Paul DeCamp, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC office, was quoted in the Reading Eagle, in “Hard Weather Brings Hard Decisions,” by Evan Jones. (Read the full version - subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
Things appeared to be dire Tuesday night when the weather prognosticators were saying the Reading area could get up to 18 inches of snowfall as yet another nor’easter made its way up the East Coast.
Schools had already canceled classes for Wednesday when business owners were faced with a decision: stay open or close the next day?
It’s not an easy decision, considering a missed day could be costly to a company’s bottom line. While the big boys such as Walmart and Target can absorb the losses, the small business owner has little room for error. …
The Society of Human Resources Management advises businesses to be flexible.
“It is important for an employer to use common sense in these circumstances, based on a realistic assessment of the hazards an employee would have faced in getting to or from work,” Paul DeCamp, an attorney and former administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division told SHRM. “It is not usually worthwhile in the long run to come down hard on an employee for refusing to drive on icy roads, or during heavy snowfall with limited visibility and reports of numerous traffic accidents, or when there are severe service disruptions on public transportation.”
People
- Member of the Firm