Right to volunteer

[Autumnieleaf]

My employer has told employees that as we are critical staff maintaining the national infrastructure we are not allowed to do any volunteering that involves face to face meeting of anyone.
I was hoping to volunteer on my days off occasionally and am disappointed with this edict. Do employers have the right to tell their staff what they can and can not do on their days off?

They can ask that you do all you can to make their environment at work as covid safe as possible so it makes sense they would want staff to minimise unnecessary contact

It depends on what’s reasonable - if you’re a key worker then it might be reasonable to say you can’t take unnecessary risks in a pandemic.

Your contract may well say that any other employment or volunteering needs to be declared and approved. This would mean that it's case for dismissal.

Thanks, everyone for your replies. My contract allows occasional volunteering so I think it’s down to what is considered reasonable, to keep my colleagues safe.