Snow Days and the Workplace: Can Your Employer Require You to Come In?
With much of the East Coast dealing with a snowstorm, you might be wondering how to handle work when you're snowed in. Should you get paid even if your office closes? What if your boss is pressuring you to come to work despite the bad road conditions?
Here are the answers to these and other frequently asked questions about how to handle work during major snowstorms.
Can your employer require you to come into work even if the roads are hazardous?
Yes, your employer can require you to come to work despite severe weather. That said, a reasonable employer -- and even employers that aren't generally reasonable in other situations -- will make allowances for employees who cannot safely make it in.
But if your employer is requiring to you to get to work and you don't believe you can safely travel, or if authorities are telling people in your community to stay inside and off the roads, you should push back and point out the safety hazards. Try saying something like, "The roads I'd need to travel on are not safe for driving right now, and I don't think I can safely make it in. Authorities are asking people not to drive unless it's an emergency."
What if your company says you should use your own judgment when deciding whether to come in during severe weather? Will you look bad if you stay home?
If you can't safely drive to work, take your employer's guidance at face value and stay off the roads.
If the roads aren't hazardous enough to pose a safety issue but you'd rather not drive on them, this is case of " know your manager." Is your boss a generally reasonable person who means it when she tells you to use your judgment? Or is she someone who gives lip service to concepts like telecommuting but really means she wants you in the office?
If you're unsure, try asking your boss directly: "Is it really fine to stay home during the storm if I'm concerned about the roads?" Pay attention to how she answers. "Yes, please do stay home" can probably be taken at face value. On the other hand, "Well, I don't want you to feel unsafe, but we could really use you here" probably means that she wants you to try.
If your office shuts down for a snow day, must you still be paid?
The answer to this depends on whether your job is classified as exempt or nonexempt.
If you're a nonexempt employee (someone who is required to be paid overtime when you work more than 40 hours in a given week) and your office closes because of the storm so you don't work on those days, your employer is not required to pay you for those days. Some employers will pay you anyway, but the law doesn't require it; it will depend on your employer's policy.
If you're an exempt employee (salaried and not required to be paid overtime) and if you work any portion of the week, your employer must pay you your full salary for the week, even if your office closes because of the weather.
If your employer shuts down for a snow day, can it require you to use a vacation day for the time even though it wasn't your choice to stay home?
Yes. Employers can indeed require employees to use a vacation day when the office closes for weather, even though it's often frustrating to workers who don't like to see their time off "wasted" on snow days. However, many employers choose to cover the day off for everyone rather than forcing people to use their vacation time.
What if you work from home on a snow day? Do you have still need to use a vacation day in that case?
If you're working a full day from home, that's a work day, and you shouldn't need to use a vacation day for it. If you're working sporadically from home, between shoveling, drinking hot chocolate and lounging on your couch, it will depend on how much of the day you're really working -- and on your employer's internal policy for this kind of thing.
If you're already on vacation and your company shuts down for snow while you're away, do you still have to use a vacation day for that time, even though your company was closed?
This is up to your employer. Some companies won't require you to use the vacation time since you wouldn't have been at work anyway, but others will -- figuring that you benefited by being able to plan on the certainty of the day off, whereas your co-workers had to rely on the whims of the weather.
If you're not sure how your employer handles this, it's reasonable to simply ask.
Say something like, "I'm uncertain how my planned leave works with the snow day. Should I still count the day we closed as a vacation day?"
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