Empire HR advises employers to implement travel policies following bird flu outbreak

An outbreak of bird flu has resulted in the culling of approximately 160,000 turkeys at a Suffolk farm. With the H5N1 strain of the virus, which can be fatal for humans following contact with infected animals, most definitely on our shores and in light of continuing concern over the spread of the disease Empire HR is advising employers to review and revise their travel policies accordingly.

ìMany companies expect their staff to travel for business purposes. With reported cases of bird flu occurring more frequently it is natural that employees might have concerns regarding travelling to affected areas,î says Graham McWilliam, director of Empire HR. ìEmployers who have staff travelling to affected areas, or who have staff out in these areas due to return to work should have a travel policy, covering bird flu, this should include a risk assessment on deciding if employees should travel.î

Graham advises that:

Employees should not be permitted to travel for work to countries listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at risk of Bird Flu

No other travel should be authorised without a full risk assessment and a discussion should take place between the employee and their manager regarding the risks of travel and precautionary and control measures

Employees should be given information on the means of transmission of Bird Flu as well as being educated on how to reduce the risk of getting Bird Flu

Employees in affected areas should monitor the local situation daily and have a contingency plan in place in case of infection ñ including who to contact should they suspect that they have contracted it or require expert medical information on it.

Graham says, ìThe increase in the number of confirmed cases of Bird Flu raises important issues for employers and it is vital that they have their own travel policy in place in the event of one of the following situations arising:

Employees being unwilling to travel to affected areas

Employees returning from affected areas and coming back to work in the local office

Employees who have been on holiday in affected areas

ìItís a difficult situation for employers to be in. They will want to be very sympathetic to relevant staff, but they also have a duty of care to other staff. At the moment, a group of staff could approach line management and refuse to work alongside a colleague who had recently been in an affected area.î

ìHowever, an employer requesting the ëat riskí employee to stay at home would be required to pay them full salary during this period of absence as it is the organisation that are requesting the employee to stay away from the workplace. An employer could request they work from home if this was a practical solution.î

ìWithout a policy in place in advance of this situation arising, the ëat riskí employee could refuse to stay at home and may attempt to claim breach of contract/constructive unfair dismissal against the employer. In more extreme situations, should an employee refuse to work alongside an Asian employee for example, because they were worried concerned about catching bird flu, then there could also be a case for race discrimination.î

ìUltimately, it will be the employment tribunal who will decide what is fair and reasonable. If an organisation had a current employee due to travel to Suffolk as part of their contract, and they refused to travel, they would be in breach of contract as the WHO are not advising against travel to this area and therefore the employee would be deemed as not being ëat riskí.

ìMost employers will adopt a reasonable attitude to employee concerns, however acting proactively and introducing a travel policy, covering Bird Flu ñ especially for companies whose employees are involved in international travel as part of their contracts ñ is vital.î