Pay during blackout

Jez · August 2003

Hi All,

I don't know how many of you were effected by Thursday's power outage, but I'd appreciate your advice. Our organization is located in New Jersey and we lost power at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and it was restored at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning, thus we were open for business on Friday.

The problem is we have some employees (including NY city residents) who did not receive their power until later during the day on Friday. Some of these folks reported to work, some did not. Some of those who did not, cited transportation issues as a problem. The question is, how do we handle pay for those who did not report to work? Please keep in mind that many who were effected, made it a point to get here. The options are the following: 1)As a good faith gesture, pay those who could not make it in, similar to a snow day situation 2)Requiring those who didn't report in to take the day as a personal or vacation day. Of course my goal here is to be fair and reasonable to everybody. Thanks in advance!

Don D · August 2003

I vote for treating it the same as you would a snow day or the day the snow melts. Some make it in and some don't. Some will and some just won't. But I think the application of the policy should be the same for similar circumstances. As always, whatever you do will please some and won't please some.

SMace · August 2003

I do not think it would be fair to the ee's that came in to pay the ee's that didn't. The one's that came in will not do that again. I would give them an excused absence with the option of using a personal or vacation day.

My $.01 cent.

bamahr · August 2003

We had similar problem - only with the tornados that hit Tennessee. Some made an attempt to come in - others used it as an excuse to stay home. If you have a policy that addresses severe weather (snow days) I would also suggest you follow that policy. We had a very liberal policy - which was re-written after the last round of tornado. It is not so liberal now - it cost us quite a bit.

LindaS · August 2003

I agree with SMace - pay those who came in, excuse those who didn't and allow them to use a vacation/personal day if they would like for the pay.

Shawn · August 2003

Unless you are in an area that is heavily reliant on public transit (cable cars or subways) then what would the reason be for transportation problems? Cars work without electricity. Unless I'm missing something it seems like you should require use of personal or vacation time.

AnneHa · August 2003

We were forced to close for three days in February due to power outages caused by a ferocious ice storm. This is the policy we used in that case and others.

"Employees are expected to report for work during inclement weather conditions if the Director does not declare an emergency closing. Those employees who are unable to report because of weather conditions will be granted an authorized unpaid absence. Employees may use vacation/personal hours for any scheduled time lost. Employees who are late because of weather conditions will be given a chance to make up their missed time if work schedules and conditions permit.

In the event of an emergency closing, employees will be paid for all scheduled hours if the Director determines that an emergency situation requires closing the company during normal operating hours."

I love the employees who want us to just excuse the absence and pay them because they (have chosen to)live in remote areas.

Anne in Ohio

Sunny · August 2003

There are always employees who will take advantage of any situation. If we based our policies on these folks we might as well get out the whips and boots. In my opinion you should treat it as a snow day and pay accordingly. Of course, you will never please all employees no matter how fairly you treat them.

Good luck. I was in the city for the 1964 blackout - not an experience I would ever care to repeat.

Pay during blackout

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