Conflicting Advice For Employees Causes Pay Confusion During Bad Weather

An interesting employment issue has arisen during this spell of bad weather and in light of conflicting advice from the media aimed at employees and employers, it's worth exploring.

There appears to be immense confusion over what exactly are the rights and responsibilities for both employers and employees when bad weather strikes.

This morning I received a phone call from one of my clients asking:

"Do I as an employer have to pay my employees if they can't make it in to work because of the snow?"

The simple answer is NO!

Provided that the workplace is open for business, employees are obliged to turn up and work unless they are sick or taking authorised leave. Employers can therefore refuse to pay employees if they do not make it to work due to the adverse weather conditions.

In the past the majority of employers have decided to exercise their discretion and pay employees as a gesture of goodwill. However in the current economic climate it is expected that more employers will refuse to pay employees for snow days. My advice to clients has been that they should assess whether or not it is in the best interests of their business to not pay employees who take snow days.

Deducting money from their staff's pay packets may save some cash for the business but is likely to have a significant long term impact on morale and productivity.

If however the employer decides to close the business because of the snow then they cannot withhold pay from employees unless they have an express contractual right to do so.

Adrian Pitt is Director of The HR Dept., a specialist HR advisory service covering Somerset and Wiltshire. If you know someone who could benefit from their help, call 0845 863 0661, email or visit their web site www.hrdept.co.uk.

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