Pictured above: Nick Jew
Companies that crack down on staff who fail to make it into work
as the snow and the frost bite are likely to see morale plummet as
low as the temperatures, a leading law firm has warned.
DLA Piper cautioned that playing Scrooge ahead of Christmas and
cutting pay was likely to be counter-productive.
Far better, it suggested, adopting a pragmatic approach.
Nick Jew, employment partner in the firm's Birmingham office,
said: "Depending on their contract of employment, employees may not
be entitled to be paid if they fail to turn up for work, even if
they are prevented from doing so by bad weather.
"Employers may, however, decide to use their discretion and not
deduct pay if an employee has made a genuine attempt to get in.
Employers should bear in mind that deducting pay will inevitably
have a negative impact on morale, and the administrative burden of
calculating the loss of pay may outweigh the potential benefit.
"Employers should also consider requesting that employees work
from home, if the nature of the job permits this."
Mr Jew urged companies to put an "adverse weather policy" in
place to try and clarify the position as far as possible.
Key points would include a company's commitment to protecting
the health and safety of its workforce, a requirement for employees
to make every effort to attend work in bad weather, employees to
make a judgment on the ability to travel to work safely; and staff
to notify their line manager in the event that it is not safe or
impossible to get in.
"If an employer insists that an employee comes to work when, for
example, the only way to get there is to drive, but it is unsafe to
do so, then the employer could potentially be liable if the
employee has an accident," stressed Mr Jew.
"Equally, employers are liable for accidents at work so if, for
example, an employee slips on a surface which hasn't been gritted
and suffers an injury, then the company could face a claim."
A bit of commonsense from all parties would, said Mr Jew, go a
long way to mitigating the worst of the problems.