Acumen News & Events

10 May 2010

Prepare for the worst - Flood, volcanoes, act of God...

Should Employers foot the bill for absent employees?

The recent volcanic eruption in Iceland and the ensuing closure of airspace across Europe meant that some 150,000 UK workers were left stranded abroad and unable to return home from their Easter breaks. Given the ever increasing incidents of severe weather, risk of public transport strikes, flu pandemics and terrorist attacks, employers must now consider how best to manage those employees returning to the office. 

Do what’s right for you and your employees

As a general rule employees must be ready and willing to perform their duties. Unauthorised absence by an employee for whatever reason means that an employee is not automatically entitled to receive pay.

However the management of returning employees will be a fine balancing act between managing staff morale and enforcing the policies, procedures and terms your Company relies on on a day to day basis.

The existence of an unauthorised absence clause or an adverse weather policy in your Company documents will generally provide for returning employees to take additional annual leave, docking wages or taking unpaid leave for the duration of their absence.

However, employees stranded abroad have had ‘a hard time of it’ and it has been suggested that it would be unfair for employers to penalise staff moving forward because of events outside their control. There is a call for sympathy for those employees trapped abroad and a request for employers to be flexible in resolving outstanding matters including deducting pay and how the absence is to be managed.

Employers are being asked to consider alternatives to measures such as docking pay which, it is claimed, would be counter-productive in the long run as such measures effectively punish staff for conditions outside of their control. Flexible employers, we are told, will give employees choices such as making the time up later. Extremely generous employers will continue to pay employees for the full duration of their absence.

Whatever you as an employer ultimately decide, they key message is that employers work with staff to find the most appropriate solutions, rather than applying a hard and fast rule to the potential detriment of staff morale.

However always remember that consistency is key. Policies, procedures and practices should be implemented fairly and equally to all staff.

Don’t currently have an adverse weather policy in place? Have a policy in place but not sure it is broad enough to cover every eventuality?
Click here for our staff memo and here for our policy suggestion:

Alternatively call the Team for a free review of your Company documents today!