HR file: What employers can do about bad weather absence

As winter weather continues across the UK, getting to work can be impossible and many employees are finding they cannot even attempt the journey. So how best can an employer address the situation?

Ideally employers should have contingencies in place to deal with a significant employee absence, in order to maximise business continuity. Such contingencies might involve a contract of employment carefully drafted to cater for such eventualities, a requirement to travel to a different office or workplace, and a policy of enabling employees to work from home.

But suppose the contingencies fail to adequately address the situation and business continuity takes a knock. What options are available to an employer then? The employer should be wary of prioritising the need for business continuity at the expense of employees’ health and safety. Section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 protects an employee from being subjected to any detriment by any act, or any deliberate failure to act, by his or her employer where the employee reasonably believed there was a serious and imminent danger as a result of the circumstances (circumstances the employee could not reasonably have been expected to avert), causing the employee to leave or refuse to return to the place of work.