INCLEMENT WEATHER Q&A's

Parking bans, school closures, icy road conditions. No, it’s not your morning news report, but it is a reality many employers will need to face this winter.

When treacherous weather conditions strike, are you prepared to respond? Will you consider closing operations? If you do, will employees be paid? How do you handle situations in which the company remains open, but because of poor weather conditions, some of your employees don’t show up?

Some of these questions can be answered by looking to the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); others are a matter of company practice. To avoid confusion and set appropriate expectations, it’s important to have policies and procedures in place for handling these types of situations before they occur.

Below are some important considerations that all employers should make when developing an inclement weather policy:

1.    Closing decisions. If weather emergencies are declared or local schools are closed, you may want to consider closing company operations. But, who will have the ultimate authority for determining whether or not to close or delay company operations? Most often this responsibility is granted to the President, CEO, or other upper-level management.

2.    Closure notifications. Once the decision has been made to close or delay company operations, how do you plan to notify your employees? Some employers may choose to broadcast company closures with local radio or news channels. Others may simply make phone calls or send out mass emails to inform employees of the closing. It’s important that if employees are unsure whether the company is closed, that there are procedures in place in order to find out for sure, such as a hotline they can call or a certain company representative they can contact.

3.    Pay during company closures. If the company does decide to close operations will you pay your employees anyway? This is a moot point for exempt personnel, since these employees typically must be paid for any week in which any work is performed. But, for your non-exempt employees this is a consideration you will need to make. If a non-exempt employee is prevented from reporting to work - or remaining at work - because the company decided to close, it is a common practice to pay employees for their regularly scheduled shift anyway. However, some employers may choose to require employees to work from home, use their available paid time off, or make up the hours in order to be paid.

4.    When the company remains open. If an employee chooses not to report to work due to inclement weather, it is best practice to require him or her to use their available paid time off in order to get paid for that day. If the employee is of non-exempt status and has no available paid time off, you are under no obligation to pay the employee for their absence.

5.    Work from home arrangements. Let’s say an employee has no PTO left and he or she is counting on payment for that day. Or maybe there is a major project due at the end of the week and you simply can’t afford an absence. To deal with these types of circumstances, you may want to consider letting employees work from home when the weather is bad, rather than risk losing out on an entire day’s worth of work. Of course, there are some jobs that, by their very nature, may make working from home impossible. Consider offering alternatives for these employees, such as allowing these workers to make up the time later in the week.

6.    Making up for lost time. If the company closes or the employee was not able to report to work due to the weather, will he or she be allowed to make up lost time? Arrangements should be made between the employee and their immediate supervisor when determining how and when such time will be made up. Practice tip: to avoid overtime, it’s best to have the employee make up the time in the same week in which he or she was absent, rather than the following week.

7.    Child care arrangements. Many employees with school aged children are left with little recourse when schools close and are typically are forced to stay home with their children. One option for dealing with this type of situation is to permit employees to bring their children into work. Another option is the use of an “emergency” or “backup” childcare provider. Having a list of reputable childcare providers on-hand may be the saving grace for an employee looking for some last minute help.

8.    Essential employees. Are there certain employees that are critical to business operations and must report to work no matter what the conditions are like outside? For example, a hospital does not have the freedom to shut-down when the weather is bad and certain doctors or nurses must report to work in order to ensure operations continue to run smoothly. If this is the case, make sure key employees are aware that they may be required to report to work even in poor conditions.

9.    Travel assistance. For the employees required to report to work during inclement weather, consider offering some options that will help them to arrive safely. One option is a vanpool sponsored by the company or a carpool lead by an employee with four-wheel drive. Employers may even want to offer these employees public transportation vouchers so that they can take the train or bus to work without incurring any expenses.

If the company closed operations, why wasn’t I paid? Why did you count the time against my paid time off allotment? A clear policy regarding inclement weather will help to avoid these and other related questions. Ultimately, setting reasonable expectations - such as requesting employees to work from home or that they make up for lost time in order to get paid - is all that is needed to avoid confusion and ensure operations continue to run smoothly when treacherous weather strikes.

Trish Dougherty has greater than 25 years of successful leadership experience and is Senior Vice President & Principal for The Weston Group located in Sioux Falls, SD. Dougherty has a background in executive human resource management and is also a licensed Registered Nurse. Dougherty also served as an Officer in the United States Army Nurse Corps for 10 years. Dougherty travels and speaks nationally to assist small to medium size organizations with organizational effectiveness involving their most important asset – their employees. Trish can be reached at Trish@TheWestonGroup.com or 605-275-4747. www.TheWestonGroup.com.