Welcome back to the start of another winter season in Buffalo. The days are short, the holiday season is around the corner, and you never know what you’ll get with the weather. Speaking of that weather: we’ve all been in those early-morning discussions, when the snow is picking up and a decision needs to be made. Is it safe for employees to go to the office? Is the snow going to move on and you just need to delay opening the office? Can employees work remotely? What happens if you shift to remote work but not everyone has the ability to do their jobs remotely? Like most hard calls in business, this is a decision-making problem. Having a written policy everyone knows makes decisions easier. Businesses without a policy in place watch the snow fall and spend a sleepless night debating what to do. Businesses with one make the call in five minutes and move on with their day. We’ll cover how labor law compliance affects that decision making, how payroll changes after an inclement weather closure, and a simple checklist to help you get started. What Do State and Federal Laws Require? On the federal side, the Fair Labor Standards Act sets the rules for salaried employees who are exempt from overtime. Docking their pay for a partial-day absence isn’t allowed and can compromise their exempt status. You also can’t deduct from their salary when you are the one who closes the office. That’s why the line between “we closed” and “we stayed open and they stayed home” matters so much. New York adds its own rule for hourly employees: call-in pay. When an employee reports to work at the employer’s request or with permission, they must be paid for at least four hours, or the length of their scheduled shift if shorter, at the basic minimum hourly wage. In practice, this is the best reason to make your decision early. Closing before people leave home is a very different situation from sending them back out after they’ve arrived. What happens when a driving ban is put in place at the county or state level? Expecting staff to commute puts them at risk and puts you in a difficult position as the employer. Many Western New York employers treat an official ban as an automatic trigger for closing or going remote, and write that into their inclement weather policy. Keep in mind that some industries, like hospitality, have their own wage rules, and union contracts can add terms of their own. If you’re not sure which rules apply to your team, ask before the storm rather than during it. What Changes with Payroll When You Close? There is no one-size-fits-all payroll adjustment to make when snow days affect how and where your team works. Your policy should account for a few different scenarios. If you close for the full day: Under federal law, hourly employees are generally paid only for hours they work, so a closure doesn’t automatically mean pay. Salaried employees who are exempt from overtime are different. When you close for less than a week, they still receive their regular salary, whether or not they have paid time off available. Many employers choose to pay hourly staff for a closure day or let them use paid time off. That choice is yours, and it’s best made in writing before the storm. If you close early or open late: Hourly employees are paid for the time they worked. Salaried employees can’t have their pay reduced for a partial day, so they receive their full pay. In New York, hourly employees who have already made it in also have call-in pay protection, which we covered earlier in this post. If you stay open and an employee stays home: If a salaried employee misses the entire day because of the weather, the Department of Labor treats that as a personal absence, so you can deduct a full day or require them to use paid time off. If they do any work remotely, even answering emails, they must be paid for the full day. Hourly employees who stay home are paid for the hours they work, including hours worked remotely. However the day plays out, a few habits keep payroll clean. Tell your payroll team the same day, so closure hours are coded correctly before the cutoff. Make sure remote work hours are recorded. Remember that hours paid for time not worked, such as PTO or holidays, should be coded differently because they are not considered hours worked and are not required to be eligible for overtime. READ MORE: Building Payroll Systems for Compliance and Efficiency Your Inclement Weather Policy Checklist A good weather policy is short enough that a manager can follow it at 5 a.m. Answer these questions in writing. Put the answers in your handbook. Share them before the first storm instead of during it. What triggers a delay, closure, or remote day? Think about official driving bans, road conditions where most of your team lives, and whether you can safely operate or serve customers. Who makes the call, and by what time? Name one decision-maker and a backup, and set a deadline early enough that nobody is already on the road. How will employees hear about it? Choose one channel, whether that’s a text alert or an announcement in your employee portal, and use it every time. Which roles can work remotely, and what will everyone else do? Decide this ahead of time so a remote day doesn’t leave part of your team with nothing to do. How will pay be handled in each situation? Full closure, early closure, and open-but-someone-stays-home should each have a clear answer. What should employees do if they can’t safely get in while you’re open? Spell out who they notify and when. Who is essential staff, and how are they supported? If some roles must come in, say so up front. How do you plan for the day before a storm? A message to your team could notify them to bring laptops and other required work equipment home, and confirm where an official office closure notice will be communicated. Once you’ve answered these, document the policy and make it easy to find. If you already have this as a policy, now is the time to share a reminder with your team before bad weather arrives. READ MORE: From Reactive to Ready: Building Your HR Game Plan If you need more support building out policies that affect how your team operates, you don’t have to do this work alone. The Right HR Partner Has You Covered On sunny days and snowy days, it pays to have an expert partner who helps you focus on what you do best. Employer Services Corporation has helped businesses in Western New York and beyond with a wide range of challenges that come up while managing people and supporting teams. As a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) with more than 30 years in business, ESC brings a team of experts to each individual client. When you partner with a PEO, you get an HR business partner for day-to-day guidance, project support for handbook and policy development, a team of labor law compliance experts for the legal questions, and a payroll specialist backed by integrated time-and-attendance technology for correct pay coding. READ MORE: The HR Tech Your Business Actually Needs If you want a straight conversation about getting your policy in place before the next storm, contact our team today.