The White Stuff

To the joy of school children everywhere, this week we have seen the worst snow fall for 18 years, and predictably, the whole country promptly ground to a halt. According to news reports, the snow has cost the British economy some £3 billion, but how they come up with these figures is anyone’s guess.

It may be that when you stamped the snow of your shoes and walked into the office on Monday morning, you found that many of your staff had voted with their feet and stayed at home. If so, the reasons are likely to be either that public transport had collapsed under the strain, or that the schools had thrown an impromptu holiday for children by staying firmly closed, resulting in parents having to stay at home to look after their offspring at short notice.

This begs the question Should we pay our employees even though they were absent from work due to the snow? The short answer is Not unless you want to. Employees absent from work because public transport fails them cannot perform their normal duties due to what insurers quaintly call an Act of God. If they cannot get in to do the job, then they cannot perform their role and therefore have no right as such to be paid for that day’s absence.

Employees do have the statutory right to take time off to deal with emergencies with dependents, such as when the school closes without notice due to a dusting of snow. This time off is not prescribed, but will normally be sufficient time for the employee to arrange suitable alternative cover. However the point is that this right is to unpaid time off, and if little Tarquin and Clarissa are unleashed into the care of their doting parents this week, those employees can’t expect to be paid for the privilege of spending quality time with their offspring.

Particularly in these difficult economic times, many employers will have no option but to inform affected staff that they will not be paid for their time off this week. Employers can alternatively let their employees take the day as part of their annual holiday leave entitlement. Some employees will announce that they were in fact ‘working from home’, but employers may want evidence that that was in fact the case. Employers can opt to be generous, and just pay staff as normal even if they could not make it in. That might send a mixed signal though to those members of staff who did struggle in through snow drifts and icy roads.

James Carmody
RECULVER SOLICITORS

Tel: 0207 324 6271 Fax: 0207 477 2276 info@reculversolicitors.co.uk
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