to work more flexibly on a permanent basis.
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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |
Issue 63 | September 2020
*correct at time of publication
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