Do companies have a legal responsibility for staff in bad weather

[Bruno 10]

for example: the company I work for is refusing to let us leave at the moment as they say it will have severe implications on there service levels. I rely on First buses and I'm assuming that they will probably not be fully running before it starts to go dark. I have a 5mile walk home and therefore want to leave in the next hour or so to avoid walking home in this weather in the dark.

My employers are saying they will authorise taxis and we need to stay until the end of our shifts. How can they gaurentee they will be able to get us taxis on a day like today and are they in the right to prevent me from leaving work?

 

I suggest you go to Go-Outdoors they have some great offers on walking boots etc a little 5 mile walk will not harm you

[dink 10]

i work in well below minumim temperatures. i wear thermals 2 t shirts long sleeved 2 fleeces body warmer and a hat. gaffer dosnt care one jot. cant do anything about it no one to back us up. got to work this morning but left early due to bad weather we wont be getting paid. i have to use car to take husband who has walking difficulties.

 

Get onto the health and Safety executive they WILL back you up IF they are in the wrong.

[dink 10]

There are definitely requirements outside that. Bar staff, if having to work late so they miss their transport are legally required to be offered some method of getting home other than walking. A taxi or a lift being the normal options. I don't know if that really applies in the snow though.

 

So cyclone, i run the last bus into the garage their are no more buses, or public transport, your telling me my boss, has to get me a taxi or a lift home???

[Sketty24 10]

I work in Doncaster and travel by train everyday, it's about 25 miles from my house. I arrived at 8:30am to a blizzard which never stopped. My finish time is 5:30pm and the boss initially refused to let us go. Eventually, he did so at 3:30pm, because people were starting to get rather annoyed with his attitude.

 

Rather frustrating, but thankfully he did let us leave eventually. He's based on Lincoln though, which doesn't have the struggle of hills and snows like we do, so he never understands our predicament!

 

It was a bad struggle (a colleague was nice enough to drive me to Sheffield train station,) but after that, my only way home was part-way by tram. As for the rest of the way, well, the buses were off! Had he let us leave at a reasonable time, I might've got home a lot smoother.

[OlDog 10]

F.A.O all the people completely missing the point -

 

I wasn't trying to start a debate on weather (sic) my work ethic was up to scratch. If it was safe or unsafe of me to walk home in the snow in the dark during the current weather (sic -geddit? lol) conditions, as many of you seem to think it was completely pathetic of me to even be considering this.

I wasn't making a point about the transport infrastructure, the shoddy state of public transport or the fact that the whole of S Yorks grinds to a halt when it snows.

I don't want to enter into debate about job satisfaction, or the ethics of working practice and I'm sure the world would be a marvelous place if we all told our boss to stuff it and became self employed, I'm certain we would all live happily ever after...

 

All I wanted to know is (and like it or not workers do have rights, its called employment law) whether an employer has a legal or ethical responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of their employee's during severe (and I'm sure you can all take me apart for using this word, but it's exactly what the BBC and Sky are calling it) weather conditions?

Edited January 5, 2010 by OlDog
grammer

[Bruno 10]

Well to a business you taking time off, or going early could cost that company thousands, which could have a knock on effect to other businesses your company deals with.

 

I bet todays weather has given our ecconomy a big knock, whose to blame? my opinion our council for not using a correct grit/salt

[Nobodys Hero 10]

Our gaffer must have attended the "Sherlock Holmes School of Observation" at some point in his career. He told us that our car park was a "slip hazard", obviously concerned for our safety!!

[Tony 10]

If it was safe or unsafe of me to walk home in the snow in the dark during the current weather (sic -geddit? lol) conditions, as many of you seem to think it was completely pathetic of me to even be considering this.

 

You seem to have managed just fine somehow.

[ShannonC 10]

I work for possibly the worst company ever, (I won't mention the name, but I will say Richard Hammond and Take That are on the payroll ), so it really doesn't surprise me that they kept staff at work til closing. They were the only shop in the area where I live that DIDN'T close when Sheffield FLOODED last year!

 

But yes, if the world was just, companies would have a legal responsibility to their staff.

 

But it isn't, so they don't.

[Grandad.Malky 11]

All I wanted to know is (and like it or not workers do have rights, its called employment law) whether an employer has a legal or ethical responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of their employee's during severe (and I'm sure you can all take me apart for using this word, but it's exactly what the BBC and Sky are calling it) weather conditions?

 

Legal ……… I doubt it.

 

Ethical…….. I suppose that depends on your employer.

[truman 10]

I work for the emergency services. No chance of 'gettin off early' for me friends

 

I don't work for the emergency services and I didn't get away early either...

[OlDog 10]

You seem to have managed just fine somehow.

 

Why can you see into my house????

 

How on earth do you know I'm at home