Bad Weather Payments

Hourly paid employees with no guaranteed hours, and piece workers will not be entitled to be paid if they fail to attend work due to bad weather.

The position regarding salaried employees is less clear. Whilst the prevailing view is that employees who cannot get to work are therefore not ‘ready to work’ and not entitled to be paid, there is some case law which suggests that where the non-performance of work is involuntary and unavoidable, e.g. due to bad weather, the employee may be entitled to their salary. However, what can be said is that there is no rule that wages are always payable during unavoidable absence due to bad weather.

In view of the inconclusive case law, the issue of whether a salaried employee is entitled to be paid when unable to attend work due to bad weather may depend upon how the employer and employees have behaved on previous occasions and whether the employer has an adverse weather policy setting out how absences due to bad weather will be treated.

To discuss this or any other Employment Law issues, please contact David Coward on 01722 410664 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.