Annual Leave - covid questions

theShire

My company has forwarded on a list of questions relating to annual leave which they say we are required to anwer as Company Policy based on COVID 19 guideline from the Irish Government.

1. Do you plan to leave Ireland for your holidays this year?

2. Does the Irish Government require self-quarantine on return from the country to which you are traveling?

3. What dates are you travelling?

Signature declaration of understanding that the quarantine period is unpaid and that failure to disclose the travel/quarantine period on return to the company is subject to discipline.



I'm just querying as to any other companies doing the same.

I understand the need for controls during this COVID-19 pandemic but I can't quite see how/why I should have to inform the company of my arrangements prior to any potential travel.


Wouldn't a letter confirming that any period of self-isolation is unpaid and potentially a declaration following any travel/leave suffice here?

wench

The trouble with leaving it until after to declare it, is it doesn't leave them a chance to plan for you not being there for another two weeks while you quarantine.

tjhook

I suppose if an employee has booked 2 weeks leave, but is planning on having to self-quarantine for another two weeks following that, the employer would prefer to know - so they can plan for it. Unlike an unexpected sickness, this is something that's foreseeable, so the employer should be able to plan for it.

It's probably fair enough that employees don't just ring in after 2 weeks leave to say they won't be in for another 2 weeks.

witchgirl26

So we have the system when we book annual leave that we have to state the country we're travelling to so that the company can see if it's one we'll have to self-isolate when we arrive back from (currently everywhere but also looking forward to potential green list countries). This gives them to arrange cover if it's someone who can't work from home. It also means that they know who is meant to not be in the office.

I don't think an after-the-fact letter would work here as there's no guarantee that people will do that and not just lie and claim they were in Ireland. Realistically its for your safety and the safety and wellbeing of your colleagues. The company doesn't care much where you're going or what you're doing on your holiday but they do have a duty of care to employees.

theShire

Thanks for the replies.

In this case I can assure you that it's less on the resource planning and more so on financial impact to the company and trying to dissuade people from traveling at all.

I don't think the company is overly happy with the fact that so many still have untaken holidays as we've had no major slowdown/shutdown as a result of Covid-19

Currently have a work from home policy so the period of quarantine would be no different to current guidelines.

Obviously if you become ill as a result of the travel then that's a different story.

Dav010

theShire wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

In this case I can assure you that it's less on the resource planning and more so on financial impact to the company and trying to dissuade people from traveling at all.

I don't think the company is overly happy with the fact that so many still have untaken holidays as we've had no major slowdown/shutdown as a result of Covid-19

Currently have a work from home policy so the period of quarantine would be no different to current guidelines.

Obviously if you become ill as a result of the travel then that's a different story.

To be fair, it’s the Government trying to dissuade people from travelling abroad, they still advise only essential travel and that is likely to be in place for the rest of the year even with the green list published today.

Mrs OBumble

One company I'm working for brought in a requirement to seek company approval before doing any international travel, back in February. I'm not aware of any approval being given.

The other has said nothing about international travel, but banned the use of public transport to get to the office.

C3PO

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

The other has said nothing about international travel, but banned the use of public transport to get to the office.

I’m very surprised that a company can do that unless they are providing an alternative means of transport? I have a couple of members of my team who travel from as far as Bray and Ashtown into Ballsbridge and don’t drive - how would the company propose that they should get into the office?

bladespin

Still undecided what to do this year, waiting on the list etc but will be booking our time off before decisions are made, wonder how they would handle that?