Brits returning from Spain who have to quarantine CAN’T claim sick pay

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BRITS returning from Spain to the UK who have to unexpectedly quarantine for two weeks face losing cash – and they cannot claim sick pay.

Earlier today the Foreign Secretary urged employers to be “flexible” and stressed they shouldn’t punish their employees for following the law and staying home to stop the spread of the virus.

Brits returning to the UK can’t claim any sick pay if they need to quarantine because of the trip

British tourists rush back home as quarantine for people arriving from Spain is imposed in the UK

Last night the Government removed Spain from the safe list of countries, and said anyone returning would have to stay home for a fornight or risk a £1000 fine.

But there’s nothing forcing employers to give anything to people who have to isolate when they return back from Spain.

The Government’s website states: “You cannot get SSP if you’re self-isolating after entering or returning to the UK and do not need to self-isolate for any other reason.”

Some employers may choose to give their employees their normal pay – and some may be able to work from home.

Others may ask them to take the fortnight out of their holiday entitlement.

Or they could try and force them to take unpaid leave.

The uncertainty around the rules means that there are fears thousands could break the 14-day quarantine if they need to earn enough to pay bills and rent.

But Mr Raab said employees shouldn’t be punished for obeying the law.

He added: “Employers just like employees have got to follow the law and I don’t think you could be laying people off or taking penalties against people for adhering to the law.

“If someone has followed the law in relation to quarantine and self-isolating in the way that they should, they can’t have penalties taken against them.

“You cannot be penalised in this country lawfully for following the rules and the law that’s in place and obviously we expect employers to respond flexibly and in an understanding way to those who, let’s face it, have enforced on them because of the risk that we’ve seen in Spain, those quarantine rules.”

The Government said they took the decision to reimpose quarantine for arrivals from Spain “as swiftly as we could” yesterday. They insisted they only got the data in full on Friday, despite cases rising in Spain for nearly a week.

Mr Raab admitted that more countries could be removed from the travel safe list at short notice – risking quarantine on their return.

The Foreign Secretary said: “As we found with Spain, we can’t give a guarantee, all we can say is we’ve got this Joint Biosecurity Centre, as you can see we monitor the risk in real time, we take decisive swift action and so there is an element of uncertainty this summer as people go abroad.

“That’s why our advice is follow the Foreign Office travel advice… I’m not going to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do, I think they should follow the advice.”

He said he wouldn’t be going abroad this summer himself.

Today Spain’s Foreign Minister says she is lobbying the UK government to remove the Balearic and the Canary Islands from the quarantine rules.

The infection rate there is “well below” that in the UK, she says.

At the moment it’s still safe for people to fly out there, but they still have to quarantine on their return.

Brits have been advised against all but essential travel to mainland Spain thanks to a spike in infections.

 

 

A Government spokesperson said today: “We urge employers to show flexibility to employees who will have to self-isolate due to the changes to quarantine rules.

“No employee should be penalised for following the rules and self-isolating.”

Here are all your rights for getting a refund from your holiday firm if you’re now unable to travel to Spain.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.hellofaread.com/politics/tony-blair-blasts-foolish-conspiracy-theory-that-russians-could-have-swung-brexit-vote/