The Government’s Living with COVID-19 Plan recognises the need for an overall incremental approach which take account of the societal and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the varying responses required at different times. The Plan sets out how businesses should operate at five different levels. The Country is, at present, at Level 5 and within Level 5 people should work from home unless it is absolutely necessary to attend in person.
All employees should work from home unless essential for work, which is an essential health, social care or other essential service and cannot be done from home.
I would stress, however, that, at this particular critical juncture, given the seriousness of the overall situation with COVID-19 cases across the Community and the resulting pressure on our hospital systems, it is vital that employers make provision for employees to work from home unless they are delivering an essential service as listed on www.gov.ie and cannot work for home.
As the Deputy may be aware, I issued a statement last week underlining the seriousness of this issue.
While an employer is responsible, in the first instance, for determining what work can be done remotely, employers must bear in mind that the overarching public health advice is that employees should work remotely.
Employers and workers should seek to resolve any matters relating to remote working at a local level through mutual dialogue and engagement. Where this is not possible a dispute may be referred to the State's workplace relations services for mediation or conciliation. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is providing services on both a face to face and virtual basis. Advice can be obtained from the Information & Customer Service of the WRC at Lo-call: 1890 80 80 90 or 059 9178990 or from its website www.wrc.ie.
The Health and Safety Authority has produced a detailed guidance for both employers and employees in relation to home-working on a temporary basis during COVID-19 restrictions. This guidance will help employers to understand the requirements, and steps to take, when setting up working-from-home arrangements for employees from a health and safety perspective. The guidance is available on-line at www.hsa.ie
While the Health and Safety Authority has no role in determining which employees can work from home or not, it carries out, along with a number of other State Agencies, compliance inspections with the Work Safely Protocol. Where non-compliance with the Protocol is discovered the HSA can use various mechanisms at its disposal to ensure that the necessary measures are put in place.
Any worker with concerns about health and safety standards at their place of work can contact the Health and Safety Authority’s Workplace Contact Unit (WCU) for detailed advice including advice on compliance with the Work Safely Protocol. The WCU can be contacted by phone at Lo-call 1890289389 (landline) or (01) 6147000 or by email at wcu@hsa.ie.
I would also like to highlight the fact that there is a wide range of Government supports available to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Full details on financial supports, training and guidance are available on my Department’s website www.enterprise.gov.ie
