Bosses warned: Don’t dock pay over weather
Political Correspondent BOSSES should not be docking wages of staff were unable to get to work due to the red “do not travel” warning, Humza Yousaf has said.
The Transport Minister said he has been contacted by workers who said they will lose pay for Wednesday and Thursday when the beast from the East stuck Scotland.
Thousands of people missed a day at work on Thursday as public transport was not available, road were too dangerous to drive on, and the advice was not to travel.
Bus services ceased in Glasgow on Wednesday and didn’t run on Thursday during the red warning period.
There were no train services in the Glasgow area and for many people walking was not a option due to distance or safety of the route.
Mr Yousaf said: “Frankly, I’d be extremely disappointed if employers chose to dock wages for somebody because they couldn’t travel during the red weather warning.
“I’ve had a number of emails from individuals that they were facing disciplinary or potential docking of wages. Now that’s just simply not an acceptable situa- tion when the government and police and other agencies joined together to give very crisp, very clear advice. It’s not for our own good, it’s for the safety of the public.”
He said while he was not certain of the legal position, the Scottish Government would be looking at the issue when it considers the lessons to be learned from last week.
He added: “We will be talking to employers and having that dialogue with them and of course, internally looking at what powers we have, is clearly part of the discussion we’re going to have.”
On the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) website there is information for workers.
It said there is no obligation on an employer to pay wages for staff who can’t make it to work in extreme weather.
However, if the company takes the decision to close the workplace then the employer should be paid.
Staff can be requested to take a days holiday, but legally must be given two days notice.
Unions criticised some high profile companies for expecting staff to come to work or not allowing them to leave early enough before the red warning took effect