This article is written for the Stray Ferret by Harrogate employment lawyer Richard Port. Richard is Principal Solicitor and Founding Director at Boardside legal. In a series of articles, he explores the issues raised for employers and employees returning to work post furlough. This article is not legal advice – more a look at the complexities of the current situation. 

This week, he looks at where an employee stands if he is asked to return to his workplace, but does not want to do so.

My client, ABC Ltd is a food production business, meaning that as an essential service it has continued to operate in lockdown. Many, but not all, of its employees have continued to work, albeit paying due regard to health and safety measures in the workplace, in line with government guidelines.

‘Fred’ was one of a small number of employees who were furloughed in response to Covid-19, at least until ABC Ltd recently asked Fred, in particular, to return to the workplace. But he was not keen.

Employees may be reluctant to return to work for a variety of reasons, some of which may not be genuine, but many of which are likely to be so (often supported by various legal protections). Even if ABC Ltd believes that a reluctant returner is exaggerating his other concerns, it would still need to approach the problem with caution, dealing with those ‘concerns’ very carefully indeed.

As an adviser to ABC Ltd, I have had to discuss various scenarios with the client warning them about how easy it is to get things wrong and with it the very real risk of exposure to legal proceedings and the significant associated costs.

Like all employees, Fred has certain protections should he refuse to attend the workplace because of a reasonable fear of ‘serious and imminent danger’, a concept that will differ from one employee to another. For Fred, one major concern was the matter of travel to work on public transport, the risk of which he finds unacceptable.

Bearing in mind that the concept of ‘clinically vulnerable’ includes the over 70s and those with underlying health conditions, I also discussed with ABC Ltd Fred’s age and the fact he has no known health conditions. Fred is in his 60s, so does not trigger the age qualification for being clinically vulnerable, so potential age discrimination was not relevant.

It has been well documented that a number of employees have suffered with the consequences of Covid-19. My concern was that this could potentially be an issue for Fred, save that Fred’s own GP refuses to sign him off work.

Nonetheless, ABC Ltd should still listen to his concerns about returning to work, to understand how he is coping and what his real concerns about returning to his duties are. Remember, employers have an obligation to consider reasonable adjustments, including employees’ work patterns.

Finally, employees do have a right to request a reasonable amount of time off caring for dependants, albeit this would be unpaid. Fred’s wife does suffer from arthritis and I am aware that he does all of the shopping, for example. However, he has not raised this as an issue and in any event ABC Ltd has already offered him unpaid leave.

But of course, it is one thing thrashing this out with me, quite another to be discussing these types of matters with Fred directly. Effective communication is key to reducing the risk of employment related issues and even an adverse finding at an employment tribunal.

Next week, Richard looks at redundancies as businesses deal with the impact of the covid crisis.

Read more from Richard Port:

• Can you force an employee back to work?

For the 16th day running, there have been no further coronavirus deaths at Harrogate District Hospital. The total since the start of the outbreak remains at 82.

According to figures released today by NHS England, there were four deaths in the North East and Yorkshire, and nine in total across the country.

The patients were aged between 73 and 92 and all had known underlying health conditions.

Read more:

• No positive coronavirus patients at Harrogate hospital
• 12 cases of coronavirus in Harrogate district as rates remain low

Yesterday, Harrogate NHS Foundation Trust confirmed it was not treating any patients with Covid-19. National statistics have also revealed there were only 12 confirmed cases across the Harrogate district in the last week.

For this reason, the Stray Ferret will pause its daily reporting of the statistics from NHS England after today. We will continue to monitor the information as it is released and to report any deaths as they are confirmed.

We will also report any other statistics released by the hospital, the ONS or other authorities, as they are announced.

Should the number of cases or deaths increase in the district in future, we will begin reporting daily again.

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There is still no confirmation from the NHS over the future of the Nightingale hospital in Harrogate with just hours to go until the contract expires.

NHS England had agreed to use Harrogate Convention Centre until the end of July for its temporary field hospital.

However, with the clock ticking to the end of the agreement today, there is still no confirmation of what will happen next. A spokesperson for the NHS Nightingale Hospital Yorkshire and the Humber said:

“We are tremendously grateful to the people of Harrogate for their support and we continue to work closely with our colleagues at NHS England and Harrogate Borough Council to agree the next steps for our regional temporary hospital at Harrogate Convention Centre.”

Read more:

• Harrogate Nightingale cost £15m – but still no news on its future
• Harrogate businesses back £47m conference centre renovation

The NHS has not confirmed what arrangement is in place after midnight tonight for the hospital to be removed, should it fail to agree a new contract with the centre’s owners, Harrogate Borough Council.

The Nightingale hospital cost £15m to build and was officially opened in April by Captain Tom Moore, who has since been knighted by the Queen.

It took three weeks to build but has never been used to treat Covid patients. Instead, since early June, it has provided CT scans to help the NHS catch up on tests delayed during the height of the crisis.

Last week, calls were made for the future of the Nightingale hospital to be confirmed in order to allow local businesses to plan for the coming months. If the hospital is decommissioned, Harrogate Convention Centre will be able to reopen for events, which bring significant money to the town’s hospitality businesses.

West Park Stray appears lush and green after the grass was mowed for the first time since work began in spring.

However, anyone hoping to take advantage of the warm weather this weekend and enjoy the newly-mown grass will have to look elsewhere.

Harrogate Borough Council said an announcement about the reopening of West Park Stray will be made in the coming days, but for now, it remains fenced off.

A drone image of West Park Stray taken today, July 31, by David Simister.

Work to restore the Stray began at the end of April, with Lancashire-based Glendale Services appointed to carry out the work under ‘urgent circumstances’. The organisers of the fan park for the UCI Road World Championships last September, when the damage was done, have agreed to pay £35,500 towards £130,000 of work.

Read more: 

• Consultation over Stray land exchange for cycle path
• Stray becomes new gym as personal trainers adapt

The council said that sum was not purely for repairs following the UCI event, but comprised repair to other long-standing issues:

• £38,105 for repairs to grassed areas of West Park Stray
• £65,385 for pavement, footpaths, Heras fencing, bedding and verge repairs, reinstatement of bins and benches plus any additional council work
• £20,156 to fix longstanding drainage issues
• £6,325 project management and delivery costs

When seeding began in late June, scarecrows created by local primary school children were put up across the Stray to protect the grass.

The Stray was still showing extensive damage in March

The high volume of roadworks around Harrogate is due to a backlog of work caused by lockdown, according to North Yorkshire County Council.

Many of the major routes into town, including Ripon Road, Skipton Road and Leeds Road, have been recently affected by road works this month.

Barrie Mason, assistant director for highways and transportation at the county council, told the Stray Ferret the authority had tried to provide “as close to a business as usual service as possible” during lockdown. But he added:

“Across the country utility companies and developers saw a temporary reduction in resources as a result of the pandemic, which caused delays.

“There was a temporary suspension of planned utilities and developer works while companies considered how staff could safely work on site and adhere to the government’s social distancing guidelines for the benefit of the workforce as well as the public.

“Therefore, many of these planned programmes of works this year have inevitably been affected and delayed.”

Mr Mason added that more people were also using the roads since lockdown restrictions were eased. He added:

“We appreciate that all works cause an element of disruption but as always we ask drivers for their patience while they are being carried out.”

A trainee accountant has been jailed for dealing cocaine and an ecstasy-type drug in Harrogate.

Armaan Ahmad, 24, was arrested after his Audi A3 was stopped by police in April last year, York Crown Court heard.

Officers found 26 wraps of cocaine inside the car, along with six bags of MDMA in powder form, said prosecutor Rob Galley. They also seized £340 from his wallet and a mobile phone with incriminating text messages. Mr Galley added:

“(The messages) clearly show that this defendant was being directed to go to various post codes and addresses or directed to deal (drugs) to certain people.”

They showed that Ahmad’s drugs boss had ordered him to “count what was left” of the drugs and relay the amounts back to him using abbreviations and codes such as ‘P’ for ‘premium’ cocaine, “rather than standard cocaine”, said the prosecutor.

Armaan Ahmad has been sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment for dealing drugs in Harrogate

During the phone conversations, they also discussed his “wage” which on the day in question – April 18 – was £100 to deal “party drugs” in Harrogate and Leeds.

Ahmad – whose father runs a highly successful accountancy firm – sold £780 worth of drugs on that day, although he claimed he had only been dealing for two days. Mr Galley said:

“He had to hand matters over to somebody at a mosque in Leeds at the end of the day.”

‘Significant’ role

Ahmad had played a “significant” role as a drug runner or courier, added Mr Galley. The value of the cocaine seized from his car was about £380 but could have been worth a lot more if dealt on the street.

Ahmad, from Leeds, was said to have been very open with police and owned up straight away. He was charged with two counts of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and admitted both charges.

He appeared for sentence on Thursday in an immaculate dark-blue suit and tie, but knowing that jail was all but certain.

Read more:

• Harrogate courts reopen to backlog in cases
• Harrogate police warn of increase in doorstep fraud

Defence barrister Andrew Dallas described his well-spoken client as a “naïve” young man who had come under the spell of others higher up the supply chain. He said:

“He was misled, not realising what he was getting into.

“He’s from an excellent background and his father… is a successful accountant.”

Ahmad had passed his exams at school and found work straight away, but then lost his job after a contract expired and “couldn’t get other work”, said Mr Dallas.

He said this led Ahmad into debt after he took out a pay-day loan. A friend told him he could make “easy money” by drug-dealing and he fell into “temptation”.

‘Working under direction’

Ahmad, of Church Lane, Adel, began driving around the streets at night in “very risky and serious situations, working absolutely under direction and he had to provide a prices account and face (pay) deductions if anything went wrong”, added Mr Dallas.

“He realised he’d got himself into something bad.”

Since his arrest, Ahmad had had a rapprochement with his father, moved back into the family home and started working full-time for his father’s business as a trainee accountant. Mr Dallas said:

“He’s looking to enrol in exams so that he can follow his father into the profession. He’s quite clearly intelligent in some ways and astonishingly naïve in others.”

Judge Sean Morris told Ahmad:

“People are mugging people in the streets for drugs, robbing their own grannies for drugs, and they have to get them from somebody, and (in this case) they were getting them from you.

“This was proper drug-dealing – fortunately nipped in the bud. You did it calmly and coolly and you took part in this filthy trade.”

Jailing Ahmad for 20 months, the judge said he was “ordinarily a decent young man”. He added:

“It beggars belief that you got into this (sort of crime) and I know that the shame you have brought upon your family you will feel acutely.”

Ahmad will serve half of the sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

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Authorities in North Yorkshire have issued warnings to people hoping to take advantage of the hot weather and easing of lockdown restrictions this weekend.

With temperatures forecast to rise beyond 30 degrees centigrade, concerns have been raised about safety as residents enjoy the good weather for the first time since coronavirus guidelines changed.

Yorkshire Water is urging people to plan to ensure they are safe when visiting its sites across the Harrogate district. Alastair Harvey, lead countryside and woodland advisor at Yorkshire Water, said:

“The warm weather this weekend is the perfect opportunity for people to get out and enjoy some of Yorkshire’s scenic beauty spots, including reservoirs and woodland.

“It is important those enjoying the summer weather ensure they are doing so safely and that they are not having a negative impact on the environment.

“In the warm weather reservoirs can seem appealing for a quick swim, but they pose a huge risk which could lead to loss of life. They are often colder than rivers and this can result in cold water shock that can lead to hyperventilation, increased blood pressure and breathing difficulties and ultimately death, so it is important people visiting reservoirs are not tempted to swim.

Mr Harvey also warned about the dangers of wildfires during hot weather:

“We have seen in recent months the danger of barbecues on open land with a number of wildfires. These can cause a danger to life, as well as devastating local ecosystems by damaging peat soils and impacting valuable habitat and wildlife such as birds, reptiles and insects.

“We would encourage anyone visiting Yorkshire’s beauty spots to respect their surroundings and take measures to protect themselves and the environment by not lighting fires or barbecues, taking their litter home, respecting residents and local communities, parking considerately and following the Countryside Code at all times.”

Read more:

• Lockdown blamed for rise in recreational drug use in Harrogate
• Coach and Horses has licence revoked

North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service echoed his comments about disposable barbecues, urging people to use them safely at home, away from sheds, trees and hedges. The fire service also asked people not to take barbecues out onto grassland or moors and to dispose of cigarettes and litter safely. A spokesman added:

“Open water may look like a tempting place to cool off, but it can be full of hidden dangers including vegetation and objects you can get tangled up in.”

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For the second week running, there have been no further Covid-related deaths in care homes across the Harrogate district.

Figures released today, which cover the weekly period up to July 17, show the number of deaths in the district’s care homes since the start of the pandemic remains at 104.

Meanwhile, Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust has also not recorded any deaths in patients with covid for the 13th consecutive day. The total number of deaths at the hospital since the outbreak began is 82.

Data released today by NHS England shows that a further 12 people who had tested positive for the coronavirus have died, including one in the North East and Yorkshire. They were aged between 45 and 99, and all had known underlying health conditions.

Read more:

• ‘Far more’ lockdown fines for Asian men in North Yorkshire
• Harrogate Nightingale cost £15m – but still no news on its future

A trade show usually held at Harrogate Convention Centre in September has announced it will stay in Harrogate, with new dates released.

With the future of the NHS Nightingale still unconfirmed, The Flooring Show has struck at deal with Yorkshire Event Centre to use its halls from February 28 to March 2 next year.

It is good news for the town’s economy, keeping visitors in the area to use hotels, guesthouses, restaurants, bars and more during the event. Organisers said they will put on a free shuttle bus for delegates to access the town’s “unique charm and plentiful amenities”.

Heather Parry, Managing Director of Yorkshire Event Centre Ltd said:

“We are delighted to be able to host The Flooring Show at the Yorkshire Event Centre and ensure that the UK’s biggest national flooring event remains here in Harrogate.

“Harrogate continues to be an ideal destination to hold events, in keeping with the latest government advice on social gatherings. We are pleased to play our part in supporting the local economy.”

Event director Alex Butler said:

There have been no further deaths in hospital patients with coronavirus across the whole of the North East and Yorkshire, according to today’s figures.

It means the number of deaths at Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust remains at 82, with no deaths for the last 12 days.

Read more:

• Harrogate Nightingale cost £15m – but still no news on its future
• No coronavirus deaths at Harrogate District Hospital for 11 consecutive days

NHS England confirmed a further 10 deaths today across the country, bringing the total number since the beginning of the outbreak to 29,291.

Of those reported today, all 10 were aged between 48 and 93 and had known underlying health conditions.