As the end of the month approaches, and most staff await their first pay since Christmas, some may be in for a nasty surprise.  Due to the heavy snow in most parts of Scotland before, during and after Christmas, the majority of businesses were affected in some way.  In fact, it is widely believed the adverse weather cost UK businesses several hundred £million. 

We have had discussions with some employers who have had staffing issues as a result, as they did not have clear policies in place for dealing with this type of incident. 

Has this resulted in your organisation paying someone when you didn’t have to?

Did you know you are not obliged to pay an employee if they cannot attend work due to adverse weather conditions? 

Unless their contract of employment specifically states that they are entitled to be paid under this type of circumstance, you are under no obligation to pay them for this time lost.  This means that if employees fail to attend work because of severe weather conditions such as heavy snow or severe flooding, you as the employer have the option to treat any absence as unpaid leave or ask employees to take the time as annual leave.

You should avoid deducting pay for days missed as, without the employee’s express consent; there is a risk claims could be made for unlawful deductions from wages.  It is also important to consider the effect on morale and in turn productivity of not paying staff or making them take annual leave for days when it was not physically possible or safe to travel to work.

We suggest having a policy on severe weather conditions which makes it clear in advance whether employees will be paid or not if they fail to attend work. Such a policy could highlight the importance of employees trying to find alternative means of safe transport if their normal mode of transport is affected. It should also set out who an employee should contact, and by what time, once they know that they will not be able to make it into work or will be unavoidably late.  Once you have a policy in place, it is important to act consistently to avoid any further disputes.

As part of the policy, employers could also consider introducing alternative ways of dealing with severe weather conditions, including the flexibility to allow staff to work from home where this is possible.  We appreciate working from home may not be practical for all employees and so an alternative to asking them to take a day’s annual leave or unpaid leave if the weather is bad could be to pay the employees as normal and then ask them to make the time up later, at a time when it suits the business.  It might also be worth establishing if another employee could offer a lift, and some firms already promote car sharing.

Introducing an adverse weather policy is something we can help with, and knowing the Scottish winters as we do, you can bet we have not seen the last of the snow before the clocks change!

If you require further HR Advice, explanation or support in this or any other HR related area, please call us today on 0800 612 4772 or get a Free Quote for HR Services via our website.