Worker Fines - “Onus should be employer not employee”

Plaid Cymru calls for “unfair” worker fine to be scrapped

Plaid Cymru spokesperson for the economy, Luke Fletcher MS, has called for the ‘failure to work from home’ offence to be scrapped.

Welsh Government brought in regulations on 20 December that could see employees fined for working away from home “without reasonable excuse.”

In an exchange in the Senedd this afternoon, Mr Fletcher said “thinking that responsibility is shared between employer and worker… is naïve, and anyone working in a minimum wage job can tell you where the power truly lies.”

Speaking after Senedd Plenary, Luke Fletcher MS said,

“The relationship between employers and their employees is not balanced, and yet we have a situation where employers could force their workers back on site – and the workers are the ones that could pick up the fine!

“The First Minister has claimed that these regulations replicate legislation previously agreed, but we now understand that this is a new duty placed on individuals.

“Members of the Senedd have not voted on these new regulations. If the Welsh Government is unable or unwilling to remove this part of the regulations, then Members of the Senedd must be given the earliest opportunity to strike down this provision.”