Autumn 2021 Employment Law Update: Part 1 - Focus On COVID-19 Related Developments

• Published date: 19 October 2021
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Unfair/ Wrongful Dismissal, Health & Safety, Employment Litigation/ Tribunals, Employment and Workforce Wellbeing
• Law Firm: Gowling WLG
• Author: Ms Jane Fielding and Connie Cliff

Here, Gowling WLG's Employment, Labour & Equalities team brings you a quick round-up of the recent need-to-know employment law developments.

In Part 1 we begin with a review of the latest COVID-19 related developments:

• Returning to the workplace
• Furlough and redundancies
• Health and safety
• Compulsory vaccination for care home workers
• Right to work checks

In Part 2, we focus on the latest developments on family-friendly & equalities, in Part 3, issues relating to unfair dismissal claims, and finally in Part 4, we move on to trade unions, enhanced redundancy terms, employment status and the National Minimum Wage.

1. Returning to the workplace

With the end of the vast majority of COVID-19 restrictions, businesses and their employees have been returning to the office. For many, a return to the workplace is a return to an evolving new normal rather than to the pre-pandemic norm. While some employers are eager for a full return to the workplace, albeit with appropriate safety measures, others are embracing some aspects of homeworking with the new catchphrase being "hybrid-working", with employees' time split between the workplace and home. A recent CIPD survey found that 22% of organisations had altered terms and conditions between March 2020 and July 2021, with the most common changes being to location of work (49%) and hours of work (47%).

Employers are facing an array of challenges to ensure safety in the workplace as well as business continuity. See our Return to the Office podcast series which discusses the key issues employers need to address to ensure a smooth transition to a "new normal".

Since 28 September 2020, workers who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace and are due to work somewhere other than their place of self-isolation have a legal duty to inform their employer as soon as possible before attending work. Correspondingly, employers have a legal duty to not knowingly allow them to work other than at the designated place of isolation, during the period of isolation (The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Self-Isolation) (England) Regulations 2020). The Self-isolation Regulations were due to expire on 28 September 2021, but have now been extended until 24 March 2022.

Since 16 August 2021, individuals informed by NHS Test and Trace that they are a contact of someone who has tested positive will not need to self-isolate where they are:

• Fully vaccinated;
• Below the age of 18 and six months;
• Have taken part in, or are...