Employees affected by the riots

Damaged premises and employees unable to make it into work, after several nights of rioting, are raising problems for employers across the country.

Crime scenes and damaged property in the affected areas have prevented some businesses from opening and some staff have struggled to get to work with transport disruption and safety fears.

Unless there is a specific clause in an employee’s contract stating that employees will lose a day’s pay if they cannot get into work because of reasons beyond their control or that the employee is paid according to actual units of work done, employers may have to pay those absent from work because the business is closed due to the riots.

A potential liability may arise if employers pressurise employees to travel into work when it is dangerous for them to do so, or if the workplace itself exposes them to risk or injury.

If your workplace is open but employees cannot get to work, you may also consider whether to allow flexible working or other alternatives, as would be the case in extreme weather conditions for example:

• taking lieu time for the day/s or shift/s lost; or
• taking annual leave for the day(s) lost. In some circumstances when staff have exhausted annual leave for the current year, line managers can agree for annual leave to be taken from following year’s entitlement; or
• working back the lost time, after prior agreement with their line manager or another appropriate manager.

If your premises are damaged and you cannot operate normally, you could ask employees to perform work outside their regular duties, for example cleaning, depending on the employment contract. If the workplace is shut completely, then your employees should be paid unless you have a lay-off clause.

Some employers may also face the dilemma of how to deal with staff who have been involved in criminal activity during the riots.  An employer may be able to invoke the disciplinary procedure if an employee has been involved in or is being investigated for their involvement in the riots, depending on the connection of the crime to the employee’s work.