To refuse to go back to the office

[tillytalks]

I’m currently on mat leave and due back to work on the 15th March.

I work in an office with 12 other people.
At present everyone is in the office.

There is no reason why people can’t work from
home, and I’m pretty sure the reason is that management are the type that wouldn’t trust staff to work at home.
It’s a family run business and the owners are quite precious.

I’m really careful, I don’t mix, I follow the rules to the letter.

I’m 34, have mild asthma and I also have a high BMI (more than 30 but less than 40)
I’m working out and eating well so I’m hoping this will reduce.

Even still, I just don’t feel comfortable sitting in an office all day with 12 other people.
The office isn’t big. It’s a long room, and although we can distance, I feel like it would still be crowded.

I know that I wouldn’t be given any preferential treatment to work from home, but I haven’t asked so can’t be too sure.

I’ll be working 3 days per week and my son (who will be 13m) will be in a nursery.

I’m also aware that my son being in nursery puts me at risk which is something else I’ve been thinking over.

AIBU to not want to return?

Interesting that police will stop two walkers, low risk but companies can continue to put people at risk with making them work from the office - even when it is easy to work from home and the rules are clear "work from home where you can"

why the disparity

unless you have severe asthma (the kind that your consultant is struggling to control properly because it's so severe) and you're orbidly obese (note, not even regular obese), you're not considered vulnerable, and you get no special treatment.

I really think this stuff (while true) is a bit pointless. OP needs specific advice about her situation, closer to her return date. It's clear that she's not totally confident on the finer details of HR law, nor should she be.

OP what is reasonable at the time will depend on a number of things:

• What Covid rates and restrictions are like in your area.
• What grounds your employer has for not wanting you to work from home for a while and why you think the job can be done from home.
• Your personal risk assessment (which is more than just what the law says about CEV) and what mitigation your office put in place.
• What you can negotiate with your employer.

Join a unison and then focus on your baby. Worrying about this will do you no good. You now know broadly what your rights are but you need tailored advice at the time- let it go until then. Threads on AIBU degenerate over time, you gain nothing by arguing with those determined to see you as lazy.

why the disparity

Those officers were wrong on the law (from what is reported).

OP's employers might be too but it's clear OP's assessment is coloured by worry. Everyone is doing their best, there is no one right answer in every situation.

I’m sure there is someone else who would love your job. I would not resign. Plenty of us have worked through this, and you can’t hide forever.

I do want to go back to work. I just don’t want to put myself at any unnecessary risk

Yes, I'd hope most of us have read what you said ... I'm just not sure how you'll square that with your employer if you plan to tell them DS will be going to nursery

They'll obviously work out pretty fast that this would be a risk too, and very possibly suspect that you've no intention of doing it once a WFH agreement was secured. It really does happen all the time, Covid or not, and as said it's another reason why I worry about the eventual effect on working parents (or working mums, since too many men seem to think this is "wimmins work")

I know other people have said this already, but the current guidance is that everyone should work from home unless it's 'impossible' to do your job from home. So if you would be able to work remotely, I don't think it would be at all unreasonable to request it, whether or not you have underlying risk factors.

@tillytalks
I do want to go back to work. I just don’t want to put myself at any unnecessary risk

The answer is simple, quit and find an other job...

OP, if you have been at home for the best part of a year, being stringent about safety and hygiene, and rarely leaving the house then this, along with a natural reluctance to being apart from your baby maybe, is driving your anxieties.

Those people who have been working throughout all of this, out of their home, have a very different attitude to the risks and dangers IME.

Whilst we are being encouraged to wfh wherever possible, it is the employer who makes the decision about whether it is possible or not and not the individual.

If your employer has decided - for whatever reasons that you may not have been party to - that staff need to be present in the office, then that is how it is and their only obligation is to follow government guidance regarding being covid secure.

Since you say that it is a big space for 12 staff, desks widely spaced, staffroom closed, risk assessments in place, I'd suggest that they have fulfilled their obligations.

They have also, quite rightly, accommodated a change to your return date and your request for part time hours. ACAS have confirmed that the holiday pay issue is legitimate. They don't sound like negligent employers to me. Why not go in to see what measures are in place to ease your mind? A lot will improve between now and March.

The maternity and annual leave has been handled incorrectly. And this:

I had the same issue with my annual leave when I returned from maternity leave. I work for a local government, massive HR dept, massive legal dept, checked with the unions. I could take a year maternity, but if I wanted to return part time, then my accrued holiday over maternity leave would be counted as accrued on my part time hours. So if your 1yr maternity ends and you return part time under a new contract, they are right that you would have been paid the annual leave under the part time basis once the new contract date was enforced, if you hadn't used it before that date. So definitely no legal issue with that there - it was the correct thing to do.

Is also totally wrong.

Unless you went to part time during your mat leave (and I'm not sure that's even possible) or before, your leave accrues at the rate of your hours when you went off.

If your annual leave is more than the statutory minimum AND your employer has a policy that explains that leave above stat min will be treated differently, it is POSSIBLE, but highly unlikely, that the scenario above MIGHT be supportable. But I've never seen that and there is no way they can do that with the statutory leave (5.6 weeks) nor with the maternity leave.

Why is the government allowing employers to make people come to an office when they could work from home? We are all being told it is our responsibility to work from home but we can't do that if our employers refuse this even if the job can be done from home ( even if only temporarily)

Sorry our responsibility to stay home and work from home if we can

@rawlikesushi

A lot will improve between now and March.

I really hope so. So many people on here seem to think it’s going to be like this for years.

The WFH message is during lockdown. After then an employer can reasonably expect you in.

You work with 12 other people not 1200. Everyone is concerned but thousands of people get on with it

Your child will be mixing with more households at nursery

Why dont you wait until you see how the numbers are in march.

Wfh can work brilliantly in some contexts but can also require very self motivated staff who are excellent at communicating digitally. If it isnt working a company can lose a lot if money/value fast. In this circumstances it wouldnt be unreasonable for a company to need staff in the office.

If you are uncomfortable with that you could request unpaid leave, perhaps defer tour return until the summer when numbers should be well under control.

@ivfbeenbusy

Your child will be mixing with more households at nursery

My child will mix with 8 other babies 0-15m and 3 members of staff.

This too is a concern.

Why is the government allowing employers to make people come to an office when they could work from home

Because not everyone works as well or productively at home, and for some companies it result in reduced output. The government cannot afford to fully compensate those companies, so cannot force them to run their business in a way that makes them less money.

I do want to go back to work. I just don’t want to put myself at any unnecessary risk
Well that’s a given for most who are working

There’s no position that is clinically zero risk,unless you’re in a hermetically sealed box with no contacts. So since that’s not an option you and employer need to negotiate a safe return to work

Your employer is expecting you back, there now needs to be a discussion about that and an individual risk assessment. I don’t think you can stay home on “what ifs” if aspects of your job need to be undertaken in workplace.

There will never be a zero risk nursery use,as it too involves external contact.

I hope you get adequate reassurance from work and negotiate a mutually beneficial return.
Are your work operating a staff rota? Time in, and time wfh?

@HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

Are your work operating a staff rota? Time in, and time wfh?

No. All staff are in, all starting at the the same
time.

I will be in 3 days per week as that’s what my shift is.

Thanks for reply
What COVID measures have they implemented?
Broadly what sector are you in? Don’t obv post anything identifying

@selflove

I would disagree that just because it's "easier for people to communicate issues if all in the same room" means that it's essential for staff to come in. For one thing it probably involves one or more employee using public transport which without doubt adds to their risk of coming into contact with the Covid virus.

I would also take issue with employers being the ones to have the ultimate say on whether their workplace is Covid safe.

Just before Christmas I came across an employer who stated that as all workstations were just (but only just !) 2m apart if Mrs X only worked squished over to the left of her desk and Mr Y remained exactly in the middle of his desk space, then they were operating a Covid safe workplace.
X, Y and a few other employees had only one printer/copier/toilet between them and regularly came within 1 metre of each other throughout 8 hour shifts as they moved about the workplace accessing hardcopy information and discussing project related issues. Sanitising gel was provided throughout the workplace and employees were responsible for sanitising their workstations (before they clocked on and after the clocked off !).

One of the employees lived with someone whose job involved daily contact with substantial number of people some of whom were unable to wear a mask. X, Y and others all worked in that "Covid safe" workplace together for the days that the employee in question was infectious having contracted Covid, presumably from their partner, although they remained asymptomatic. Another employee contracted it from them and is very ill, although not hospitalised.

Employers have a duty of care to their employees and obliging them to come in to the workplace "because it's easier" for this, that or the other is quite frankly lazy/negligent employment practice which is putting staff at risk, so breaching that duty of care, as it's NOT essential that they come in to the workplace. Employers need to enable working from home, even if it costs them money/slows things down slightly, to ensure employee safety is paramount at this time.

Because not everyone works as well or productively at home, and for some companies it result in reduced output. The government cannot afford to fully compensate those companies, so cannot force them to run their business in a way that makes them less money.

and you think members of staff getting cover improves output?

You should have a return to work meeting scheduled with your manager. If you havent then ask for one now. Ask how it fits in with government guidelines in terms of working from home if at all possible, and say you are in an at risk group so are interested to know what measures they have taken to make it covid apace. If it doesnt sound like they have put reasonable measures in place re distancing and hygiene etc then you will have to decide what to do. You could report them but I think it would be difficult to hide it.

employers also need to maintain their business as being profitable & viable and that may involve being in the workplace. Not all work can be undertaken at home. If too much profit is lost the business will no longer be operational. There is a finite level of loss that a business can bear before it becomes unprofitable. Businesses can’t just suck this up indefinitely.

Because not everyone works as well or productively at home, and for some companies it result in reduced output.

I think they should need to demonstrate that it will result in reduced output. They may have a hard job doing that if they haven't tried it. I think workplaces should also consider that people like OP may be able to sue them if she contracts Covid because they made her go to work just because they felt like it. Employers have a duty of care towards their employees after all.

@HeelsHandbagPerfumeCoffee

employers also need to maintain their business as being profitable & viable and that may involve being in the workplace. Not all work can be undertaken at home. If too much profit is lost the business will no longer be operational. There is a finite level of loss that a business can bear before it becomes unprofitable. Businesses can’t just suck this up indefinitely.

OP says that her job can be done from home.