Firms fear wave of legal claims as employees go back to work

Linda J. Dodson

Firms could be forced to fend off a wave of legal action from staff over health and safety rules and unfair dismissal as the country gets back to work, lawyers have warned. 

Companies which suffer a Covid-19 outbreak at work could be hit with cases brought by employees for failing to protect them from the disease, while the likelihood that many firms will have to lay off staff when the Government’s furlough scheme ends could also spark a wave of legal challenges. 

David Greenhalgh, an employment consultant at law firm Joelson, said: “I think there will be a massive increase in claims because people will be losing their jobs on quite a wide scale.

“Lots of employers will not follow proper selection processes.”

Dismissed employees are likely to challenge employers where they believe mass redundancies have been used as an opportunity to get rid of staff who had already been earmarked as unwanted, lawyers said. 

Employers could also face claims for breach of data privacy if they force employees to use the Government’s Covid-19 tracing app, for example. 

Peter Finding, a partner at law firm FisherBroyles, said a widespread Covid-19 outbreak in a single workplace could lead to a class action-style claim by employees. 

Disgruntled employees could also blow the whistle on bosses over poor work safety practices, which could trigger investigations and prosecutions by the Health and Safety Executive, he added. 

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