AIBU to expect it to be unpaid...

[Teddy275]

Co-worker spends the summer holidays in Spain at her parents apartment. Obviously the only cost to her is flights which she booked (outbound) in June. Normally she would go for 3/4 weeks out of the 6 but, due to a special birthday, she is there the full 6 weeks this time. She flew out on a single ticket as wasn't sure when to book her return but has now arranged (and booked) to fly back the day before we are due to start back at work in September. On the day she flew out (just hours before she boarded) they announced change in guidelines re:self quarantine upon return.
She has been very smug about this on social media, saying how lovely it's going to be to not have to come straight back to work and get extended time off etc. Thing is, if the self quarantine rules are still in place, it's going to make a lot of peoples job a lot more difficult without her around for two weeks and she is going to miss a lot of information and training that would be detrimental to our team and will need to be caught up again using somebody else's time.
I'll be honest and say that I haven't really any awareness of what the situation is regarding changing flights or refunds in this scenario but am I (and other co-workers) being unreasonable to feel that this could have been avoided, she booked the return date knowing full well what would happen, there's plenty of time to now amend the return date and that if she does require time off it should be unpaid? Her excuse was that the return date she chose was a lot cheaper.
Our manager is looking into it all (she hasn't officially been informed of this yet, just saw the same social media as we did) and once co-worker got wind of this she's been kicking up a right storm about it, threatening unions and all sorts 🙄. I'd perhaps have more sympathy if it was all booked pre-pandemic, and, who knows where things will be in a months time, but still....

@Normalmumandwife I took her to mean any countries that are not on the Government bridge list i.e South Africa or in the case in point, booking a return flight for a certain date knowing that the 14 day self isolation was in place but not leaving enough time to isolate.

Oh I hope the manager got screenshot of everything she said. Not sure what a union could do then to protect the moron.

She should either come back earlier or be unpaid. She's a fool and horrible.

DH's academy chain told them they had to take all holidays abroad in the first 3 weeks of the holidays so that wherever they returned from there was time to quarantine.

He's SLT so it's always been that for him anyway - weeks 4+5 are A level and GCSE results week, week 6 they're back in for training.

Even in more normal times I try to avoid flying the day before I'm due back at work. There's too much chance of a problem with delayed flights and I'd also be knackered. She's also very stupid to post about it on social media.

But as to what you would expect or want, management need to take her through a process and agree a policy for this. They then need to apply it fairly to everyone.

From announcement by the Government about lifting restrictions of travel, there was a statement saying that restrictions could again be imposed if the virus started escalating again. There was always going to be a risk therefore. The fact that people chose to be blinkered to that is no fault of employers or the government. If you take the risk, then be prepared to have to self isolate on your return - pay or no pay is irrelevant. Take responsibility for your own decisions.

I don't think a teaching union would support her in this. The government guidelines are clear that there is a start date for the new term and school staff should be available then. If she's not then it should be unpaid but it's still monumentally unfair on other staff if she's choosing to stay away for as long as she can.

@Normalmumandwife

If it is education, then with some schools I would fully expect her to be allowed to sit at home on full pay. I have had some exposure to how some schools have managed these situations and some (usually council maintained ) have acceded to outrages demands from staff...ie "WFH" when in reality they can't !

As for splathering it across social media..yes they do it as they are so used to behaving like this and yes...when they can't get what they want they threaten "the union"

I saw one schools teachers a bit like this. Got academies and holy hell...did they come into the real world.

So yes..OP. What you are seeing is outrageous but not unusual and lots of other schools (if education you are referring to) will still have teachers merrily flying off to Spain etc the last two weeks of holidays and expect two weeks off for quarantine

Oh..the gift has confirmed that no one is entitled to be paid for quarantine.

Was your mum frightened by a scarey teacher when she was pregnant with you ?

Sounds as though you have deep seated teacher hating issues. Perhaps you could look into getting counselling.

So not only does she want the cheapest flight, she wants to be paid for the pleasure of taking it. Awful behaviour.

The Government I believe announced that air bridges were open to some countries & that there was no quarantine & that's probably why she booked her flight

However, suddenly the rules changed & quarantine is now required

She can book to come home before the quarantine period, so that she will arrive back at work on time

I had a similar scenario. I booked a holiday before the virus at the start of the year. There was no advice not to travel at the time. While on holiday the situation changed quickly, so I cut the holiday short & paid to return early. I therefore avoided being stuck in a foreign country for several months.

I thought the department had instructed staff on this already. Make sure your back to include quarantine or it’s unpaid. Would only accept booking pre covid.

She’s been very stupid

We’ve just received and email from our unions (railway, so a pretty strong union) to say that if the advise changes suddenly without warning while you’re on holiday then your quarantine is paid. If you choose to go knowing there is a quarantine in place then it will be unpaid. I think that’s pretty fair.

My holiday was booked last year. My employer knows this and there are currently no travel restrictions. My employer has told me that IF a quarantine period is announced BEFORE I actually go and I still go then it will be a disciplinary issue, if one is announced AFTER I go then I must return to the U.K. immediately. Either way I lose the money paid for the holiday and/or the additional cost of trying to come back early. It would be cheaper to miss the first three days of term and be unpaid.......

I agree .
Totally different to people out there now and finding out About the quarantine rules changing

she sounds entitled as hell. She could still go for like 4 weeks and have time to come back and do 2 week quarantine before work starts . That’s what I’d do, but then I’m not a complete selfish piss taker

Where I work if you flew out before the change they will pay you. If after you will have to use annual leave or unpaid leave.

Our school have made it clear that they will pay quarentine for anyone who booked before March 20th. After that, if we are not back in time for September, it will be classed as breach of contract. I have heard of a couple of schools going down the breach of contract route.

Where I work (NHS ward) if the guidance changed whilst you were already in Spain they have agreed to pay the quarantine period as a goodwill gesture. However anyone who chooses to fly out after the quarantine guidance was announced has to take the quarantine period as unpaid, unless agreed by their manager that the travel is essential (which it is unlikely to be in the majority of cases).

Our school has barely functioned since March for any year group (secondary) despite what the teachers themselves say. They've finally got organised for September and the children desperately need to have their education resumed.

If I thought that teachers were "allowed" to stay off for two weeks because they've enjoyed a 6 week holiday abroad, on top of the 4 months during which they didn't teach the children beyond the odd worksheet home, I'd be very unhappy.

I know our board of governors think likewise. Your colleagues is being outrageous and needs to come back with two weeks to spare to quarantine, or face disciplinary action.

Last September, I specifically booked for the last two weeks of August this year as we are waiting on exam results - the plan was to get them and go away after.

We are going to a country with no current issues but if it were to become an issue, I would wfh. We are due back the day before I'm back so goodness knows what will happen.

If the holiday company cancel that's fine but we are not losing all that money...

YANBU. The last time I can think of anything comparable to this situation was when we had some staff stranded on holiday after Easter when the Icelandic volcanic eruption grounded all of the planes for a week. They were paid as it was an unforeseeable situation; this is not, and your colleague is perfectly capable of returning fourteen days earlier than planned.

So she's intentionally put herself in a position where she can't return to work and hasn't asked prior approval? Unless she can fully do her job from home I would say unpaid as a minimum with a warning / disciplinary to follow. Fucking taking the piss and stupid to boot putting in on sm.

If she's got any sense she'd delete her posts and book an earlier flight home.

I think if it becomes standard to make people take 2 weeks quarantine unpaid from work, then no one is going to quarantine and this disease is going to come back. I get that might mean some people will be annoying and take the piss but surely that's better than us all going back into lockdown.

I hope the manager is strong about this. She's going to get grief one way or another. Either from the person on holiday or from the rest of you resenting the situation.

I am the same as moose62. It was made very clear in writing to anyone in school in a June that unless you had already booked to go abroad, any subsequent booking that required quarantine on return would mean unpaid leave.

Awful attitude.

I would have expected they insist she comes home 2 weeks prior so she is able to return to work on time.

If they cannot do this, I would definitely not expect it to be paid.

And what were they thinking advertising it like this?