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Hurricane Sandy
Benefits & Compensation
Hurricane Sandy
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance.
Due to Sandy, our employees missed 1.5 days of work. Our current polciy states employees must used PTO time, including salaried employees. What is best practice on an issue like this? Do most companie
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » Hurricane Sandy
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Hurricane Sandy
posted at 10/31/2012 6:45 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 7
First: 5/24/2012 Last: 1/31/2013 |
Due to Sandy, our employees missed 1.5 days of work. Our current polciy states employees must used PTO time, including salaried employees. What is best practice on an issue like this? Do most companies charge time off to salaried employees or pay them for the time since they are salary? |
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Re: Hurricane Sandy
posted at 10/31/2012 11:26 AM EDT
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 3
First: 10/31/2012 Last: 10/31/2012 |
In Response to Hurricane Sandy: Due to Sandy, our employees missed 1.5 days of work. Our current polciy states employees must used PTO time, including salaried employees. What is best practice on an issue like this? Do most companies charge time off to salaried employees or pay them for the time since they are salary? Posted by MV Depending on the company, some allowances can be made. If a Federal Disaster is issued, there may be more leverage. Your board (if policies don't exist) can make allowances for natural disasters. Choose to do what is right for the employees in a situation like this. Your legal consult can also confirm options. There's a way to make it work for both salaried and hourly employees.
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Re: Hurricane Sandy
posted at 11/5/2012 7:48 AM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 61
First: 10/2/2012 Last: 12/5/2012 |
In our company, there is a clause in the contract regarding natural disasters. whenever there is one (which of course we don't want anytime of the year), the employer would assess using reports from the local/international weather station (as an example) if it is just right to cancel the work day. in our contract, it says that the employees are paid, in other companies, they have the no work no pay policy. no PTO is deducted unless the employee decides to apply a credit for it. |
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Re: Hurricane Sandy
posted at 11/6/2012 8:36 AM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 174
First: 9/20/2011 Last: 2/11/2013 |
In Response to Re: Hurricane Sandy: In our company, there is a clause in the contract regarding natural disasters. whenever there is one (which of course we don't want anytime of the year), the employer would assess using reports from the local/international weather station (as an example) if it is just right to cancel the work day. in our contract, it says that the employees are paid, in other companies, they have the no work no pay policy. no PTO is deducted unless the employee decides to apply a credit for it. Posted by jabo Union contract clauses are not relevant to the posters question which relates to handling salaried employees and the requirement to pay them their normal weekly salary regardless of circumstances. My understanding is that you must pay them for the days even if the business is closed for a hurricane. If the business was open and the salaried employee did not appear then there may be the ability to delete from compensation depending on the absenteeism policy and the reason for the absence. This is an FLSA question which should be researched to confirm. |
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Re: Hurricane Sandy
posted at 11/6/2012 9:28 AM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 174
First: 9/20/2011 Last: 2/11/2013 |
In Response to Re: Hurricane Sandy: In Response to Re: Hurricane Sandy : Union contract clauses are not relevant to the posters question which relates to handling salaried employees and the requirement to pay them their normal weekly salary regardless of circumstances. My understanding is that you must pay them for the days even if the business is closed for a hurricane. If the business was open and the salaried employee did not appear then there may be the ability to delete from compensation depending on the absenteeism policy and the reason for the absence. This is an FLSA question which should be researched to confirm. Posted by howard7 Additional info from SHRM: Counterintuitive Rules Another question that arises often in the aftermath of storms is whether exempt employees’ pay may be docked. The answer is counterintuitive, Miller said. The FLSA provides an incentive for employers to remain open during storms by allowing them either to dock exempt employees’ pay for full days they miss and do not work from home when employers stay open, or to require exempt employees to use vacation, if permitted by state law. (Partial-day deductions for exempt employees aren’t allowed.) If employers are closed for part of the FLSA workweek, but exempt employees work part of that week, the exempt workers must be paid their usual salary and docking is prohibited. Despite these strange FLSA rules, “the last thing an employer wants is for workers to get hurt coming to work” during a severe storm, so most employers close in spite of these provisions, he added. |
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Re: Hurricane Sandy
posted at 11/6/2012 1:40 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 144
First: 9/21/2011 Last: 2/8/2013 |
Agreed....if the employer is open, then the EXEMPT employee can be forced into a full unpaid day off. They can also be required to use any PTO balance if the policy is no unpaid time off prior to using all your paid timeoff. |
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Re: Hurricane Sandy
posted at 11/6/2012 1:54 PM EST
on Workforce Management
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Posts: 2
First: 11/6/2012 Last: 11/9/2012 |
In response to "Re: Hurricane Sandy": In Response to Re: Hurricane Sandy : Additional info from SHRM: Counterintuitive Rules Another question that arises often in the aftermath of storms is whether exempt employees’ pay may be docked. The answer is counterintuitive, Miller said. The FLSA provides ..... One question involves company expectations post storm. If there is an expectation of overtime/extra time to catch up and cleanup post storm it makes sense to be cautious and apparently generous. There is also a small risk of changing the status of employees in ways that could prove retroactive $$. The financial impact on all players is real, both company and people, so be honest and work to keep things balanced and fair. The last thing you need is a large group of dissatisfied key employees.... or a company in financial distress. |
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