Low paid workers ‘face invidious choice’

On Tuesday Greggs the baker said it will pay staff sick pay who have to self-isolate due to coronavirus fears – even though they don’t strictly have to. It would review the policy if large numbers of staff went into quarantine.

Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC says, “There are nearly two million workers in Britain who don’t earn enough to qualify for statutory sick pay, and they are much more likely to be women, workers on zero hours contracts, workers on low pay.

“Now the problem with this, for the government, is that unless we sort out our sick pay rules and make them fair, many workers are going to face that invidious choice of do they pay the bills, put food on the table, or do they follow government health advice to self-isolate if they’ve got symptoms?”