Social distancing is now an important practice which is being encouraged by both the government officials and doctors, all around the world. Covid-19 has forced everyone to stay at home. Therefore, offices and organizations are now encouraging work from home practices. Apart from the virus, remote working is greatly encouraged and more and more organizations are moving their employees towards this practice. However, there are some legal implications which an employer and an employee must consider:
FLEXIBILITY
It is important for the employer to have a meeting with his or her employees about the arrangement of ‘‘working from home.’’ A major concern that occurs in working from home is, how flexible can the employee be? Can he or she start the work early and end it an hour early too? The answers of such questions should be given to the employees in the very beginning so that there is maximum productivity. Apart from that, it is important to understand that even when working from home, one should work as if he or she is working from the office. Working from home should not in any way minimize one’s productivity.
HEALTH AND SAFETY
When you are working from home, security of your private information can be a big concern. It is the duty of the employer to make sure that the platform they are using to conduct the online work is safe and keeps all the private information of the employees secure.
COMPENSATION
When working from home, employees must be paid for the entire time and even over time, exactly how they were being paid at the workplace. Therefore, it is important for the employers to have reliable means where the reporting time of all the employees can be recorded. If employees are not working during the day, or are working less, then the employer has the right to deduct full or a part from their compensation. All employees should report the starting and the ending time, including the break times. Through this, the employer will be able to keep a track on the timings and can compensate the employees accordingly.
EQUIPMENTS FOR THE EMPLOYEE
If the nature of work requires the employee to use a certain software, then it is the responsibility of the employer to equip him with the right tools. So, employers should provide such employees with necessary resources which will enable them to work from home. Other than that, employers should estimate the expenses of an employee who has used his or her personal equipment for the office work and determine if a reimbursement is necessary and to what extent.
PRIVACY
There can be instances where an employee feels harassed even while working online from home. Employees have a right to file lawsuit with a personal injury lawyer or premises liability lawyer Kansas City, MO trusts and report such cases just like they would when working from office. It is the responsibility of the employers to make the employee feel safe while they are interacting with colleagues during work hours even when they are working from home.
It is important for both the employee and the employer to discuss the arrangement beforehand and be transparent with each other.
Thanks to Royce Injury Attorneys, LLC for their insight into personal injury claims and coronavirus spreading among employees.