Brrrr!  It’s never too early to talk about snow days, especially when the Northeast gets pounded with snow in late October!  For all our Northeastern and climate challenged members and followers, here’s a brief guide to paying your employees when you have to close the office due to inclement weather or power outages.

Non-Exempt Employees:  Non-exempt employees do not have to be paid for office closures, as long as you notify them in advance of reporting for duty.  In some states, however, once an employee reports to work, if they are then sent home, they must be paid for a minimum amount of hours as “report-in pay.”

Report-in Pay states (call for details):    CA, CO, DC, KS, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NY, RI

Exempt Employees:  Exempt employees are a bit trickier. Here are the rules:

Salaried exempt employees who are out for a full day or more due to office closures must be paid the same salary as long as the office is closed for less than a full week.  However, exempt employees can be required to use any paid time off or vacation available for these days off.

If the office is closed for a full week due to an emergency such as power outage, you can prorate or deduct pay for the entire week not worked.

Practice Tip:

Be sure to create a record of your efforts to notify employees of the office closure and that they should not report to work.  If you use email, you may also want to follow it with a phone call and make a record because many employees may not have internet or power at their homes.  Your obligation is to make reasonable efforts to prevent them from wasting a trip to work.

Questions on this or other employer issues?

Call 866.414.6056

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