Given the weather in Kansas City over the last month, it seems that the question I have been asked most often has been “do I have to pay my employees for the time not worked because I closed the office/business/facility due to the snow?”
I am sure that the situation is very familiar to every manager, business owner and supervisor. Two days prior the weather forecast is for a heavy snowstorm and the employees begin to ask…”If it snows hard, do I need to come in?” or “Will the office be open?” How you answer could have huge implications on your business. Will you have to pay employees who come in? If an employee who comes in during a significant weather event, is involved in an auto accident and gets injured, is the business responsible? Is the business liable if a non employee is injured in an accident with your employee attempting to drive on snow covered and slippery streets?
The answer is not so easy to know. The answers to those types of questions depends on the business and how well prepared it is before the next big storm. The answer to the questions depends on the policies that the business has in place regarding the situation.
The point is that more often than not, small businesses don’t have standard policies which they use to manage the employee/employer relationship. What tends to happen, is a manager makes a decision without a policies and the obvious issue is that different employees are treat differently in similar situations, leading to employee dissatisfaction at a minimum, to litigation by an employee for unequal treatment.
Writing policies is extremely important for a business because a policy can ensure that decisions are uniform, provide management with direction, ensure consistent outcomes, and often prevent (or minimize) lawsuits, unemployment claims, and other forms of liability. If a business consistently follows a policy related to their employees, the employees know what to expect, and know that everyone in the same situation is being treated the same. So, why don’t employers have policies in place? Time, is one reason. Writing a policy that meet all of the needs takes time and effort. The policy not only needs to be well thought out and address all the issues and clearly determine the results the business is looking for, and it needs to meet all the legal obligations. Getting a policy drafted takes time…time that is often used to produce the product, provide the service or otherwise generate the revenue the business needs to continue operations.
Another reason for not having policies is the perceived flexibility that dealing with issues when they come up gives the business management team. A third reason is no one is adept at drafting policies, so they download policies from someone or someplace else and the policies don’t fit the specific needs of the business and so they and the need for them becomes forgotten.
Failing to have policies that are tailored to the specific needs of the business is a sure recipe for unhappy employees, poor employee relations, attempts to unionize, high turnover, and expensive litigation. Writing and enforcing policies for your employees is necessary for the well run business.
When was the last time you looked at the policies used in your business? Do you have someone identified to be responsible for maintaining your policies?
If you did not answer yes, then your business could be at risk!!! If you don’t have the time, resources or ability to create policies, hire someone to do it for you. It could be the best thing that you could do for the future of your business.
BTW, the answer to the questions about time off is determined by the policies in place for leave time, and how you treat employees based on their status as exempt salaried employees versus non-exempt hourly employees. For a specific answer, I need to see your policies.
Glenn Brown is the Co-Founder and Principal of the Kansas City based HR consultant firm, G & J Consultants, LLC. In addition to having directed the HR Department of a health care services company, Glenn is an attorney with 15 years experience assisting businesses of all sizes and industries in complying with employment and labor legal issues. G & J Consultants specializes in providing small and medium sized businesses with traditional HR services as well as compliance with employment laws and regulations.
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