I work in Operations at my company and we are currently looking at going back to the office in July or August so we're currently doing the whole office set up thing, risk assessments, social distancing and that kind of thing. A lot of the guidance found on government websites and other sources we are using is recommended and not mandatory.
Not that I am against the new regulations, know employers have a duty of care and completely understand the reasoning with new social distancing guidelines but my boss wants to enforce things that I think are impractical in all honesty. Things like people bringing a packed lunch to the office so no one goes out in their lunch breaks, no kettle in the kitchen, no deliveries to the office and masks to be worn for the entirety of the 8 hour working day.
Whenever I try to raise the point with her that it might be a bit OTT and feel some of the new regulations might be impossible to implement in our office she shouts me down and says we will be sued if we don't implement them as we'll be liable for someone catching Covid in the office.
Is it likely that an employer will ever be sued for an employee catching Covid in an office environment? It's not as though you can prove where someone caught the virus especially in Central London where the buses and tubes are so busy and people are in such close contact anyway.