1. If my employees have swine flu, do I have to send them home?
   
   Yes. If employees are displaying flu-like symptoms, or have good reason to believe (based on guidance from the Health Protection Agency) that they may have been exposed to the swine flu virus, they should be advised to go home.
   
   
2. When should an employee with swine flu return to work?
   
   As soon as he/she feels better and ceases to be contagious. This will generally be when the employee’s fever has gone down and he/she no longer has flu-like symptoms like a runny nose, etc. If the employee does not return to work after a reasonable period of time, you can take normal steps to deal with absence such as having a meeting (or, if he/she still has swine flu, a telephone discussion) to determine the employee’s current state of health, when he/she is expected to return to work and/or a medical referral.
   
   
3. If my employees do not have swine flu but fear that they will contract the virus if they attend work, can I insist that they come to work?
   
   As a general rule, yes. It is, however, advisable to take particular care when dealing with “vulnerable” employees, i.e. those at high risk of developing flu-related complications including pregnant employees and disabled employees with respiratory problems or poor immune systems. You need to balance the needs of your employees who are concerned about contracting swine flu and, at the same time, continuing to run your business.
   
   Some confusion is arising as a result of conflicting advice to pregnant women. The official advice at present is that pregnant women can reduce the risk of infection by avoiding unnecessary travel and avoiding crowds where possible, but otherwise to carry on as normal. By way of practical advice, if a pregnant employee is concerned about commuting and attending work for fear of contracting swine flu, you can require that she attends work given that this is in line with official advice (at present). However, you could consider flexible working arrangements such as allowing pregnant employees to come in earlier and leave earlier, or to come in later and leave later in order to avoid rush-hour commuting. Alternatively, you could consider home working if this is a viable option. If not and the employee still refuses to attend work, you could offer to allow her to remain at home on unpaid leave up to the date that she starts her maternity leave.
   
   It is worth bearing in mind that swine flu is not, of itself, a disability for the purpose of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. If, however, an employee suffers from a medical condition which puts them at high risk (such as asthmatics and cancer sufferers undergoing chemotherapy), it would be advisable to consider whether any reasonable adjustments can be made such as the flexible working arrangements mentioned above.
   
   
4. Can you insist on GP sick notes when the advice from GPs is to stay away from surgeries?
   
   For now, it is advisable to follow your normal sickness policy insofar as this is appropriate. You can continue to require that employees submit GP sickness certificates and in the event that this is not possible, you can ask the employee to explain the attempts they have made to see their GP and the steps they have taken to obtain medical advice.
   
   
5. What should your policy be on time off to look after dependents who are suffering from swine flu?
   
   Whilst ordinarily we would advise employers to take a relatively hard line with employees who need emergency time off so as to allow them to merely make arrangements for dependents to be cared for when they become ill, it may be sensible in the circumstances (for example, if they live together) to allow such an employee to remain at home to look after their dependent with swine flu since this would prevent the employee coming into the workplace and spreading the virus amongst other staff.
   
   
6. What steps can you take to protect staff and reduce the risk of infection?     

·                Issue general advice to all staff about ensuring good personal hygiene

·                Advise staff not to panic

·                Display signs telling those infected not to enter the building

·                Require staff to consider alternatives to attending meetings in person, such as using video conferencing or teleconferencing where possible 

·                As outlined above, consider allowing staff to work more flexibly where appropriate (particularly in respect of vulnerable groups of employees) such as allowing them to work from home and/or agreeing different start and finish times to avoid rush hour travelling on public transport.  For this purpose, consider supplying IT support for employees to work from home and providing facilities to enable work to be carried out externally (eg. blackberries, laptops, duplicate contact lists, etc.) 

     7.     What can you do to prepare for an epidemic?

·                Determine the basic needs of your business, including the minimum numbers of staff that are required to enable the organisation to function

·                Ensure that key members of staff are accessible/obtain emergency contact details

·                Consider whether any employees have transferable skills and/or can be retrained and redeployed temporarily as necessary

·                Make arrangements for staff to work more flexibly and to train staff to take on new tasks

·                Ensure that arrangements are in place to monitor working hours of those who provide minimum cover during an epidemic to maintain health and safety and to ensure that there is no breach of the Working Time Regulations 

As we move towards the Autumn, the amount of people who contract the swine flu virus is expected to increase and so we shall keep this matter under review. The above guidance is accurate as at 20^th July 2009, based on the level of alert determined by the World Health Organisation.