“With the recent bad weather my business has been severely affected. I have had some staff not attend and may need to close my business. What are my obligations regarding staff?” Where possible you should consider planning ahead. The impact of bad weather can be reduced with some forward planning. Consider putting in place a bad weather policy so that all employees are aware of the reporting procedures and what options are available to them. Planned Closures Where the weather is predicted you should consider whether a planned closure is beneficial. A planned closure can reduce overheads and maintain staff safety. As an employer you will always be able to close your business should you wish. Where you do close your business, employees who are available for work will be entitled to full pay unless you have a temporary layoff clause within your contract. If you do have a layoff clause, you will need to ensure you comply with the pay obligations as you may only have to pay reduced pay or no pay at all (subject to statutory guarantee pay). If you do not have a layoff clause, you may still be able to require employees to take the time off as holiday, provided you give them at least twice the period of closure as notice. (i.e. closed for 2 days and requires 4 days’ notice for employees). Staying Open Provided your staff are not put at risk within the workplace, there is generally no obligation on you as an employer to close your business during bad weather. One exemption to this is the internal temperature inside buildings. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/3004) state that, during working hours, the temperature in all workplaces inside buildings shall be “reasonable”. Whilst the regulations do not set what temperature is reasonable, guidance recommends at least 16°C for sedentary work and 13°C for strenuous tasks If you remain open and staff are unable to get to work, there is no automatic entitlement to full pay. This is because the employee is neither fulfilling their contract nor sick. Whilst this can lead to savings, this is a situation where the savings for the business may be outweighed by the negative impact on staff morale. Care needs to be taken where any absence is due to school closures. Employees have a statutory right to a reasonable period of unpaid time off for dependants. The right applies where an employee needs to take time off work due to unexpected disruption of the care arrangements for the dependant; such as school closures. Whilst employees will have the right to time of, there is no entitlement to pay. Where employees cannot get into work, offering the time as paid annual leave can be a useful option. Non-payment of staff who do not attend work due to bad weather will only be an option where there is no contractual right to pay. If you have a history of paying employees in similar situation, this is likely to have been incorporated into their contract. As always, this advice is general in nature and will need to be tailored to any one situation. As an RMI member you have access to the RMI Legal advice line, as well as several industry experts for your assistance. Should you find yourself in the situation above, contact us at any stage for advice and assistance as appropriate. Motor Industry Legal Services Motor Industry Legal Services provides fully comprehensive legal advice and representation to UK motor retailers for one annual fee. It is the only regulated law firm in the UK which specialises in motor law and motor trade law. MILS currently advises over 1,000 individual businesses within the sector as well as the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) and its members.