UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Phil Linnard, Philippa O’Malley, David Rintoul and Clare Fletcher, Slaughter and May
Social Security Where an employee is working from an overseas juris - diction, local tax and social security contributions may be payable, which could require the employer to set up payroll within that jurisdiction. The employee may also gain an entitlement to certain mandatory ben - efits while working abroad, the cost of which would need to be managed by the employer. The employer should also consider whether the employee’s remote working risks creating a permanent establishment of the employer (for tax purposes) in the overseas juris - diction. 5.2 Sabbaticals Typically, employers in the UK grant sabbatical leave as a matter of discretion. The terms of any sabbati - cal leave (eg, duration, who is eligible, whether it is paid and if so, how much) will likely be laid out in a sabbatical policy. The employer should make sure that any sabbatical policy is operated fairly and on a non-discriminatory basis. For instance, using length of service as a criterion for a sabbatical could be indi - rectly discriminatory on the grounds of age. The employee remains employed during their sabbati - cal leave and, except as agreed between the employ - ee and employer, remains bound by their contractual obligations (including those of fidelity and confidenti - ality) to their employer. 5.3 Other New Manifestations Hybrid Working Hybrid working, where employees work from both the office and their homes (or elsewhere), increased signif - icantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has broadly continued in many sectors, although some employers are beginning to encourage employees back to the office on a more full-time basis. Hybrid working has also been assisted by innovative technological developments that facilitate (for exam - ple) remote collaboration and more efficient desk- sharing. It has also had an impact on how employers lease and design their office space, to account for a more flexible pattern of employee attendance.
Finally, the standard visitor visa category allows qualifying nationals of countries other than the UK to undertake a very limited range of business-related, and in very limited cases work-related, activities in the UK for up to six months at a time.
5. New Work 5.1 Mobile Work
There are no specific statutory regulations on mobile or remote work. However, additional considerations may apply to remote work, as regards data protection, occupational health and safety, and social security. Data Protection Remote workers may need specific training on their obligations regarding data protection and confidenti - ality. Employers should also carry out a DPIA of the implications of employees working remotely. Relevant considerations include the following. • Who will have access to an employee’s computer and personal data? Can the employee encrypt or password-protect data? • Should employees be required to access company systems through a VPN, use multifactor authen - tication and only use sufficiently secure wireless networks? • Where hard-copy data is kept, does the employee have appropriate methods to store it? • Will the employee’s home or other place of work regularly be left unattended? Is it properly secured? • How is information moved either between the employee’s home and workplace, or between vari - Employers owe common law and statutory health and safety duties to all employees, even those doing mobile or remote work. Those duties can be harder to fulfil where employees are working remotely, in terms of risks to both physical and mental health. Employ - ers must therefore ensure that they have processes to risk-assess remote working locations and provide such assistance, equipment, etc, as is needed to pro - tect remote workers’ health and safety. ous remote working locations? Occupational Health and Safety
697 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook