Hi, my workplace is implementing returning to the office in march (Twice a week). I am vulnerable, category 6 with asthma when it comes to covid.
We all know covid isn't going to disappear anywhere. I've caught covid recently in the past - employer aware of this. But this doesn't stop you from catching another variant later. I don't feel comfortable returning to the office. Do I have any grounds here? Any advice is much appreciated?
I've worked productively and efficiently from home. Offices argument is apparently they get taxed more if people work from home or something of the sort - it has nothing to do with employee productivity.
Thanks in advance
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Riokd
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As the government reduces covid restrictions and are currently talking up the need for people to return to the workplace, it appears, on the surface, that the WFH principle is dead in the water. However, if you believe that WFH would benefit your health and well-being because the risks posed by the workplace are unacceptable despite general safety adjustments, you can request an occupational health review that will consider the remaining covid risks that remain, consider the safety measures in place in your workplace and consider your specific health challenges and how they would be impacted by the risks and current workplace safety measures.
The review is undertaken by an accredited practitioner, usually arranged and paid for by the employer, and you will be asked about your health. You may also be asked to disclose your health records. The practitioner will make recommendations of reasonable adjustments to the employer, these may be further adjustments to the workplace, or the journey to & from work, and will be designed to minimise any risk to your health and well-being. WFH is an option open to the OH reviewer if risk cannot be minimised in the workplace or the journey to/from work. Recommendations are rarely declined by an employer, but they could claim the recommendations are unreasonable in terms of cost or burden on the business.
If your employer has no access to OH services then you can use the free service provided by the government, Access to Work. gov.uk/access-to-work
If you're in an union then they will help and support you through the process.
The employer may state that they have undertaken a risk assessment in order to reduce the risks posed by covid in the workplace, but a "competent person" who has no occupational health training can carry out a workplace risk assessment and so it's not without its flaws as a result. The competent person/risk assessor may not have the knowledge to assess risks posed to clinically extremely vulnerable employees.
As for the tax position, it may be a VAT thing based on classifying your WFH as voluntary. If they had an OH recommendation for you to WFH then that could very well address that situation.
It sounds as though the employer is promoting a hybrid working pattern involving a mixture of workplace attendance and WFH, so it may not be such a stretch for them to make any recommended adjustments, especially once they understand the risks as they pertain to you. And even if you have to attend the workplace on occasion, it could be when others are WFH in order to minimise any covid risk.
Thanks for your reply. No adjustments at work would make me feel more comfortable. It’s the commute getting into work where I expose my self to risk. Travelling at non peak times is not a solution as whatever time I’ve been on the train it’s been fairly busy. So the only solution would be coming in irregularly to the office
If you go to Occupational Health I think you need to be very clear as to why you believe you are at greater risk and suggest possible solutions. You need to be very clear about your particular needs and be prepared to disclose your personal situation. Remember anything you say can be disclosed to your managers and it is highly likely you will be asked for permission to contact your gp. Again information given by gp may be disclosed to management. I have had much interaction with OH and am aware confidentiality is significantly reduced in these circumstances.You don’t say exactly what you do but if your main worry about returning to the work is the commute then think about how to negate this. For example could there be an option to have flexible working hours? That way you could commute at quieter times. Could you explore possible car sharing? Could you split working from home with some office work?
I personally think it is highly doubtful it will be agreed for you to work entirely at home. Many many people who are CV or even CEV are being expected to return to work. Indeed depending on their work many in the past months (since official shielding ended) have been expected to return to work.
As I say you need to consider options for a return to work
that will be acceptable both to yourself and the work place. Also you may find that once you have travelled to work a couple of times you find the journey is not as traumatic as you fear. Often the fear is worse than the reality!
I’m in same category and I returned to work in office within a major hospital and it has went great. I have flexibility of working from home where needed if numbers rise etc but on the commute going to work I’ve found people to be quite sensible bar odd one not wearing mask but I just sit away from them as much as can whilst wearing own mask. My manager agreed to change my hours so I now travel outside of peak times which has helped also. I agree with Bevvy’s comment that the fear is often worse than the reality
Just a very quick input from me as I agree with the replies. I had a very interesting chat with my gp who contacted me for a COPD review. I was told to ‘stay home, don’t go to the shops, avoid contact with others and stay safe, community covid is much much higher than we are lead to believe.’ It’s all very well trying to get society back to normal, but it’s clearly not the right time for some of us unfortunately.
Hi. Am absolutely fascinated by your gp comments. I also have COPD and can become seriously unwell due to a cold 😢. Because of this I am CEV and have priority PCR test. So am being very careful. However I believe gp is being unduly cautious. I AM (and have been for some time) going out and about. I am very careful and do things like avoid crowds, gel or wash hands often, and so on. There are also things I would hesitate doing such as public transport. But I will do things where I am in control. For example I eat in cafes at lunch time but wouldn’t go in if lots of people there. I even went to cinema this week! Again during day time and few other people there so felt safe.I just feel that had both jabs plus booster and I have to start living again. Am doing small steps but believe these are vital to aid my mental health. I live alone and found shielding hard.
I also believe that Covid is going to be around for a long time. As we go in to a third year I wonder how much gp realises the strain on people who are CEV.?
I think it may come down to other factors. At best I’ll end up on a continuous cpap and worst is I won’t survive. My trachea is a cold away from permanent collapse, but I did mention that it may affect us all differently depending on what we have
Ah no worries. We just all deal with whatever life throws at us and some have got way more to worry about than me and they troop on. Some amazing people on here
You may actually fit the Equality Act due to the severity of your asthma (OH should help you with this but that depends on how ethical your OH is - I've experienced good and bad...) so it may be worth getting a letter from your GP regarding this. Your employer should make "reasonable adjustments" based on this, so you could ask to work from home as an adjustment. Or you could agree to go in at different times when it's quieter on public transport. They don't have to agree but you can ask at least.
If an employer has a blanket policy ie. making everyone return to work regardless of your health issues, then that *may* constitute indirect discrimination as it puts you at a substantial disadvantage eg. you are more likely to catch Covid and become seriously ill due to your health - so they would need to justify why it was necessary to compel you to go back in full time, as not all indirect discrimination is illegal. The Equality Advisory Service is brilliant for stuff like this, I've used them before equalityadvisoryservice.com...
I would certainly get some legal advice as I know from past experience you cannot rely on HR/OH or indeed a union rep as often sadly they just do what's best for the employer or take the path of least resistance - we are in new territory with issues such as this, with many claims not yet tested before employment tribunals so employers may not know themselves what the legally correct thing is to do.
Only occupational health should ask to contact your gp. To do this you have to give signed permission. However if you refuse then it could be difficult to move forward. Also occupational health can advise your manager with reference to information from gp.Also if you go through your union try to go through full time official (usually at least branch secretary) rather than a rep. Also don’t expect union rep to necessarily know all the answers BUT insist they find out the answers!! I have used union representation several times in the past and like most things, had some amazing assistance but also some crap representation!
Twice a week isn’t that unreasonable. I’m CEV and since shielding ended I’ve been back at work. I’ve moved job at the end of the year and now have hybrid working. My last job I narrowly missed the outbreak in that office and even if I was there I would have had to continue working just like my other colleagues.
Best case scenario is that you get funding via access to work for transport to work. Once everyone in office is sensible it can be ok.
Have you approached your consultant or hospital team? They should be able to provide evidence that you are unable to attend the office. They may also have some advice on where to go next with your employer.
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