Employment law re working from home

[OwlMother]

I work entirely from home, the role was advertised as such, training was given remotely, and all the equipment (computer, desk chair, phone line and broadband ) is provided by my employer.

Recently they have sent out a communication stating that "if you have technical issues relating to the internet (including local exchange problems, power cuts, or physical problems including weather conditions) which result in you being offline for more than half a day you will be required to take, annual leave , time bank or unpaid leave"

Are they able to do this considering this is something outwith our control, provided by them (and managed by them- they contact BT in relation to faults, not us) and we have no other way of working in the event of an outage given that they have set it up this way. Should we not continue to be paid for our contracted hours?

I would have thought that if this happened in a workplace (bank would be a close comparison) and there was a power cut or similar, the employees would still be paid for their contracted hours?

Having said this I have no knowledge of employment law so was hoping that someone who does might be able to point me in the right direction? Thank you!

Is there offline work that can be done

I do see your point by the way

No, this is part of the problem. Effectively the role involves taking calls as if in a callcentre.

Yes. If you were in an office and had made yourself available for work they'd pay you wouldn't they. Obviously at home you'll put the washing machine on or hoover. I personally feel this is the flipside of them not having to provide an office.

Have you got a work mobile and you could connect to a hot spot? That's what I do if my internet is down and I'm working from home.

Legally I think they can insist you take leave.

I’m not sure legally but I worked from home but if I had no internet then I would go to my managers house (also a friend who lived nearby) or go into the office or a relatives house. I had a laptop though and although had a voip phone provided by them I only made and received occasional calls so could do without a phone.

The problem is (I also used to work from home for a call centre type environment where you constantly took incoming calls) that you will get lots of problems saying internet is down etc just to not work but still get paid. If you were in an office then the manager can make the call of other work to give you/send you Home if a health and safety issue eg no power at all.

But working from home is not a perk for the op. It's the default. And it sounds like they manager her Internet connection.