It is almost that time of year again. Will adverse weather conditions lead to travel disruption and widespread absenteeism?

It is almost that time of year again.  Will adverse weather conditions lead to travel disruption and widespread absenteeism?

November has been fairly mild and some forecasters have indicated that we can expect freezing temperatures and heavy snow this winter.  Events over the last two years have served as a reminder of how disruptive heavy snow can be. 

We advise our employer clients to plan for this and have a strategy for dealing with major travel disruptions and communicate that strategy to staff.

• Employers need to consider how to continue to provide their services in the face of widespread absenteeism.

• Employers need to consider how they will manage weather related absence. 

Managing staff in this situation calls upon employers decide whether staff:-

1. can expect pay while they absent for weather related reasons,
2. will be allowed to work from home
3. can attend a different work place, and
4. how they will be expected to stay in touch over the disrupted period

and then notify their staff of their decisions.

If there is a contractual right to be paid, then employers must pay staff and must not make a deduction from staff wages unless the deduction is authorised by statute contract or consent.

The question of whether or not there is a contractual right to be paid arises from the construction of the contract of employment.  Employers are advised to give some thought to the contract before deciding to pay or withhold pay.

In addition to the contractual and statutory positions, employers need to consider the effect of their decisions on business continuity and employee morale. 

It is clear that an effective strategy is important. 

For an employee receiving pay with an unexpected deduction is the worst possible thing, it will lead to a drop in morale and might lead to other issues such as false claims of ill health and bad publicity.

Employers are advised to consider the alternatives:-

• Is it possible to let affected employees work from home?  What would it take to make that possible? Is it a viable alternative?

• Is it possible to let affected employees work from work places that are closer to where they live or easier to reach by other means?  What would it take to facilitate that? 

• Sometimes, it might be better for an employer to take the initiative and simply close down if the alternative is a high level of overhead with a low level of production. 

• The employer might consider letting employees chose to take such absence out of their holiday entitlement rather than losing pay, but proper notice must be given to facilitate this. 

• Employers might want to give employees the opportunity to work extra hours to cover absence and again that would be dependent upon the business having a need for extra work at that time.

We work with employers to develop plans that will reduce the risks to their business.

We work with employers to address issues that might, cause issues with staff and adversely affect morale and reputation. 

We address business continuity and help our employer clients develop a plan, establish it consistently through the employer’s contracts  policies and procedures and, communicate it to staff.  We consider alternatives and how they could be made to work in practice.  As a result, our employer clients who give this issue consideration are able to minimise the effect of adverse weather disruption caused to their business as a result of staff absence.

For advice on this or any other employment matters, contact Anna Illingworth at Rowberry Morris (anna.Illingworth@rowberrymorris.co.uk or telephone 0118 958 5611)