Employers should be pragmatic over snow day pay, say advisers

"Employers are entitled not to pay employees if they fail to show up for work, but the CIPD would not recommend that employers take this line," said CIPD employee relations adviser Mike Emmott. "It's important to show empathy with employees – particularly those that normally perform well – as research shows that this flexibility and trust will pay off in the long-term, with employees more motivated and going the extra mile when they are able to get to work."

Though Emmott said that few employers stick by the letter of the law when it comes to difficult situations such as severe weather conditions, he said that they should make it clear what is expected of workers before those conditions arise.

"Employers should make clear in advance what employees are expected to do in the event they cannot make it to work," he said. "Employees need to keep in touch and demonstrate to their employer that they have made attempts to get in – they need to get the message across that they are not just 'swinging the lead', since this could upset colleagues as well as their bosses."

Guidance produced by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said that an employer could treat absence because of the weather as unauthorised and deduct a day's pay. But this could infringe the employee's rights.

"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)," said the guidance.

The Pinsent Masons guidance agreed with the CIPD that employers should be pragmatic about how they deal with absences.

"Employees should not feel pressured to risk their safety to get into the office so it may be sensible to consider whether employees could usefully work from home until the weather situation has improved," it said.

"You should therefore assess whether not paying employees would be in the best interests of your business," said the guidance. "It may be that the financial burden to the business of paying staff in these circumstances is outweighed by the benefits that such a gesture would have on staff morale and productivity in the long run – especially if the snowfall is particularly heavy and it is impossible to get into the office."

It said that if a company has to close its premises because of the weather it "cannot usually withhold pay".