Weather related absence – to pay or not to pay? That is the question

This blog is related to the following news article: “Weather Related Absence – To Pay or Not To Pay? That Is the Question”

Comments by Helen Harradine, Associate Solicitor:

When discussing the above with one of my friends recently, she relayed how her employer (a household name employing over 400 staff) was not going to be paying staff for the days they did not attend work due to the recent bad weather. They were paying their staff for the first day of bad weather, as they could not open their business premises, but on the subsequent days they would not get paid for non-attendance even though management had told staff to not take any risks to their safety by coming in. My friend felt this was very unfair on the staff who genuinely could not get to work for several days due to bad weather. She argued “why should these individuals pay for the bad weather as it is not their fault?” My reply was, why should the employer pay for the bad weather, as it is not the employer’s fault either? This ended our debate.

My view is that if the work premises are open, then the duty is on the employee to get to work. An employer will be losing enough money (e.g. due to the limited productivity levels the bad weather will have caused), so why should an employer of 1 or even over 400 employees lose even more money by paying individuals wages for days they have not worked? What does anyone else think? Please comment below……