Can employee refuse to come to work

[NameChange1998]

I own a small veterinary practice. 6 employees including myself (Me, one vet, one nurse, one admin, one receptionist, one receptionist/ lay nurse). Employee in question is our vet nurse.

We have to stay open to see urgent cases. We've also now been told we can do some vaccinations.

Employee in question is saying she's not willing to "put her life at risk" by allowing clients on the premises.

She's a key member of staff and can't furlough her.

Can she refuse to come to work?

She has no health conditions and lives alone. She isn't responsible for any others.

She's making me feel unreasonable by expecting her to come to work. We're doing everything we can with regards to social distancing and keeping clients outside. But sometimes they have to come inside.

Just wondering what others thought and perhaps my stress about paying the bills and keeping the place going is stopping me being reasonable.

@Imboredinthehouse your employer can require you to take leave but must give at least twice the length of the holiday as notice. I.e. they need to give you 2 weeks notice or your taking a week.

However it would be good practice to discuss other options with you - unpaid leave, half-and-half leave and unpaid etc. But ultimately you can't expect to be paid for not working. I appreciate this is hard for GP practice workers and the like.

@NameChange1998 call ACAS. I work for ACAS and this query is something the Helpline is seeing several times a day.

@Davincitoad why comment at all if you clearly haven't even bothered to read the thread? Plenty of PPE is being provided.

@NameChange1998 - fellow practice owner here, so I understand your concerns, it’s a scary time. Are you a BVA member? Their legal helpline might be useful. The risk of fomite transmission from pets is low if following sensible precautions and wearing PPE. Best wishes and hope you can work it out.

Let her moan. The world's gone to shit and everyone is anxious, fed up and moaning. As long as she's coming in I'd leave her be

Spending some money on an employment solicitor's advice sounds like a good idea.
(IANAL, this is just personal opinion) Whatever you do needs to be a long-term plan. We're a few weeks into lockdown and you've been able to look into the official advice etc, and you've made plans that fit the new guidelines, so this isn't just "what is going to happen at work" jitters. As you say, you are providing an essential service and you want to provide whichever services the governing bodies feel can be delivered safely. Presumably this employee could feel the same in a month, six months... so ideas like taking unpaid leave could be difficult.
Legal advice may suggest a way to offer a pay off (compromise agreement) or how to broach the conversation about her attitude/ moaning/ not meeting the job requirements.
Hopefully in the meantime she'll rethink her reluctance to follow the new rules.

Perhaps you could chat to her about all the hundreds of thousands of people doing other jobs in supermarkets, bus drivers, etc. etc. who all have to deal with customers face to face. This is what many employers are feeling right now up and down the country and across nations.
Ask her where would we all be if everyone who worked for food retailers did the same as she wants to, stay at home to avoid contact with the public. It’s naive at best but ridiculous and utterly selfish. It’s the industry she is working for which determines the nature of the business and obviously she cannot WFH and she must understand that sick animals can’t wait until this period is over.
She can not simply choose not to fulfill her contracted hours unless she takes annual leave or develops symptoms and has to self isolate for the given period. Anything else is unacceptable.

I'm on the side of not understanding why you wouldn't do end of life conversations over the phone right now.

And I've got friends who are vets and the general opinion is that restarting vaccinations right now is a terrible idea.

I’m not surprised she’s concerned. None of the vets locally are allowing people into their building at all. In fact, none of them are allowing people to get out of their cars. They collect the animal from the car and take it into the surgery if necessary. Any conversions are done front distance or over the phone

Yes, it would much nicer to have end of life conversations in person and not overheard, but in the middle of a pandemic we have to do things that aren’t nice.

Doctors are giving families bad news about their loved ones by phone, there’s zero reason that shouldn’t be happening for pets too.

She is being unreasonable. She can not go to work and expect to be paid full time.
Can you not furlough her and hire temporary help?

Also your OP is very misleading given she is coming to work every day.

If you are concerned she might stop coming to work you should have said that and people could have given their advice appropriately

I feel for you.

Ignore her moaning just as long as she comes in. If she doesn’t, she takes unpaid leave.

She sounds like a good employee in general. I can see why she’s vexed about your refusal to countenance clients waiting in their cars or discussing euthanasia over the ‘phone or FaceTime tbh. There are people dying on Covid wards daily without their loved ones being present at the hospital building, never mind beside them holding their hand. Sometimes standards have to slip a little, unfortunately. Listen to her ideas.

Why do clients sometimes have to come in the building?

Our vets aren’t allowing anyone in the building. Animals are handed over via the boot of the car, taken inside by vet staff, treated and then brought back out and put in the boot. I assume payments are done over the phone. Boxes of worming tablets, etc are being thrown out the door.

If that’s her concern then can you sort it so she’s happy.

And I would absolutely understand having an end of life conversation either over the phone or from a distance. I would appreciate that you’re keeping me safe (from you) as well as yourself safe (from me).

In addition to what everyone else is saying.

This virus isn't going to go away after a few weeks of isolation. Is she expecting that she will be able to stay home for 18 months or so until she can be vaccinated.

Lockdown may relax and tighten a few times over this period and she won't even be a priority for vaccination once it is available as a young, fit person

I would guess she is more likely to die from sepsis following a cat bite than CV caught at work with the conditions you are describing.

She can't refuse to work without consequences for her, however this bit had me raising my eyebrows a bit:

We don't think it's right having end of life conversations stood outside with everyone listening.

Unfortunately this is not the time to make exceptions when a pet is dying. The situation is so bad that even family members can't say goodbye to loved ones in the ICU. It would be irresponsible to do that for pets.

Plus, why are people standing so close to each other they can overhear conversations not meant for them. I think she is right that people need to stay outside.

I'm on the side of not understanding why you wouldn't do end of life conversations over the phone right now.

Because presumably the owner has had to bring the pet in to the surgery because the vet needs to examine it. They may have to put the animal down there and then. The vet would prefer not to have to explain this to the owner in the carpark in front of an audience.

Ít's called a cell phone and people can use them inside their cars.

At the beginning my company offered unpaid leave which I took.. I only work part time in retail and I do it to keep busy so I don't need the money. Can you offer her that option? I wouldn't expect to stay at home if I was being paid ( aside from furlough )

Because presumably the owner has had to bring the pet in to the surgery because the vet needs to examine it. They may have to put the animal down there and then. The vet would prefer not to have to explain this to the owner in the carpark in front of an audience.

None of the vets here are allowing people in at all. Pets are collected from cars.

There is no need to have people into the building whatsoever.

And the vets preference shouldn't be more important than the safety of their staff (and customers - the shouldn't be coming into contact with people who mix with other customers all day)

As others have said there is absolutely no reason to have others inside the surgery. Just the pet and that's for everybody's sake. If you sort that out you dramatically reduce the potential risk and maybe reassure her that you are on the ball. The OP's risk assessment and subsequent actions fall short of being on the ball IMHO.

OP CLEARLY stated that the vet.nurse is worried about catching coronavirus from the PET'S FUR not from the owners.

It is so bloody rude to not read a thread and jump in with all sorts of imagined shit.

The OP clearly says ;
"Employee in question is saying she's not willing to "put her life at risk" by allowing clients on the premises." Sort that out quite easily and clearly communicate it to the employee and I would feel one could be well on the way to an amicable solution. Or at least I do hope so.

My employer told anyone refusing to come to work because they felt unsafe that they had to take unpaid leave. And my colleagues had much more reason to be worried than the OP’s employee.

Forgot to say, I had to go to my vet’s this week and you had to park two cars apart in the car park and the vets/nurses took the animals inside themselves.