LEGAL

Looking after your workforce: What are your responsibilities for lone workers?

With many managers now faced with the task of supervising employees remotely, it places a greater onus on companies to include mental health within their health and safety responsibilities. Sara Ellison (pictured), a chartered legal executive in Banner Jones’ employment law team, answers some common questions she is asked by clients.

IS MY EMPLOYEES’ MENTAL HEALTH MY RESPONSIBILITY?

The Government’s Good Work Guide recommends some core standards that employers should meet to promote the wellbeing, safety and security of their team. This emphasises the importance of supporting mental health in the workplace.

Furthermore, mental health is considered to be part of the duty of care an employer owes to its employees. Neglecting this could be a breach of this duty and result in costly claims by the employee.

If an employee has a longstanding (usually for 12 months or more) or serious mental health condition that impacts on their ability to carry out day-to-day tasks, this could amount to a disability under the Equality Act 2010.

Under the Equality Act, disabled employees are legally protected from being discriminated against at work and failing to give a disabled employee adequate support could mean you are not fulfilling your obligations as an employer.

WHAT CAN I DO TO PROMOTE GOOD MENTAL HEALTH IN MY TEAM?

The most important thing employers can give to their employees is time and understanding. Feeling judged, unsupported or even discriminated against will not only make your team members unproductive and potentially impact negatively on their mental health, but it may lead to them taking legal action against you.

You can support your team by communicating regularly and openly. One way to do this is to carry out team meetings and activities remotely via video-based apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. You should also check that lone workers are able to manage their workload and ensure they are taking regular breaks.

Remember that a mental health issue can be a legitimate reason for absence from work. Your employee is still required to notify you of their sickness absence in line with the terms of their contract.

Where they request adjustments to their work or role, or reasonable adjustments are recommended by their doctor, you should consider these properly and in a timely manner. Such adjustments might include adjusting their working hours or providing specialist equipment.

It is vital that you keep strong communication with team members

CAN EMPLOYEES CLAIM FOR ADDITIONAL EXPENSES WHILE WORKING AT HOME?

Employers are obliged to carry out a risk assessment of a homeworker’s working environment to ensure they are safe and not at risk of harm when working.

Businesses are not legally obliged to provide additional expenses for homeworkers, but it may be necessary to provide them with the equipment they need to work from home.

If you feel it would be conducive to productivity, then you may choose to reimburse your employee for certain items.

WHAT ABOUT EMPLOYEES WHO ARE AT RISK WHEN WORKING ALONE?

Employees who would normally return to an office after completing a challenging lone-working task, like visiting a family as a social care worker, may now return home and have nobody to talk to.

It’s vital that you keep strong communication with your team members who face triggering activities and put measures in place to replace the natural support from working together that may have now disappeared.

If they could be at risk of verbal or physical violence while lone working, you must have a clear management plan to prevent or control these risks by law. They may not report incidents as readily as they would have done when seeing you in person. You should make amendments to your health and safety policy to reflect the current situation if necessary.

Violence or risk of violence has a high chance of leading to workrelated stress. This could result in serious mental health issues.

You may wish to visit the Health and Safety Executive’s website for further guidance on this:

www.hse.gov.uk/loneworking/employer/violence.htm

High volume of deal activity for Freeths

Freeths’s corporate practice completed 43 major mergers and acquisitions in 28 days leading up to the budget.

The national law firm, headquartered in Nottingham, oversaw transactions with values ranging from £1m to £40m in the four weeks before 3 March.

The deals covered a wide range of sectors in which Freeths specialise, including renewable energy, aviation, logistics, leisure, retail, technology, manufacturing and engineering. Notable transactions include advising Bristol-based engineering design consultancy Hydrock on its acquisition of Kelly Taylor Associates, a mechanical and electrical design consultancy business with a base in Lutterworth that specialises in the logistics and distribution sector.

Leon Arnold, joint national head of corporate at Freeths, said: “This volume of deal activity was partly driven by the uncertainty around potential tax increases, which may have been in the budget.

The breadth, depth and energy in our corporate team enables us to deal with a high volume of transactions within a short timeframe.”