As you’ve probably noticed, the weather has been a bit on the chilly side for the last few days. Down here on the south coast we had about a foot of snow, and the Freelance Advisor team worked from home for a few days – that’s the official Freelance Advisor Dog enjoying himself in the picture there. Many people are going to have missed work. Around 40% didn’t make it in nationally on Wednesday – including freelancers.

So what happens? Do you still get paid? Luckily we’d prepared for this snowy eventuality earlier in the year with our revised Guide to Pay and Wages. To quote directly from the article -

Is your Employer obliged to pay you if you cannot get into work because of severe weather conditions or public transport disruptions?

The responsibility is on you, the employee, to get to work regardless of the circumstances (unless your Employer has contractually promised to provide transport for employees to and from work).

If you fail to attend work there is no obligation on the Employer to pay you (or pay you for missed time if you arrive late) – even if is not your fault – unless your employment contract has specific provision for such absences to be paid. Your Employer is only obliged to pay you when you are ready, willing and available to work.

An Employers failure to pay you in these circumstances is not an unlawful deduction of wages.

In these circumstances Employers should consider:

  • Encouraging employees to find other forms of safe transport
  • Allowing employees to work from home
  • Allowing employees to make up the time at a later date.

If none of these options are viable then the Employer should advise the employees whether their time off work in these circumstances will be paid or unpaid or whether they can request to take the time off as paid annual leave. (However, Employers cannot insist that employees take annual leave without the requisite notice – see the information on notice periods in our Guide to Working Hours).

If you need more info or specific guidance, you can fire away in the comments or email workline@freelanceadvisor.co.uk