Snow Business
Posted on 07 Jan 2010 by Kathy
Do I have to pay my employees if they don’t come to work?
I think this week particularly, a lot of employers will have been asking themselves similar questions:
Do I have to pay my employees if they don’t make it into work?
Is it right and fair to dock their pay?
What if some staff make it in and some don’t?
The simple rule of thumb is to agree with your employees in advance anything that you do. It’s also vital that you are consistent in your approach and treat all staff in the same way. If your employees take a day off because it is difficult, or even impossible to get to work it is still a day off and, to be fair to all employees and to the employer, you should have a policy in place for these situations.
Whilst there is no legal obligation to pay someone if they don’t turn up for work, simply docking their pay without agreement can lead to problems, not least of which could be staff poor morale. In the absence of a proper policy, talk to your employee and offer one of these options:
* They can make up the time lost by working additional hours
* If they wish, they can take it as part of their holiday entitlement (although this must be their choice)
* They can take it as unpaid leave.
This then makes the situation fair to all employees including those who may have got to the office. Do remember also that employees with children have a right to take unpaid emergency time off to deal with unexpected disruptions to childcare. This could include schools being shut as a result of bad weather, but the same 3 options should be available to them as well to ensure consistency.
A significantly better strategy would be to have agreed all of this in advance with your employees by having terms and conditions and easy to understand staff handbooks given to them when they join. There will be occasions when it is difficult to get to work, often your staff will feel that it isn’t their fault and they should be paid, equally it isn’t the employer’s fault who may lose business on the days affected. Try not to get overly caught up in the circumstances i.e. the current inclement weather - if their car breaks down and they can’t make it into work, would they expect to be paid for that day? Probably not.
If you would like any more help or advice on this or any other HR matter, giive me a call on 07703 127850 or e mail me