They say a little rain never hurt anybody… but we live in the UK and we get a lot of rain!

Couple that with a poor public transport system, argued to be the worst in Europe in fact and you get constant employment issues due to weather disruptions. A well-written contract of employment could save you a lot of aggro!

There is also the risk of the train driver getting lost, the driver having a sprained eyebrow, the staff being left in Cardiff, leaves on the line, slippery rain and a runaway giant inflatable McDonalds clown. Yes, these are from real public transport announcements…And yes, Ronald McDonald was eventually apprehended.

The top 3 questions we get asked by employers are:

  1. Can I ask employees to work from home if public transport is disrupted?

    Working from home is not possible for all roles and in the instances where it is, it needs to have been clearly stated as a requirement in the contract of employment or agreed with the employee. If it is not, then it is considered a unilateral variation of the contract, which can lead to claims for constructive dismissal.

    So what should you do?

    Well, you can consult employees in advance about working from home, but this isn’t useful if the changes need to be made on the day that they can’t get into work. So in other words, make sure you have covered yourself in your contract of employment or consulted the employee straight away.

  2. Do I have to pay an employee who is late or cannot make it into work due to public transport disruptions?
    Simply put no, unless stated otherwise in the contract of employment. It is up to the employee to get to work and the obligation to pay them is only applicable when they are available for work. However public transport disruptions are not the employees fault and so an employer may wish to make some accommodations.

         So what can you do?

  • Ask them to consider other means of transportation
  • Consider home working or relocation to a different office
  • They could make up time at a later date
  • Advise the employee that time off in these specific circumstances will be unpaid, paid or paid on a discretionary basis.
  • Suggest paid annual leave – an employer cannot insist an employee take annual leave without prior notice
  • Offer the employee to take the day off as a holiday day
  1. Do I have to pay employees if the business was closed due to disrupted public transport?If the majority of employees or key members of the team cannot make it to work, an employer may well decide to close the business for the day or a few days.If employees are able to work from home then they must be paid normal wages. Otherwise, unless there is something in the contract of employment that allows for an unpaid lay-off or the employees agree to an unpaid lay-off, then they should be paid their regular wages. Not paying employees without the above would be a breach of the contract of employment and an employee could make a claim of an unauthorised deduction of wages.That being said, if an employee has been working for the employer for one month, they could be entitled to a statutory guarantee payment of up to £26 for any day the business is closed, even if un-paid layoffs have been agreed to.

So the lesson here is, make sure that you are compliant and that you have a solid contract of employment! We can certainly help you with this, so give us a call on 01256 328 428 or fill out the form below and select compliance: