DM being told to go to work

[tedsmumma]

Hi there
Posting for opinions. My mum works in a local supermarket behind the tills and in the last day or so has developed a cold (runny nose, sneezing and slight cough) no concerns it's COVID 19 but she called her boss anyway to see whether she should stay at home and he's said that she should go into work.

I've warned her that customers probably won't be very happy to be served by someone coughing and sneezing but her boss said unless the cough is persistent the advice is to go into work (this is a large supermarket chain so presumably this is advice being given from the top).

Any thoughts on this?

My only thought is that she should have told them she was not going in, rather than asking for their opinion. She definitely should not be going.

Sorry, I may have misread. It's not a continuous cough? Then perhaps going to work is ok.

The fact that it's up to her to make that call still stands. You could phone your boss with a leg hanging off and they will say to come in if you ask sometimes.

Just to update following this.
DM went into work as she didn't want to get into trouble with her boss(!!) and a few customers complained to her and to her boss about the fact she was working. I warned her this would happen and that I would be pretty p*ssed off as a customer if the person serving me was sneezing etc
Boss was pretty nonchalant about it and told the customers that if all his staff were off with "just a sniffle" the shop would have to shut and nobody would like it then.
This is a fairly small supermarket in a very rural area and so is depended on by a number of people.
As it happens given the issues today someone at work offered to switch shifts tomorrow with DM so she is off now for a couple of days. She should have just said she wasn't going in but equally the large supermarket chain management should deal with these scenarios a little better...

Uh? Boss was compety right and following govt advice. People are going to be weird over this but his explanation to customers was correct.

Blame the government to be honest. He was only following their advice