Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Snow question

So, I wonder what others do in this situation. And, remember, I am way too nice to my staff. I am sure it snows in many parts of the country where your offices are.

So, in New England, we average about 8 to 12 snow days during the winter (that means a complete wipe out of the day during the week where we have to close). And, we know the day before.

So, the office is closed. And, I have announced it (with their urging) the day before. Currently, and for years, they get paid their full pay on those days. So, I am not seeing patients, and they get paid. Now, some would look at it like they get a day off and they aren't working, so they shouldn't get paid. I tend to look at it like they took the job with the idea that they would work five days a week, and they count on that paycheck each week. And, it is not fair to them that there is snow.

As far as when the staff is here, and the snow starts at 10 am, and by 1 pm, patients have canceled and no one is going to come in, they go home, but they are paid only for the hours worked.

What do others do?

You live in Maine, so I don't understand why anyone should stay home for snow. I live in Alaska. Sometimes we get a foot of snow overnight. They have the highway plowed, but no one's neighborhood street is plowed for at least a day or two after a big storm. Everyone still goes to work. We get a few cancellations from so and so who lives on a steep hill or something, but work goes on. The snow day would be only if the highway wasn't plowed, and that would be an extreme event.

It's just a matter of having proper snow tires, really. Many think they need AWD and trucks, but I've pushed snow with the front of my car before down the neighborhood street. My dad's had snow coming over the hood in his Crown Vic RWD.

If you look at Sweden and Norway, they almost never close schools. It's just a part of life.

Snow is the normal for winter in Montana it is just a way of life but I have noticed that if it gets minus 20 or lower, then people tend to cancel a lot more with the cold than the snow. I don't recall ever shutting down the office for a snow day/extreme cold. And I do not ever recall school closure due to snow here either.

Wow! I would think Montana would get some big snowstorms. Here, there are just days where the prediction is 12 to 18 inches of snow and 30 to 40 mph of wind gusts. Blizzard conditions. This is correct about 75% of the time. Snow plows can barely keep up on the roads, and our snow plow guy cannot clear the parking lot fast enough. I know I will still come in to get work done and end up having to either be pulled out by a tow truck and four-wheel drive.

The patients don't cancel the day of the storm. They cancel or reschedule the day before. There will be maybe two left in the AM.

Snow. What's that?

We have hurricane days. The weather-casters start a crescendo of warnings and 24 hour reporting a week or more before the storm is due in our area. Patients start rescheduling to have time to form up in gas lines and the like. This September, Dorian devastated the Bahamas and we were supposed to feel the effects Monday Tuesday Wednesday. So we closed. Dorian veered away and hit the Carolinas. We had suntan weather.

No way to win the weather game.

Yes, I lived in Jacksonville. Grew up there. That is the city where I made my now INFAMOUSLY stupid decision to go to medical school.

But, you are the perfect one to answer the question. And, it is very similar because not only will you not have patients not show up, but your staff would have balked at coming in the day they were told to evacuate or at least stay inside.

So, the big question is, given it is not their fault, and there is some type of agreement that they will work so many hours a week (let's say 40), do you pay them? I mean what if you have to close for three days. And, they are working paycheck to paycheck?
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I believe you should have not closed down. Didn't you hear that it was supposed to hit Alabama?

You are right, I could not tell them to come in when other businesses are being told to close, and the state says to stay off the roads. From now on, I told them I would call the day of the storm coming ashore and tell them whether to show up. But the patients still cancel.

But....it is always the storm of the century.

But, all that doesn't matter. The issue is there are just days in the winter that the forecast is so bad that most everything closes. And, we do get some storms where the snow plow guy can't keep the parking lot clear. People cancel the day before. And, the staff just isn't going to come in with a blizzard forecast. I mean you think of Alaska, and you think of 10 feet of snow. I am sometimes surprised that people freak out so much, but they do.

So, that brings us back to the main question. If the office has to close (making the entire staff come in to clean the office isn't going to happen), do you pay them?

average snowfall Brewer Maine is 67 inches, Great Falls Montana 58 inches, not a huge difference. I have never had the issue you describe in 26 years of practice, but if they show up to work and the office is open pay them. if not don't pay them. Otherwise I think you will create a monster so to speak, working but not working, and getting paid, then who decides if the office is open or not?

It is actually worse. They don't even come to the office. Because they can't get there or there is no reason for them to come in.

I would agree with Jimmie. If they don't come, don't pay them. I do make exceptions to this rule if I cancel and it's going to be extended (2-3) days rather than one day.

When we are not seeing patients, they are supposed to do other things, such as calling people for annual check ups, checking on billing and putting vaccines in the state database. So if they don't show up no pay. If I cancel for an extended period, I may split the difference since all my staff is living on a thread.

No pay for weather closures, however, they are welcome to use sick or vacation pay if they wish.

Thanks for the replies.

If we close for weather, (mostly tornadoes or threats thereof here in Oklahoma), my employees, who are all hourly, can use PDO hours or leave w/o pay. I would be afraid that paying them to not work would incentivize them to stay home

I agree. To be clear though, they are not paid just for deciding to stay home. This is when it is, say a Tuesday at 3 pm, and the forecast for tomorrow is 8 to 12 inches of blizzard-like conditions and the snow is already falling, that I as the only one who can decide this says, "We will not be open tomorrow. Do not come in."

I guess one could start off in the beginning saying that snow days are just part of the job.

Bert,
I got this email from our payroll company and thought of you.
Merry Christmas...

"The Rules for Paying Employees During Bad Weather"

The article covers an assortment of situations ... including:

Q: What about exempt employees? Do I have to pay them when we close because of the weather?
A: Exempt employees must generally receive their full salary in any workweek in which they perform work, regardless of the number of hours worked. Therefore, if your company closes for less than a full workweek due to inclement weather, you must generally pay an exempt employee their full salary, as long as the employee worked any part of the workweek.

Wow. That is both informative and confusing. What is the difference between a non-exempt employee and an exempt employee. In Maine we have "at will" employees.

Perhaps I confused you by quoting the exempt employee part of the provision.
Exempt vs non-exempt I believe is largely defined by federal law. It describes whether you are obligated to pay them over-time or not, based on a couple of factors.
In general, to be considered an “exempt” employee, you must be paid by salary (not hourly) and must perform executive, administrative, or professional duties.

My underlying point is that the answer to some of your questions are defined by law.

Thanks. Since all of my employees are non-salaried, I will take it that they are non-exempt or go by what is written pertaining to them. Is this Federal Law or State Law?

Merry Christmas.

Maine is like Arizona in that an employer can fire an employee at any time without giving a cause or reason. The exception is if the employee is a member of a union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. I'm pretty sure that exempt (salaried) and nonexempt (hourly) are defined primarily by Federal Law. Several years ago the Obama administration proposed raising the Exempt category baseline wage to $47,000 a year since many retail workers were being classified as Exempt/salaried despite barely making over the minimum wage (which by the way is governed by both state and federal law). Bert, I think it is really nice that you pay your employees on snow days. I'm sure it helps build loyalty.