Insider Media Limited

It takes an act of God to postpone a Marketing Derby event, and right on cue, along came one in the middle of last week that scuppered the organisation’s annual conference. It might also have had something to do with trapped high pressure, too, if you want to get all scientific about it.

Across the Midlands, managers have been donning wellies and embarrassing bobble hats just to make the office, and yet still we’ve heard the stories about how many millions of pounds the weather is costing the economy.

Not to be outdone, here’s a statistic that rolled into my inbox about last January’s cold snap:

“In January 2010 it was reported that up to 124 million hours were lost in a single week because of adverse weather conditions at that time and many are saying that the current weather the UK is facing is far worse than that.”

That came courtesy of Smith Partnership in Derby, by the way. And the lawyers are all over this, of course, because snow could mean extra legislation written into an employee’s contract. Should an employee crash their car trying to get to work, or slip on any icy pavement running for the bus, then litigation could follow, warn the experts.

As usual, it’s a minefield. In practice, few contracts will state that employees who cannot get into work because of the weather will lose a day's pay, say Smith Partnership. Employees have statutory protection against an unauthorised deduction being made from their wages without their consent and deducting pay could potentially be challenged as unlawful under these provisions (although the employer could argue that there was no entitlement to pay as no work was done, if they were being particularly mean).

Smith Partnership also point out that unless the employee's employment contract contains an express right for the employer to direct when their holiday is taken, employers cannot force employees to take a day's holiday without their consent to cover such periods of absence although if the adverse weather causing the absence subsides it may be worthwhile an employer contacting those employees who are absent stating that due to the improved weather and travel conditions any further absences will be classed as holiday. This is likely to encourage a return to work, apparently. Although I’m not quite sure how you’re supposed to get into work from one of the more snowbound rural locations, but there you go.

What appears to be lacking here, is good, old-fashioned common sense. Trust seems to disappear when it comes to people not going into work because of the weather, and at the other end of the spectrum there will always be people who will milk it for an extra day or two.

Time are hard, as you don’t need me to tell you. Do you really want to add another layer of work that includes checking up on your staff and going out with a thermometer to see how cold it is in their village and whether the roads are passable? There’s taking your eye of the ball and then there’s an obsession with something. Seems to me that most people are pretty trustworthy when it comes to work at the moment. It’s not like there are thousands of jobs out there they can walk into should they get caught out hiding under the duvet on a ‘snow day’.

Adding more clauses, regulation and litigation to what is already incredibly complex employment law sector might suit some. But, at the end of the day – and call me naïve if you will - people will come into work if they can, surely?