Colleague coughing

[Lottie4]

One of DD's colleagues was regularly coughing yesterday. Colleague exempt from mask wearing. DD's manager was in and she said she wasn't comfortable working so closely with colleague (within 2m). Manager said he didn't think colleague was coughing that badly so wouldn't send her home. Colleague did a LFT Saturday in case, negative, not one yesterday.

The same team are on later. DD has said to manager she doesn't feel comfortable going in and having close contact if colleague if coughing. He said they'd have to cope but it would be marked as 'unauthorised absence'.

DD is probably a bit more anxious as she's a student, and there could be potential to work much higher up in place of work when she has her degree. Also, GP has agreed to let her have her second vaccine early (not a health issue, but he totally understood why she needed it and said in the ideal world he'd rather 18+ could have second vaccines earlier). It's booked this week.

Does she have any rights?

Why is "there could be potential to work much higher up in place of work when she has her degree. " relevant to whether someone is coughing today?

DD tested covid- but didn't want to go to work in case she passed her cold to others & they all had to isolate while waiting for their tests. Would have made their staff shortage even more dire.

Has the colleague tested for covid (with pcr not lft)?

The colleague shouldn't even be there, should be at home getting PCR and isolating while waiting for results. The knock on effect could be huge, I'd have thought the manager would be concerned about that.

A person coughing needs a PRC test not a LFT.
The employer needs to ensure the safety of all their staff. Your DD isnt refusing to work she is highlighting the safety risk of working alongside someone with one of the 3 symptoms that require 10 days isolation or a negative PRC test.
An outbreak at her place of work would be more costly to staffin hrs than 1 memeber of staff following the requirement to test (generally results are back with in 24 hrs).
So had they sent colleague for a test as soon as it became aparent she had a cough then if negative she would likely have result and be able to wotk today. And if positive it would have prevented exposure to the rest of the team.

I would suggest your daughter contacts enviromental health.

@lljkk Presumably she's afraid if she rocks the boat now it'll be held against hey in the future?

I have a cough at the moment.
It’s not Covid. I have already had Covid and I have retested to be sure.

Not all coughs are Covid.

Oh, and when I did have Covid I didn’t cough.

She's had one dose of vaccine and is wearing a mask?

Thanks for your reply Illjkk. She doesn't want an unauthorised absence on her records in the event she'd be considered for a better position, or she she asked them to provide a reference.

Generally staff are expected to cover for eachother (paid). Someone would have to come in tonight, but it will be easy for DD to cover tomorrow if no one else can.

She's just feeling very uncomfortable, so wondering if she had any rights. If it was a child in school, they'd be sent home until they could provide a negative result, do staff have similar rights?

No, colleague hasn't done a PCR.

Yes, she has had one dose and wears a masks. She's having her second vaccine this week, so it's not looking good if she's had potential contact.

My Dd has a cough at the moment.
Her PCR and two LFTs are negative.
She has hayfever plus spent some time with a cat two days ago - this often triggers an allergy type reaction, so we think it must be that.

She is in a train today, plus going to the `gP for something else, and was nervous yesterday about what people would think if she was coughing. Luckily cough seemed much less this morning when she left.

It's really difficult as not all coughs are going to be covid, and isn't it the case the with Delta the cough isn't as big a factor anyway?

Fwiw when I did have covid my cough Sandy a proper cough as such anyway. It was more like clearing my throat type thing.

@Lottie4

No, colleague hasn't done a PCR.

Yes, she has had one dose and wears a masks. She's having her second vaccine this week, so it's not looking good if she's had potential contact.

Not looking good? The odds on her having caught Covid (if the colleague has Covid) are pretty low then. Has she tested?

I think the point is her daughter's colleague has only had a lateral flow test. All the comments about coughs are a bit redundant - I am sure if the colleague had a negative PCR test her daughter would be OK about going in. She is not OK about going in because her colleague has not had a PCR test.
OP - its a tricky one for your daughter but if she is wearing a normal mask she might want to consider wearing a N95 mask which protects both the wearer and those around her for a few days. Normal masks only protect the people around the wearer not the wearer themselves.

Really the manager should be asking the person with a cough to get a PCR.

@HummingBeeBox

The colleague shouldn't even be there, should be at home getting PCR and isolating while waiting for results. The knock on effect could be huge, I'd have thought the manager would be concerned about that.

This.

My boss has been incredibly lax about covid. Which wasn't really a problem for anyone until one person caught it, a week later the business is closed for 10 days. It spread like wildfire. If that first person had been sent home ASAP and told not to return until they had a negative pcr then everything might all be fine now.

I haven't caught it so far (one of the few that hasn't) but I'm taking daily LFs and watching out for symptoms, will take a pcr if I get any.

PCR positivity rates are currently about 35% for people testing with symptoms, so there is actually a high probability that the colleague has covid.

Thanks for your replies everyone. DD is going into work. She thinks colleague realised something was up as DD didn't feel right engaging with her unless she really had to. She's going to have a distanced chat, ask how colleague is and tell her why she's a bit concerned. I suspect if there's any damage to be done, it's already been done myself.

It's also possible that the colleague has noticed having a cough, knows (previous PCR maybe) that it's not Covid and has talked it over with the manager.

The manager has no business discussing one person's medical situation with any other member of staff, so may be aware that it's OK but can't tell your DD why.

Just an update. Colleague still has symptoms, so getting a PCR and won't be in. Unfortunately, it's a postal test, so we won't know results for I guess three days. DD will be working, but it's a smallest place, so she's going to let whoever has been asked to cover so they can try and be careful around eachother.

This is so wrong.

I am angrry for your DD

God help everyone on mumsnet in winter when it’s cough & cold season. The amount of threads like this will be hilarious!

For future reference she could ask to see a copy of their workplace COVID risk assessment as a starting point. Ours definitely says no one can work w a new cough (or temp, or loss of smell/taste ) without a negative pcr test.

Op what type of place is this?

Somewhere like macdonalds, sainsbury?

It's not fair that your dd has been put in this position and I imagine a day has been lost in trying to get the pcr too late.

Your dd shouldn't be in this position and it could be ignorance in the managers part.
I'd be calling up much higher in the chain to find what's going on, if this is a larger company like the those I mentioned where you can call and remain anonymous etc.

Young people already get used and put upon.

You shouldn't be working anyway if you have a temperature and should have already been policy.
The colleague might have hayfever. What's the pollen count in your area like?

I'm appalled by the manager actually and I hope this isn't a public facing role