Employers may be legally entitled to dock workers' pay if they stay at home because of snow and extreme weather, but such a course of action can be risky and cause resentment, according to guidance from Pinsent Masons.
[E]mployees are under a legal obligation to get to work and companies could withhold pay from those that stay at home because of the weather or ask them to make up the time later. But this is not necessarily the wisest course of action, the guidance said.
"Employees have statutory protection against an unauthorised deduction being made from their wages without their consent and deducting pay could potentially be challenged as unlawful under these provisions," said advice to employers produced by employment law specialists at the firm.
"You should therefore assess whether not paying employees would be in the best interests of your business. It may be that the financial burden to the business of paying staff in these circumstances is outweighed by the benefits that such a gesture would have on staff morale and productivity in the long run – especially if the snowfall is particularly heavy and it is impossible to get into the office," it said.
The heavy snowfall overnight made my journey into work this morning an absolute non-starter. Our little cul-de-sac was buried under a good 3-4 inches, none of which had been treated of course and very few cars moved all day. Interestingly, the few that did try their luck early on, slithered back (rather uneasily) shortly thereafter.
We walked out to the main road about 7.10 this morning (GF had to head in early, hence our ungodly hour of departure) and it looked an absolute ice/snow rink. We were already hearing from the news that the buses and trains in our area had been cancelled, schools had been closed (seemingly without exception) and well, it was all a bit of a mess out there.
As it was, I worked from home all day (and been quite productive as it happens).
I really need to head into the office tomorrow so I’m going to make a herculean effort to make it in. Quite where this deluge of snow and winter nastiness leaves my planned trip to London on Friday is anyone’s guess.
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