Dealing with staff absences due to bad weather

During this time of year, businesses are often affected by adverse weather conditions. Either due to their location, or staff members being unable to make it in to work. Below we will look at what this means for you and your staff.

What if the company decides to shut the office or send workers home?

In this scenario, employees would be entitled to receive their full pay for the hours that they would have normally worked, should the workplace have remained open for the duration of usual hours of operation.

However, if the business has an ‘unpaid lay off’ or ‘short-time working’ clause they would not need to provide full payment, and in some cases the employer doesn’t need to provide any payment at all, so always check the contract.

What if the business remains open but the employee is unable to get to work?

In this case, the employee would not be entitled to receive their usual pay as the office remains open. This also applies if the employee arrives at work late, you do not need to pay them for the time that they are not at work.

Employees can of course request to use annual leave to cover any un-expected absence, or utilise any flexitime working arrangements. This would be down to the employer’s discretion.

Are there any alternative options?

• Employees could still be paid in full should the employer wish to do so
• Preparations could be made in advance of known bad weather to equip the employee to work remotely, should this be part of the employer’s business model

Finally, it’s important to remember that employers have a duty of care for the health and safety of all employees. If the government issues a weather warning and directs people not to travel by car or public transport except for emergencies, employers should assess the potential risk of disregarding this.