Conversations about Returning to Work

A number of employees have not been able to go into work for some or all of the period since 23rd March, but as the country starts to think about taking a step toward a more normal situation, they have been having conversations with their line managers about whether they should / are able to return to their workplace. We thought it would be useful to inform members of the Union’s understanding on a couple of these situations.

• A number of employees are on the Shielding List – i.e., they’ve received a letter from the NHS advising them to stay home for 12 weeks. That advice has now changed to the end of the June.
  Nationwide is following the Government advice, and the Q&A (Q1.5) have been updated accordingly. We would expect a similar approach to continue to be adopted if the advice changes again.
• Authorised absence is also available to the end of June for employees in the Clinically vulnerable category, who have not received a letter from the NHS, and who are not able to work from home (Q1.4 of the Q&A).
• Some other employees have had to take Emergency Dependants’ Leave, and there seems to be some confusion over the 4-week reviews mentioned in the Q&A. We would expect everyone to have a conversation with the line manager about their situation, but if people genuinely cannot return to work, or increase the hours they are already working, there is nothing to prevent a further period of Emergency Dependants’ Leave being granted. (Q1.19 in the Q&A document)

The Q&A document is available via the Coronavirus links on our website, as well as on the Intranet.