Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Working from homeLatest NewsHolidays and holiday payPay & benefitsFlexible working

Winter weather and work: five common employer queries

by Stephen Simpson 30 Jan 2019
by Stephen Simpson 30 Jan 2019 Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/PA Images
Gareth Fuller/PA Wire/PA Images

With parts of the UK experiencing heavy snowfall, we answer five common questions from employers on the workplace impact of severe weather conditions.

1. Do I have to pay employees who cannot get to work because of severe weather?

In principle, you would be within your rights to refuse to pay an employee who does not appear for work because of severe weather such as heavy snow.

This is because an employee who is not working is not fulfilling his or her contract of employment, and so you do not have to pay him or her.

Do I really need a policy on severe weather?

You may need the policy only a few times a year, but it is a good idea to make your workforce aware of the rules that will apply if they have difficulty getting to work because of bad weather.

The policy can be open ended enough to include disruptions caused by anything from natural disasters and severe weather to public transport strikes and terrorist attacks.

This is the case even if the employee’s non-appearance is out of his or her control, for example because of extreme weather conditions.

However, this is one of those employment scenarios where the letter of law says one thing, but common sense dictates a more pragmatic approach.

The financial burden on your business of paying staff even though they are not working because of bad weather may be outweighed by the benefits.

Staff morale and your reputation as a good employer may benefit in the long run if you pay staff on a snow day.

 

2. What are my options if I need employees to work even though the weather is bad?

In this day and age, many jobs can be done from home, and employees who frequently work at home should be encouraged to do so when bad weather approaches.

However, employers need to be careful about asking employees to work at home when a requirement to do so is not included in their contracts of employment.

If it is not, to require an employee to work at home in severe weather will constitute a unilateral variation of contracts of employment requiring consultation in advance with affected staff.

Employers should also consider the health and safety aspects of homeworking before imposing a homeworking requirement: some employees’ homes will simply not be set up to be turned into a temporary workplace.

 

3. Can employees take periods when they cannot get to work because of poor weather as annual leave?

Did you know…?

Health and safety laws do not provide a legal minimum workplace temperature. The temperature in all workplaces inside buildings must be “reasonable”.

The Health and Safety Executive recommends two minimum temperatures: one for sedentary work and one where the work requires physical effort.

Where employees are unable to get to work because of bad weather, taking the time as paid annual leave may be an option.

There is nothing to stop you asking if employees would like to take extra holiday if they are unable to get to work.

Many employees will find taking paid holiday preferable to losing a day’s pay.

However, there may be circumstances in which this might not be possible. For example, where the employee wishes to keep their leave for a foreign holiday.

If you are going to insist that employees take the time as holiday, you must give them the minimum statutory notice.

 

4: If I close my workplace because of bad weather, do I have to pay my staff?

If employees are working from home, you must pay them their normal wages.

If an employee is unable to work because you have made the decision to close the premises, this will in effect be a period of lay-off.

You should pay your employees their normal wage, unless there is a contractual provision allowing for unpaid lay-off, or the employees agree to being laid off without pay.

 

5. I have employees with children at schools and nurseries that are closed because of the severe weather. Do I have to give them time off when they have nowhere to put their children?

Bad weather disruption: step-by-step guidance for employers

How to deal with employment issues caused by severe weather or disruptions to public transport

Employees have the statutory right to a reasonable period of unpaid time off for dependants.

The right applies where an employee needs to take time off work because of unexpected disruption to the care arrangements for a dependant.

The right to time off for dependants would clearly apply where schools or nurseries close because of severe weather.

An employee taking advantage of this right must inform you of the reason for the absence, and likely length of the absence, as soon as he or she can.

This article was originally published on 13 January 2017.

Avatar
Stephen Simpson

Stephen Simpson is a principal employment law editor at XpertHR. His areas of responsibility include the policies and documents and law reports. After obtaining a law degree and training to be a solicitor, he moved into publishing, initially with Butterworths. He joined XpertHR in its early days in 2001.

previous post
Understanding the links between health and organisational productivity
next post
CPD: Minimising exposure to hand-arm vibration

12 comments

Avatar
Nic 5 Feb 2018 - 4:44 pm

Regarding the right to unpaid leave for dependents…does this not only apply to the right to unapdi leave for the purposes of arranging alternative childcare, rather than to actual provide the care yourself?

Reply
Avatar
Sarah 9 Feb 2018 - 10:52 am

Nic – I think you are right (I’m just in HR so this is not a legal answer) but certainly employees generally tend to think the entitlement is for them to take unpaid time off to provide the care. I think it would be reasonable to consider that on the first day of disrupted care arrangements the parent could be dual-tasking – ie looking after the child at the same time as trying to arrange alternative childcare – but after that (and certainly after two days) I would argue they are not covered by this right. Unfortunately, in reality, I think employers have their hands tied because (in my experience) parents tend not to have any pre-arranged ‘option 2’ childcare in place and find it difficult to find someone to look after children at short notice, so have to stay at home themselves. Arguably the employer could sanction the employee but (and especially since the absence is unpaid) that probably doesn’t achieve much other than make the employer seem unsympathetic!. If a particular person regularly took time off due to failed childcare arrangements, I would have a conversation to point out their actual rights and suggest they get some emergency back-up in place in principle to avoid absence in future.

Reply
Avatar
Debra Rose 1 Mar 2018 - 9:46 am

I am in a position of being a worker for my local council but under a zero hours contract(effectivly). I teach in children’s home who cannot access school. The council have said they are under no obligation to pay if we cannot get to work, and there is no chance in this job of working from home. We have a contract but there is no adverse weather terms.

Reply
Avatar
Andrew Cooke 1 Mar 2018 - 10:47 am

Where does an employer stand if the Police say do not travel ? And secondly what would your view be if as an employer, an extra days holiday was given to employees who made the effort to get into work. Those who didnt would not be have an time deducted.

Reply
Avatar
Hacked off wife 6 Mar 2018 - 5:26 pm

What if employers just suit their self at that time! Bad weather meant my husband was sent home, employer asked if he had holidays??? If employer sends you home, why should you have to use your holiday entitlement??! Now employer wants to change contract to reflect adverse weather conditions, he doesn’t pay average holiday pay and wants everything his own way! Reality check – employers not always right! Employers need to realise his staff keep him in money, greedy to the core

Reply
Avatar
freddie 1 Mar 2018 - 2:27 pm

i started out to work but because of heavy snow fall,we had to abandon our journey to work and retaurn home,do we get payed our basic hours for this or not

Reply
Avatar
Laura 5 Mar 2018 - 9:38 am

What if an employee agrees with the employer to work from home, but the employer’s IT systems fail meaning that the employee can not do so? Should the employee be penalised for that?

Reply
Avatar
Indumathi Deva 5 Mar 2018 - 9:59 am

Apart from this, the maternity period of women also has a major impact on the results. How to handle this? Initially, they have agreed to commit for a 3 months period but now they tend to violate that. How to proceed with this?

Reply
Avatar
alex 11 Mar 2018 - 5:30 pm

if employee makes the effort to go to work & government did highlight not to travel or avoid going by car ,most transport was cut back or stopped company have a responsibility to their staff to make sure they are safe & any good employer would do the right thing ,government should play its part when red alerts are called .

Reply
Avatar
alex 11 Mar 2018 - 5:31 pm

would agree with that

Reply
Avatar
Chris 14 Mar 2018 - 9:08 am

During the bad weather I was at work all week, but many colleagues were not. They have been given 2 days ‘free holiday’ (i.e. not made to take it as annual leave or unpaid), but have not credited people like myself, who made it to work, with extra pay or holiday, which does not seem very fair given that means we’ve effectively lost out on two extra days holiday. Are we entitled to any recompense in lieu of attending work?

Reply
Avatar
Robert Heimanson 13 Apr 2018 - 1:34 pm

Employers should get geared up to work from home it is a digital work you do not have to come in to the office every day

Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

How should HR handle the highest inflation in...

18 May 2022

Wages fall 1.2% behind inflation as cost of...

17 May 2022

‘Small spike’ in minimum wage underpayment among 20-24...

13 May 2022

BBC awards pay increase as pension scheme review...

12 May 2022

KPMG offers pay rises of £2k or £4k...

6 May 2022

Pay transparency: How organisations can break the taboo

5 May 2022

Survey reveals public desire for CEO pay restraint

4 May 2022

Law firm says staff can work from home...

3 May 2022

Post Office staff strike over below-inflation pay offer

3 May 2022

Twice as many men as women hold company...

3 May 2022
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more
  • Why now is the time to plug the unhealthy gap PROMOTED | We’ve all heard the term ‘health is wealth’...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+