Enforced absence causes salary dilemmas for the region's employers

4/21/2010

As British airports begin to open and employees who have been stuck abroad on holiday return to work, many Manchester employers may be questioning if they should pay employees for the additional time they have been forced to take off from work.

Employment experts from law firm, DWF are advising employers to check their absence policies and employees' contracts for any established practice or contractual provision.

However, should those documents not provide the answer, and an employee has not been available to provide their services, there is unlikely to be an obligation upon employers to pay the employee for the additional period they were absent. This leaves employers with the following options:

1. Treat the time as unpaid leave;
2. Provide the employee with the option of treating their absence as unpaid leave or retrospectively as annual leave, or a mixture of both, thereby entitling them to holiday pay but reducing their future holiday entitlement accordingly; or
3. Pay the employees some or all of their salary, without reducing their holiday entitlement, either as a good will gesture or in return for employees making up the equivalent lost time over a set period.

There are fears of further flight disruptions arising later in the year so employers should carefully consider which option to take, as a precedent for the future treatment of employees will likely be set. Further, employers should make it clear to employees specifically what set of circumstances will lead to employees being treated in the same way again: further volcanic ash disruption; other abnormal weather conditions; industrial strike action; or any holiday-related delay.

ENDS

Notes to editors

DWF LLP is one of the fastest growing law firms in the UK. With over 1,061 people based in Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Preston, DWF provides a range of services grouped in the following sectors:

Corporate

Finance & Restructuring

Litigation

Real Estate

People

Insurance

Private Client

Media enquiries to:

Fiona Whyatt or Alex Henshall

Bell Pottinger North

Tel: 01625 506444 or 07810 795053 / 07920 252 464

Email: fwhyatt@bellpottingernorth.co.uk or ahenshall@bellpottingernorth.co.uk