Peninsulaís Legal Line gets 2,700 Swine Flu calls from worried employers

Manchester based employment law firm Peninsula has seen an influx of calls regarding the current Swine Flu situation. Peninsula's Legal Line has taken just short of 2,700 [2,683] calls this week and Peninsula expects the number of calls relating to Swine Flu to exceed 6,000 by the end of the week.

Peter Done, Managing Director of Peninsula said today, The Government obviously has a contingency plan in place, but with the current media circus around the issue, we have a high number of concerned employers who want to ensure their business doesn't suffer. Some have staff overseas and so they want to know what precautions they should take, whilst others are concerned about their workers safety and welfare. Surprisingly, we have employees who are taking advantage of the situation, calling into work sick with flu-like systems, or using the situation to spin up a story such as they are concerned for relatives overseas. Employers just don't know whether they should be taking any type of risks and so are just accepting their employees' word.

We remind employers that although the situation is worrying, we should listen to what the Government advise, have precautions and emergency measures in place, such as recalling staff from overseas that are in affected countries. We also think employers should be aware that a small minority of staff could well use this as an opportunity to take time off work. Investigate these situations and show employees that you are not just willing to accept anyone trying to manipulate the issue. If you find evidence of any wrong doing; follow disciplinary procedures. Remember, it is not yet a pandemic but employers should be taking precautions and making contingency plans, should we be thrust into a pandemic situation in the future.