Frozen in Coventry and Warwickshire

Well, it’s that time of year again. “The wind is howling like a swirling storm inside” and local forecasters are predicting snow in the West Midlands over the coming week and the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire threatens to grind to a halt as soon as there is a millimetre of snow on the ground.

With “frozen fractals” all around, your employees may seek guidance from you as to what they should do in the event of heavy snow. It may be useful therefore if you issue advance guidance to your workforce in order that a planned and consistent approach can be adopted. The following are some of the issues you should consider.

Can an employer insist that employees must attend work, despite the poor weather conditions?

You owe your employees a duty of care for their health, safety and welfare. Insisting employees attend work and responding to attendance related enquiries with “Let the storm rage on… the cold never bothered me anyway” may be unhelpful and inconsistent with this duty, particularly if the Met Office advice is to stay at home and avoid non essential journeys. You should remember however that adverse weather conditions can often be very localised. Employees should be encouraged to attend work where possible but not pressurised into doing so. Anticipate that there will be travel disruption and consider offering home working or temporary flexible working to avoid traffic congestion.

What happens if employees can’t attend work due to childcare commitments as a result of school closures due to the snow?

As tempting as it may be when their children start singing “Do you wanna build a snowman…. come on let’s go and play”, employees strictly speaking only have the right to unpaid time off to deal with emergency situations relating to dependents and this would not normally extend to staying at home to look after children. However, where the employee has only been made aware of the school closure that morning, it may be reasonable in the circumstances to treat this as an ‘emergency’ and permit the employee to take the day off. This day can be unpaid leave or you may elect to treat the time as holiday with the employee’s consent. The dependent’s leave should be restricted to the amount of time of it takes the employee to facilitate alternative childcare arrangements, rather than permitting the employee to remain off work looking after their children until such time as the school reopens.

Can an employee’s pay be docked because they didn’t attend work due to the snow?

You cannot deduct sums of money from an employee’s salary unless there is an express clause in the contract of employment entitling them to do so in such circumstances. In the absence of such a contractual right, this may be classed as an unlawful deduction from wages, entitling the employee to raise a formal grievance or take further action to pursue the unpaid monies. Telling a protesting employee to simply “Let it go” (then turn away and slam the door) is not advisable. Avoid this issue occurring altogether by ensuring that you have an Adverse Weather Policy in your staff handbook which specifically deals with payment.

For further information about this article and its content or for advice on drafting an Adverse Weather Policy or Dependent’s Leave Policy please contact Lianne Payne on 024 76 231 000 or  Lianne@askewslegal.co

Askews Legal LLP – Solicitors in Coventry.