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Avoid getting caught in the cold when the snow falls

The old saying in winter is that when the north wind blows, snow is on its way. With the cold winds now blowing and the Met Office forecasting “significant” snowfall over much of the UK over the next few days, it looks likely that businesses will be disrupted. How can you prepare for it and what can you do if your staff don’t turn up for work? Do you pay them? What if they have kids and the schools are closed?

Businesses will be affected in different ways. This could be depending on the amount of snow, their location, where their workforce lives, whether their workforce has caring responsibilities, and the work they do.

Here, our Employment Law & HR Team answers some of the frequently asked questions we get when snow falls. No two employers will face exactly the same situation however, so remember that further, specific, advice is always available from our 24 hour Telephone Advice Service.

If my staff are unable to get themselves into work, do I still have to pay them?

No. If your employees are unable to get themselves into work but you remain open for business then you are not legally obliged to pay them.

You might want to consider alternatives, such as temporary home working or asking staff to take part of their paid holiday entitlement. For further information, see below.

Can I take disciplinary action if staff fail to show up for work?

You should normally count such absence as “authorised absence”, if the employee has ‘phoned in to tell you that he or she is unable to attend work, and so disciplinary action would not be appropriate.

But if most staff make it in – can I take action against those who don’t?

You should bear in mind that different employees may have different circumstances – perhaps a long commute or because they live in a particularly snowbound area. For this reason it is impossible to make a general rule about taking disciplinary action against those who do not get into work just because some employees do make it into work.

Disciplinary action would only be appropriate if you have good reason – and evidence - to make you believe the employee is being untruthful about the snow being the reason for not attending work, or to reinforce the message that employees must notify you of their absence if they have not done so.

Can I make staff take holidays from their annual holiday entitlement if they don’t turn up for work?

By law, you can only impose holidays on staff by giving them twice as much notice as the amount of holiday you want them to take. If you want to impose holidays with less notice then you would have to have a condition in place in the contracts of employment allowing you to do so. This will normally rule out imposing holidays on staff because of sudden snowfall.

On the other hand, if employees ask to take a day’s holiday on a day they are snowbound, there is nothing to stop you agreeing to this – as long as the employee has sufficient holiday entitlement left in the current holiday year. Make sure you record the time off correctly as holiday and that the member of staff concerned is clear about what is happening.

If my business has to close temporarily because of the snow, do I still have to pay my staff?

In general, yes you do have to pay them. This should be at their normal rate of pay.

In some cases, employees can be “laid off” without normal pay if there is a specific term in their contract allowing the employer to do this. This sort of clause is widespread in some industries, but virtually unheard of in others.

When employees are laid off in this way, they are entitled to a statutory payment from the employer called a Guarantee Payment. The current rate is a maximum of £21.20 per day. Payment is limited to a maximum of five days in any period of three months. An employee must have completed one month's continuous employment in order to qualify for a Guarantee Payment.

On days on which a Guarantee Payment is not payable, employees may be able to claim Jobseekers’ Allowance and employees should contact their local Jobcentre to see if they qualify.

As a Mentor client, you can call our Advice Line 24/7 for further information or advice specific to your business.

If you would like information on becoming a Mentor client to take advantage of 24/7 advice please contact us now.

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