Flights resume tomorrow: advice for today

NATS, the air traffic control company, has advised that flights restrictions will be lifted from Scotland and parts of northern England from seven a.m. tomorrow. There are an estimated 150,000 Britons stranded abroad at present, with the backlog of travellers mounting each day. With many businesses suffering the effects of absent staff, pay concerns and uncertainty over their responsibilities, James Wilders, an employment partner at national law firm Dickinson Dees, advises employers on the issues they may need to address.

Pay entitlement for those who are stranded abroad on holiday

“Absence outside a pre-booked holiday period is considered unauthorised and employers are not obliged to pay someone who is absent from work without authorisation.  Employers can consider withholding salary from staff who fail to return from holiday, even if they are prevented from returning by an act of God. But if this seems harsh, another option would therefore be to offer to extend the employee’s holiday. If the employee agrees, this would then be off set against the individual’s annual leave entitlement.”

Those claiming to be able to work where they are stranded

“Employees might say that they are working on their laptop and speaking to customers using their mobile telephone. In reality it is unlikely that anyone could properly perform their duties to the full extent in this way.

“Employers should check contracts of employment to see whether personal attendance at the office is required as part of an employee’s performance of his duties, but it may be unnecessarily harsh to withhold salary from someone who is committed enough to his work to try and perform his duties from the beach.”

Helping employees to get back

“While very unfortunate for the individuals directly affected, employers have no obligation to assist their staff to return home from holiday whether through either financial or practical support.  That said, employers should consider whether the cost to the business would be less if they help key staff to return.”

Employees stranded abroad on business

“Employers have a duty of care which would extend to securing the safe return of everyone affected by the current disruption while on business. They must meet any additional expenses incurred by staff while abroad on business such as accommodation and subsistence costs as well as reasonable travel arrangements.”

Should the employer meet knock-on personal costs?

“It is doubtful that an employer’s duties extend to cover extra personal expenditure such as additional child care or the ticket costs of missed events.  Nevertheless, a reasonable employer might decide that for the sake of employee relations it should at least identify the extent of such additional costs to see whether it would be realistic to compensate some or all of those costs.

“The employer should also encourage staff to check whether additional personal expenditure incurred by them is covered by their personal insurance.  Similarly, the employer should check his own insurance arrangements to see whether such expenditure could be claimed from insurance.”