Alert on employee self-isolation: for illegal appearance at work and up to 5 years in prison

Aurelija Daubaraitė, Senior Attorney at Sorainen Law Firm, discusses how to get to know employees in self-isolation and how to organize the work process smoothly.

There are three ways an employer can find out about self-isolation assigned to an employee. First, the employee must report COVID-19, patient contact, or self-isolation due to travel. Although this obligation is established in the Labor Code, the employer himself must be constantly reminded of the obligation to provide information on self-isolation and the reasons for it.

However, employees are not always willing to report a situation and sometimes even try to cover it up. Therefore, the employer can know the self-isolation assigned to the worker based on the certificate of incapacity for work. However, this is not always exhaustive: in the case of COVID-19, it will still carry the entry “Illness”, isolated after a trip or in contact with “Epidemic situation”. However, employees do not always carry a certificate of inability to work because they can work from home or choose to take annual leave.

Finally, the employer can be contacted by representatives of the National Public Health Center (NVSC), but due to the large number of patients and those who are isolated, they cannot always do so. Therefore, the most reliable way to find out about the need for isolation remains mutual communication between the employee and the employer; the employer must clearly indicate the need to immediately notify the designated person of the isolation.

For job performance: up to 5 years in prison

Clear communication between the employer and the employee in self-isolation helps avoid painful consequences. For one thing, the disease can be transmitted to other company employees. On the other hand, there are also legal consequences, such as a fine or the obligation to compensate for the damage suffered by others.

To avoid or at least reduce such risks, the employer should approve and familiarize employees with the rules governing worker conduct in the event of illness or mandatory isolation. The rules should include the obligation to provide information, the employer’s obligations when the employee works remotely (for example, home delivery if it is possible to work from home), and the behavior of colleagues who have been in contact with a worker from COVID-19. Clear rules make it easier to manage the situation and establish clear responsibilities for each party.

However, if the employee does not report the assigned self-isolation and does not report for work, the employer has the right to initiate a violation procedure for the employee’s absence. Of course, your bottom line would depend on the reasons the employee did not report the situation. Furthermore, it is important whether the employer had clearly communicated to you in advance the need to inform you of the assigned self-isolation.

If an employee violates the isolation obligation and arrives at the workplace, they face administrative responsibility ranging from warning to a fine of up to 1,500 euros, and if the infection spreads as a result, up to 5 years in prison. In such a case, the employer must immediately send the employee home and, if he does not agree, withdraw him without pay, unless it is possible to work from home. If the employer did not know and could not have known about mandatory employee isolation, their liability to the state, other employees and third parties should not normally arise. However, if the employer knew of the employee’s mandatory isolation and allowed (or even ordered) him to work, he would also be liable.

The conditions for teleworking are provided by the employer.

The possibilities for an employer to recover an employee from isolation more quickly are so far very limited. The mandatory two-week self-isolation period for exposed individuals may be shortened if a test has been performed and no negative results have been obtained within 10 days of isolation. However, the employer cannot in any way compel the employee to take this test, and those suspected of being ill do not have the opportunity to shorten their self-isolation time; the latter must wait for a response to the COVID-19 test.

If possible, the employer can organize the work of the self-employed remotely. The employer must provide both the necessary work equipment and safety, as in case of damage to third parties (clients or partners), the employer will normally have to take responsibility first. Therefore, when working from home, it is important that the employee has the necessary software and data security. Employees must know the rules on teleworking, comply with them and be aware of their responsibilities.

It is recommended that the employer organize remote work to protect workers from a possible outbreak of the disease. However, even in this case, the employer does not have the right to force employees to isolate themselves if there is no legal basis for it. Even if rules were adopted on, for example, the way in which employees spend their free time, imposing stricter quarantine conditions on employees than those established by law, they could only be of a recommendation nature and the employer could not take disciplinary action . If it is not possible to work remotely, the employee is not declared inactive and must comply with solitary confinement, usually a certificate of disability is issued and a disability benefit is paid according to the law.