Russell Bradley: Bad weather no excuse for not getting into work

THE current wintry weather may have brought joy to children in East Lothian and the Borders. For businesses, however, the bad weather has been something of a headache.

The Federation of Small Businesses estimated that 6.4 million employees across the UK were unable to get to work last week. It puts the cost to British businesses at 1.2 billion, a figure that could rise to as much as 3.5bn.

With figures like this, businesses can no longer fail to forward-plan for inclement weather. They need to put in place an "adverse weather" policy, setting out clearly their expectations of employees in the event that the weather restricts their ability to get to work. This could form part of a more extensive continuity plan for dealing with emergencies.

Employers will need to consider the policy content carefully. The needs of the business must be weighed against the safety and morale of employees.

Generally speaking, the onus is on employees to get to work, regardless of the severity of the weather conditions. If employees fail to turn up for work, an employer is under no obligation to pay them.

However, while employers may be legally entitled to deduct pay, this may not be in their best interests. Deducting pay will inevitably have a negative impact on morale, and the administrative burden of calculating the loss of pay may outweigh the potential benefit.

Employers may therefore wish to look at alternative solutions. Statistics from the Campaign for Better Transport show that 42 per cent of the UK's workforce live within 20 minutes of their workplace. This figure would be higher in Scotland, where there tends to be less long-distance commuting. Therefore, if an employee's normal mode of transport cannot be used, employers could first encourage them to explore alternative safe means of transport, providing regular updates on the travel situation by e-mail or on an intranet. Alternatively, employees may be able to work from home.

If none of these solutions are possible, employers could consider requiring employees to take any time off work either as annual leave or special unpaid leave.

Like all things, an adverse weather policy needs to be administered with a degree of flexibility. However, in tough economic times employers cannot let an unexpected cold snap bring business to a grinding halt.

• Russell Bradley is a partner at DLA Piper.