Snowball days

As the Beast from the East hits and we have storm Emma banging on the door, extreme weather can have an impact whatever your sector.

You may have some questions running through your mind at the moment such as;

Do I have to pay staff who can’tmake it in becuase of the weather.
What can I do if I think someone is using the weather as an excuse?
What happens to employees who need tome off to look after their children because schools have closed?
What if the office has to close?
We have a few scenarios…

Do I have to pay staff who can’t make it in because of the weather?

Technically if an employee doesn’t work you don’t need to pay them, however it is worth considering the impact this has on morale but this can open up all sorts of “unfair deduction” cases if the employee hasn’t agreed to unpaid leave and can put a downward spiral on employee morale. If you haven’t agreed unpaid leave in advance we would suggest that you take one of the following approaches;

Agreeing with employees that holiday is taken to cover periods of absence
Asking employees to make up the hours lost at a later date
Allowing employees to work from home where this is practical

What can I do if I think someone is using the weather as an excuse?

There may be times when an employee uses the weather as an excuse to take a “snowball day,” what happens when one person arrives but another who lives in the same road doesn’t? The policy we have developed highlights that employees who take a “snowball day” may find themselves on the wrong side of the disciplinary policy if it is discovered that they could have made it to the office. As with all disciplinary events please make sure that you involve us from the outset so that we can help to ensure the law works for you rather than against you.

What happens to employees who need time off to look after their children because schools have closed?

Employees have a right to take unpaid time off to sort out arrangements for their children/family in an emergency and you must ensure that they are allowed to do this. The time taken off must be both reasonable and necessary for an employee to deal with something immediately and/or respond to an emergency. Normally this means hours or a maximum of 1 or 2 days not a week at a time! Having said this, employees don’t have the right to a period of paid leave unless they use one of the options above i.e. taking holiday / making up the hours.

What if the office has to close?

If you are forced to close the office at short notice then you are also required to pay staff their normal wage. You may have specific clauses in your contracts; that give the right to ‘lay-off’ staff. Please speak to us about this if you have any questions or want to check any existing points within your employee’s agreements.

For more help and advice on specific situations please contact one of the team here at Tamar HR.

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