Jun. 8, 2010
Employees stranded by volcanic ash – the fall-out from the volcano eruption
Earlier this year, heavy snow fall brought the country to a halt and employers were left counting the cost of enforced staff absences. Now, as volcanic ash drifts across Europe, grounding flights and causing travel chaos, employers are again picking up the tab when employees are not able to get back from their holidays.
In January, we sent an Email Alert looking at employers’ obligations where employees were not able to come into work due to weather conditions. The current situation is analogous and many of the same considerations apply. By way of brief reminder, the key issues are as follows:
- Take a look at your employment contracts and Employee Handbook, to see whether these deal with the situation. If they do not, then the default position is that the obligation is on the employee to get into work. If they do not come into work, even due to circumstances beyond their control, they are on unauthorised absence and they are arguably not entitled to be paid.
- Be careful if you have decided to dock employees’ pay. The employee could argue that failure to make payment is an unauthorised deduction from wages (assuming this is not covered in the employment contract). Although you would have a potential defence that there was no entitlement to pay as no work was done, it may be an argument best avoided.
- You should also assess the impact of refusing to pay employees on morale and productivity. This is particularly so if employees are trying hard to get back to the UK but this is proving impossible.
- Keep your approach consistent. If you haven’t got a policy covering the situation, meet with the employees after their return and explain to them that either:
(a) any time off will be unpaid;
(b) time off will be paid but that they are expected to make up the time later; and/or
(c) they can request the time off as paid annual leave.
- Be careful if you are trying to insist on employees taking annual holiday retrospectively. Employees will need to agree to this unless the contract specifically allows you to do this.
The above provides a general guide to issues that might arise. However, each situation is unique and different considerations may apply in your case. We would therefore recommend that you consult a solicitor, or other suitably qualified person, about your specific circumstances.
If you have any questions about the matters discussed above, or any other question of employment law, please contact Paul Marmor, head of Litigation at Sherrards, or one of the Employment team:-
Joanne Perry, Tel: 01727 738920, Email: jp@sherrards.com
Mark Fellows, Tel: 01727 738976, Email: mf@sherrards.com
