docked pay if missing work on snow days?

[ralf-nz]

Employers criticised for docking pay

read http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/17...ed-docking-pay for the full article; and they started this poll, which I just copied...

[Mamee & Co]

I have worked with this problem for years. The general rule was that if the shift was operating normally and you could not get to work you took annual leave if you wanted paid. Where the employer cancelled the shift or ended it early you would be paid.

This split the cost between the employer and the staff in most instances. I have known of employees in the Highlands of Scotland claim snow travel difficulties with a 1/2 cm of snow on the ground and living 2 miles away, whilst other employees coming from the much further away on rough roads made it in. Also have also found that certain classes of staff cannot afford to take a day off e.g. payroll personnel have to work (I had to go in to support a payroll staff member on Boxing Day after a Blizzard on Christmas day when there were 8 inches of snow on the ground, and no ploughing/gritting had been done...it was a 13 mile trip, 6 miles of which were on single track in a 2 wheel front drive car, but then we were used to snow driving - and don't use chains)

This time I was prepared to work from home as were most essential members of staff. We had remote access and phone diversion set up for call centre staff. One member of staff struggled into the office and dealt with IT issues, another liaised for payroll, and I have worked over VPN connection as did some of my colleagues. It was slow but we coped.

I think for weather events like this both employees and organisations have to think about the nature of the work and how to perform to keep everything going, and there needs to be give and take. Expecting to be paid without making enough effort on the part of the employee is poor behaviour, but it is also poor behaviour for an employer to not think about alternative options...e.g. provision of transport/alternative working practice etc.

[JandM]

I have known of employees in the Highlands of Scotland claim snow travel difficulties with a 1/2 cm of snow on the ground and living 2 miles away

I knew this too, on the edge of Bournemouth, where the roads are a whole lot less challenging!

[victoria24]

i have been snowed "out" before in the uk. I was one of those people that thought work was far more important than anything and that it was my duty to be there. Once I found I was stuck, I found myself almost compromising my safety to quell the over arching urge to get home. Not fun, not nice and not something i'd like to repeat. Ive worked from home for the last 2 days and feel quite good about the whole thing

[mylesdw]

It is simply pathetic the panic that a very moderate amount of snow causes. The High School in Rangiora has been closed for three days and the boarding school kids in Chch were sent home! Those teachers really are a work-shy crowd. I never had a single day off school because of the weather.

[Manks]

In CT, it was quite common to have "snow days" and I never heard of anyone taking annual leave as a result. I had a Blackberry and we could access the network via VPN if required. But most people saw it as a free day off.

What pee'd me off was when a guy who worked for me told two young team members that if they wanted to take a snow day the next day (big storm threatened to roll in that never showed) then they had to take annual leave. He himself never turned up (just like the big storm didn't) and I'm pretty sure he won't have recorded it as annual leave himself! (complicated joint venture HR thing meant I had no visibility of what leave he booked etc, even as his manager).