Following a cold snap across the UK in November 2023, the Health and Safety Executive published a reminder of employers’ health and safety obligations towards staff during cold weather. At this time of year, we are frequently asked about employers’ obligations on the FSB advice line. Some of these frequently asked questions are as follows:
Some of our employees can’t get to work because of the bad weather. Do we still have to pay them?
No. Generally speaking, it’s the employee’s responsibility to get to and from work and so if this is not possible, or if it is safe to travel and employees don’t make a reasonable effort to get to work, the employer is usually entitled to withhold pay for unworked hours. Generally speaking there is no automatic legal right for employees to be paid for working time missed due to travel disruption or bad weather.
Employers may consider allowing employees to request the time off as annual leave or to work from home. However, employers should not force or pressure their staff to attempt the journey if there are legitimate safety reasons why they should not travel (such as where there is a red warning for adverse weather issued by the met office). If a large number of employees can’t attend work for this reason, or if it would be dangerous to expect employees to travel to work during adverse weather conditions, the employer may simply decide to close the business premises for the day (in which case, employees are usually entitled to be paid their normal wages) or permit staff to work from home if feasible.
We have closed the business premises for the day because of the weather. Do we have to pay our staff?
Generally speaking, unless the employee’s contract has a provision allowing for unpaid lay-off, the employer will still have to pay their employees if the workplace is closed for any reason.
Employees and workers that are on zero-hours contracts where there is no contractual obligation to offer work may not be required to be paid in this scenario, although morally speaking employers may still choose to pay staff. Also, if there is advance notice of bad weather, the employer could give prior notice to require employees to take their holiday if a sufficient period of notice is given, or if staff agree to treat the time off as paid annual leave. An employee might prefer to take paid holiday, if they are otherwise not entitled to get paid during disruption. By law, the employer must give twice as much notice as the amount of holiday they want employees to take. If feasible, employers can also request that employees work from home.
Is there a minimum workplace temperature that should be met?
No, there isn’t. However, employers are required to maintain a safe working environment. The Health and Safety Executive recommends a minimum temperature of 16C for workplaces where the nature of work is fairly inactive, such as in offices. If the work requires physical effort, the minimum recommended temperature is 13C.
Are we liable if any of our staff slip on snow or ice at work, or on their way to work?
Employers are required to maintain safe working conditions for employees so they may be liable for personal injury if there’s an accident at work that could have been avoided through reasonable measures. Employers are generally not responsible for the health and safety of staff travelling to and from their place of work (unless they are responsible for providing transport) but should not encourage staff to travel to work when it is unsafe to do so.
Some of the schools in the local area have closed. Are staff entitled to take time off work for this reason?
Employees have a statutory right to take a "reasonable" amount of time off because of the unexpected disruption or termination of a dependant's care arrangements. Bad weather or other disruption might lead to a school or nursery being closed, or childcare being unavailable, with the result that an employee has to take the day off to make arrangements for their children or other dependants.
In these circumstances, the employer cannot force the employee to use up their paid annual leave entitlement (although they can permit an employee to do so, so the employee doesn’t miss out on pay), and must not subject the employee to any detriment, such as disciplinary action, as a result of exercising this right to a reasonable amount of time off.
The employee has no statutory right to be paid for such time off. See our fact sheet on ‘parental leave and time off for dependants’ on the FSB Legal and Business Hub for further guidance.
Many employers are more flexible in circumstances of adverse weather or other disruption that is beyond the employee’s control and will allow employees to take holiday at short notice or, if appropriate, to work from home or make the time up; or perhaps even pay them a normal day’s pay as additional leave to maintain employee morale.
See our fact sheet on ‘adverse weather and transport disruption’ on the FSB Legal and Business Hub for further guidance.