Joseph Lappin, partner and Head of Employment, spoke to City AM as legal experts explained what employers and employees alike need to know about the rules and best practices for British workers when doing their job overseas. The article’s introduction and Joe’s full commentary follows below.
As we enter the holiday season, millions of British workers will be planning to ‘work from the beach’ this summer as they aim to lap up on the benefits of working flexibly. As the schools wrapped up for the summer, many of the country’s airports will be jammed packed as the holiday season kicks off. As most companies have flexible working policies in place following the pandemic, many workers will hope to swap their home office for the beach.
But what are the rules around working from outside of the UK? Joseph explains the some of the issues that might creep up for both employees and employers.
What does the law say about employees remote working abroad?
It is good practice for employers to have a policy setting out the rules concerning remote working, including working abroad. Failing to treat requests to work abroad consistently will inevitably lead to allegations of unfairness and possibly complaints of discrimination.
In most cases employees working abroad on a temporary and short-term basis will pose little risk to employers. Giving staff the flexibility to work abroad has benefits for employees and employers alike, including greater employee satisfaction and increased staff retention. However, employers will be concerned that staff may not be as productive when working abroad as at home, that they might be subject to foreign tax regimes and that confidential information cannot be sufficiently protected.
Other issues to consider include:
- compliance with data protection legislation and health and safety laws;
- how to deal with staff working in different time zones;
- ensuring staff have a stable internet connection when working; and
- whether employees need any special equipment or technology when they are away from the office and who will pay for this.
Employers operating in a regulated industry, for example financial services, will also need to consider whether the regulator needs to be notified that a senior member of staff will work outside the UK.
Proper planning, sensible dialogue between employer and employee and recording the terms of the agreement in writing is usually sufficient for overcoming these ‘problems’. For example, additional security measures can be put in place to protect a company’s sensitive business information and data security threats.
Employers can also carry out due diligence on the country in which the employee will work in order to satisfy itself it is complying with its health and safety duties. Employers can take advice on the tax implications of staff working abroad but unless an employee is working outside of the UK for more than six months in a tax year they should remain UK tax resident.
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