The boss of Greggs has said the company will not pay staff forced to quarantine after returning from Spain or other countries.
Chief executive Roger Whiteside said he had been "absolutely explicit" in outlining the risks to staff of travelling whilst quarantine rules could be reimposed.
A total of 600,000 Brits were on holiday in Spain when the government suddenly removed the country from the 'air bridge' list.
It mean that all returning travellers from Spain, the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands must now self-isolate for 14 days.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said employers should act "flexibly" and not take "penalties against people for adhering to the law."
But speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Whiteside, said: “We’ve really tried to be very fair about how to handle this crisis.
"We topped the furlough pay from 80 percent to 100 percent during the lockdown phase, because we thought that was the fair thing to do.
“And then when news came out that people could start to think about going away on holiday, we thought about that, but we made it clear to people ‘look there is a risk clearly that quarantine might apply, so if you do decide you have to take that risk for yourself."
Mr Whiteside, whose high street chain has more outlets in the UK than McDonald's, added: “You can’t expect the company to pay for your quarantine if you’ve chosen to take the risk that you’d go abroad and then find that you’ve then got to quarantine when you get back.
“So we won’t be paying for that quarantine.”
“We communicated through our portal to our employees to explain.
"As things change we keep updating the policy obviously."
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said bosses shouldn't punish holidaymakers who need time off to self-isolate after returning from Spain.
Mr Raab told Sky's Sophy Ridge: "Employers, just like employees, have got to follow the law and I don't think you could be laying people off or taking penalties against people for adhering to the law.
"If someone has followed the law in relation to quarantine and self-isolating in the way that they should, they can’t have penalties taken against them.
"You cannot be penalised in this country lawfully for following the rules and the law that’s in place.
"And obviously we expect employers to respond flexibly and in an understanding way to those who, let’s face it, have enforced on them because of the risk that we’ve seen in Spain, those quarantine rules."
Following the shock announcement on July 25, a Downing Street spokesman warned that "no travel is risk free" this summer.
The Prime Minister's spokesman also said returning Brits should claim Universal Credit if their employers were not“considerate” enough to pay them.
And he said people who lost their work for two weeks could go to employment dispute body ACAS.
He said: “We would encourage employers to be understanding of those returning and flexible in accommodating their need to self-isolate - for example, by allowing them to work from home wherever that’s possible.
“Where this isn’t possible, we would expect that many employers would have their own policies in place for quarantine and we know some continue to offer full pay for all or some of the isolation period.
“If there are people who need urgent support, then they may be entitled to the new-style Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit.”
He added: “There’s support available for people who need it.”
