Policy concerning national security systems - high alerts

CPS

I have an employee who would like our company to issue
a policy addressing what responsibilities the employer
and employee have to each other when the country goes on
a national alert (using the new coding system - i.e.
"code red" for imminent danger - etc.). What she is basically
looking for is a guideline to tell her what compensation,
if any, she will get if she decides to stay home from work
in a national alert situation. And if there was a situation
such as a "code red" would the company be shut down and all
employees paid.We work in Washington D.C., so it is
understandable that someone may be nervous/concerned
about coming to work while any severe governmental
alerts are in force - yet I am unsure
how to proceed with a policy covering this topic.
We are a small business of approx 20 employees and my
inclination is to make any such policy very general allowing
the owner to decide on a case by case basis whether the
employees must report work and whether they get paid if
they stay home. However, it doesn't give the employee much
of a guideline.Is anyone else working on a policy of this nature?

Margaret Morford

What do you do about inclement weather where employees feel unable to get to work or are scared to drive in snow? I have one client whose policy is not to permit people to use PTO to cover days missed due to inclement weather. However, the company does not penalize employees for not coming in (under the attendance policy) except to not pay them. This only effects non-exempts. Exempt employees are expected to make-up the time necessary to get the work done. Supervisors determine whether non-exempt employees are allowed to make up the time (in the same payroll week) in order to get full pay. When there are natural disasters (blizzards, flooding, hurricanes, etc.), the CEO will determine after the fact whether to pay what's known as "disaster pay" and how many days to do so. The determination is made after the fact because the company doesn't want whether the employees get paid or not to determine whether they come into work. The idea being that if someone is afraid to come in, pay shouldn't make a difference. This gives the company the opportunity to make a case-by-case call for each situation. This might give you some sort of frame work for your policy.

Margaret Morford
theHRedge
615-371-8200
[email]mmorford@mleesmith.com[/email]
[url]http://www.thehredge.net[/url]