Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure businesses do not terminate staff required to self-isolate due to covid-19.

Employees with the necessary qualifying periods are protected from unfair dismissal and employers who dismiss an employee because they are, or have been, self-isolating, may be liable for unfair or automatically unfair dismissal. However, there could be other factors which might be support a dismissal being considered to be fair. These factors will need to be reviewed by an employment tribunal and the tribunal’s decision will depend on all the circumstances in each individual case.