It’s a British thing but we are more obsessed than ever with the weather – it’s either a heatwave or cold and icy weather.
However, whilst we have an obsession with the weather, we are now hearing more about yellow and amber weather warnings and alerts and invariably, these warnings are telling people to avoid travel wherever possible. So, understandably we have a new problem with employees heeding the weather warning and staying at home – so, this leads to further problems about entitlement to pay, telling employees to work from home or take the day as annual or unpaid leave etc.
As a start point, many employers will have specific clauses in their contracts of employment which will set out what might happen in the event of an employee being unable to get to work due to adverse weather. The options may include allowing the employee to work from home if practicable or take the day out of annual leave or even as unpaid leave.
Is the employer obliged to pay the employee if they cannot get to work because of adverse weather?
If the employee is unable to get to work and attend work due to adverse weather, there is no obligation for their employer to pay the employee. In some cases, the employer may provide transport for employees to get to work but the employee is responsible for getting themselves to work – whether that it is by car, public transport, walking etc.
An employer would be able to take the view that non-attendance is an absence from work but there may be other options – for instance, the employee may be able to work from home or they may allow the employee to take the time out of annual leave. The employee could also take the time as unpaid leave.
Clearly, common sense must prevail taking into consideration the efforts made by an employee to get to work, their distance to work, rural location….One solution will not fit all and where a business is multi-site, the conditions might be far worse on one site than another.
It’s too cold to work!
Whilst there is no minimum temperature that a workplace should reach, employers owe a duty of care to employees and must ensure that they are providing a safe working environment.
Again, common sense needs to be applied and where employees are working outside, it is not only necessary to factor in the temperature but to assess whether an employee can safely work in freezing conditions.
The workplace is closed
If the workplace is closed, the employer will be obliged to pay the employees unless there is a specific clause in the contract that stipulates otherwise.
These days, most workplaces can operate remotely and it is reasonable for the employer to ask the employees to work from home but there will be situations where some roles cannot be done remotely.
School and Nursery closures
As soon as we talk about bad weather, we start talking about school closures which means that childcare becomes an issue and there will be parents who are unable to come to work because the school or pre-school nursery is closed. Again, it is likely that you will be able to allow some employees to work from home but again, this will be job dependent.
If an employee is unable to come to work because of a school closure and is unable to work from home, the likelihood is that the employee ill be able to take the day as a reasonable amount of time off work due to an emergency – therefore unpaid leave.
However, it is not an emergency if the school is closed for 5 days – it would be reasonable to expect the employee to make alternative arrangements.
However, flexibility is the key here and it should be possible to come to some form of arrangement whether that is work from home, making the time up or taking it as a day’s annual leave.
One situation doesn’t fit all
The circumstances will always be different depending on where the employee lives and some employees may have 4 wheel drive and – being blunt – some employees will make more of an effort. There will also be employees who have anxiety about driving in bad conditions so one solution doesn’t always fit all.
Ultimately, it is about being fair and reasonable, but as with everything, there also needs to be consistency in approach.
Adrian Berwick offers HR support to SMEs and GP Surgeries and if you want any advice or guidance on the issues raised in this article, please either contact me on 07885 714771 or adrian@abhrsolutions.co.uk
