to not want to travel across the country, outside of my tier, for work?!

[ManCubsMama]

I work for a start up, I am employed and PAYE but have no contract, set hours, the company has no HR etc.

I live in a Tier 4 area, as does my boss, but have been asked to travel up north (179 miles from my home) to a Tier 2 area for a 3 day business trip where we will be meeting various business partners and stakeholders.

I initially said that I can't as I am in Tier 4 and he responded that the company is registered to the Northern office address and that no one needs to know that I have travelled.

I didn't know how to respond so I just said nothing and its not being assumed that I am going. In fact, I have recieved meeting requests in my calendar for the dates.

I feel really uncomfortable with this. Not only to breaking the law, but the people that I will be putting at risk.

What do I do? I know what I need to do but its incredibly hard pushing back when my northern boss basically acts like Covid doesn't exist and doesn't for a second consider that no everyone is as crooked as he is!

HELP!

This lockdown rules stuff is too vague in places where it really shouldn’t be.

Other countries are told they’re not to leave their postcode, or only travel up to 1000m from their homes/have documents to show/prove where they are going and why.

Too many here are trying to bend the rules when really we need to see what we can do within them.

A meeting isn’t something that can’t be done online.

It is if you want to eg demonstrate a product.

The government are giving businesses free reign to decide whether workers can WFH or not. If the employer decides they cannot, then that is sufficient.

Well you could stop being a drama llama for starters, then perhaps you could move forward sensibly. You are allowed to travel for work (however inadvisable it may be, the guidance on this is guidance not law, and it says you can travel for work); and calling your Northern boss a crook (your attitude will be picked up on even if you only said that here) for asking you to do your job in a perfectly legal way is ridiculous. If he's an actual crook, that's a different matter and I'd wonder why you are working for them.

Then, when you are prepared to act rationally, have the conversation sensibly - in writing if that makes it easier for you - setting out why you are uncomfortable about the request, what risk assessments would need to be satisfied to make this possible and safe (including accommodation etc), and what alternatives exist and the benefits of those alternatives (you could start out with how much cheaper it will be for the company). If they feel it is important that you attend personally, then listen to their reasons - they might actually have some valid points. And then respond to those points.

If, in the end, you cannot come to an agreement, then you have the right to resign. But be very careful about taking the suggestions of suddenly coming down with a sickness or whatever - passive refusal is still refusal, and your employer isn't stupid enough to believe the coincidence of you suddenly becoming ill after saying you didn't want to go. That's the sort of thing that they may not be able to act on immediately, but it gets stored as information and comes back to bite you. If you are going to refuse, at least have the courage to say so and say why - that might get you some respect, but it certainly won't make things any worse than lying to them.

I appear to be misinformed, I genuinely thought it was illegal to travel outside of your tier.

I still feel very uneasy about it.

I don't want to go.

This is a wider issue whereby I feel like my boss doesn't give the virus any consideration. But I don't have the balls to address it. I know I need to woman up on this.

If the work cannot be done from home it's fine to travel

Business partners and stakeholders doesn’t sound like a product demo to me.

@ManCubsMama if you’re not going to attend, explain why and suggest you attend online.

But it’s not remotely illegal.

There is no regulation saying you must not travel for work.

There's advice saying you should work at home if you can. Your boss obviously thinks face time is important in this situation and it could be - is there a big contract or project on the table, for example? It's very hard to make a "wow" impression over teams/zoom.

Employers rarely shell out the cash for 3 days of travel & hotel stays unless they think it's worth it.

But yanbu to be uncomfortable with it, and would not be unreasonable to ask him if it's really needed.

Up until recently the part of the county where I worked was tier 2 and the rest of the county tier 4. Most of my colleagues travelled into the office from their tier 4 homes, (deemed key work so need people in the office). There’s been lots of travel between tiers for work so as others have said, it’s not illegal at all.
Common sense approach would be to do it virtually or postpone if at all possible, but if not then just socially distance and wear a mask.

@ManCubsMama

I appear to be misinformed, I genuinely thought it was illegal to travel outside of your tier.

I still feel very uneasy about it.

I don't want to go.

This is a wider issue whereby I feel like my boss doesn't give the virus any consideration. But I don't have the balls to address it. I know I need to woman up on this.

And I do have a lot of sympathy. But what none of us can do is theorise about why your employer thinks face to face is necessary. It may be. They're really are things that aren't replaceable with Zoom. Zoom gives you pictures. It gives you words. It doesn't convey presence, feeling, or many other things that only work face to face. And the only way to deal with this is like a professional. That's why I'm saying approach it rationally. I don't want to go won't work. That's a childish tantrum. What risk assessment had been done, what is the rationale, and even what is the risk or liability to the company if I become sick... these are the things that speak to necessity and costs. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but if, in the end, they are prepared to complete the risk assessments and feel this is what they must do, you have a stark choice. And in that case I would say why I'm not doing it and take the consequences. Passively lying about being sick or something else won't convince anyone, and it gets remembered a lot longer than a "no".

You can travel for work OP lots of people are doing this.

Not illegal. I've made several trips from a T3 to T4 areas for work.