To ask whether snow day = fully paid day off for you?

[temporarynamenothingtoseehere]

I am following a row on Twitter with a lot of high-profile teachers getting very cross indeed that they are expected either to use snow days for PPA (planning and assessment admin) or lose a day's pay.

I do understand that losing a day's pay is horrible if your place of work is closed and you don't have the choice of whether or not to work.

However, I'm surprised by the expectation that professional adults should expect a fully paid day off with no work when it snows. I've never worked anywhere where that was the case - you don't come in if it's dangerous to do so, but you either work from home or lose a day's pay.

AIBU to think that's the norm?

Teachers are so overworked that surely they need the day for planning and marking etc...

On reflection, I'm not actually sure it works (in the case of schools) to say 'workplace closed = paid day off, unable to get in = no pay'. Schools usually seem to close because they can't get enough staff in. In state schools, the children are likely to be mostly local enough to walk and school would go ahead if the teachers could get in. So it's a bit chicken and egg. Do you pay those who caused the closure as well as those who would have come in or do you pay nobody? And how do you work out who's in which camp? And how do you determine whether it's bad luck of geography or genuinely poor driving skills or just being unwilling to try? It would be a minefield. Easier to just pay everyone.

@fitbitfanclub

Yeah, I think I'll ignore any poster who expresses dodgy recollections in such emphatic terms.

And yet you still read my post and responded to me!

Awwww, bless.......

My office was closed on Monday. I went back home - it's only a 5 minute walk so no big deal - and did some work at home. I work flexible hours and am paid by the hour so I'll just put that in. I don't know how it'll be handled for the full-time staff though.

Schools usually seem to close because they can't get enough staff in
Yes, I think that is the general idea although the decision has always been made to close at 6am/7am by the head/site manager before having spoken to any teachers?!

To the poster saying Schools never closed because of the snow when they were young: mine closed for a whole week in January 1987 because of feet of snow!

I also said that *grandma^ . It was ignored but it was The Big Freeze. My exams were delayed so I had lots of revision time!

Round here, all the schools closed because the bus companies weren't running buses. No idea to be honest of the drivers were paid. I hope they were.

If I don't work I don't get paid.. Iv lost money over the last two days as I had to pay for childcare plus had to cancel a couple of clients as sitter can only have at a certain time however I still managed to get into work. If there's a problem with the school eg heating pipes then I get them been shut but I can't get my breath that everything has come to a standstill because of the snow

If my team can work from home and aren't responsible for young kids then they'll be paid as normal.

For others it is annual leave or unpaid leave.

I took annual leave, I still worked but I had my kids and wasn't going to feel guilty about a bit of sledging and spending some of the day with them too

Not paid. If they choose to close anyway which is one day a year (Christmas) then we take it as a day off or holiday.
This is the first company I've ever worked for with that rule. Every day is paid the same. So Boxing Day for example is just a regular day.
Sick pay is very tight, doesn't cover like the financial year but from the first day of sickness. So in effect you could have not taken a sick day for 5 years then off for a week. That's it for a year (or until your next time of being unpaid).
They like to think they are a great company to work for but stuff like that make them not competitive. Hours of overtime unpaid. When I was discussing my work life balance with a friend (sahm) she was saying oh no, don't do it...er do you fancy paying my mortgage too then?!
We all have some elements to our work that piss us off surely?

We we were closed due to snow we'd have to make our way to an office that was open. If we didn't we'd lose pay. We wouldn't be paid for sitting at home.

I wouldn't be bothered about losing ppa for snow days as I could get the work done at home anyway. I used to lose regular ppa as my day was Monday so bank holidays insets etc were always on my day. I did use to seethe quietly as everyone else still got theirs!!
Oh and we can't go to the nearest school as our DBS would have to be checked along with two forms of id and our teaching qualification. Then we would have to be found something to do, be shown the buildings etc. More hassle than it is worth.

I think if a workplace chooses to close because of weather then staff should be paid. It's not then unreasonable for an employer to expect said staff to do what work they can, from home.

I work in the NHS and we're expected to get in whatever the weather, transport strikes, etc (my worst days have been 6 hour round journeys, stuck overnight, double shifts). I trudged past 4 shut schools yesterday on my walk to the station. Interestingly all the independent schools in the area were open...

That is because parents ask for money back if a school closes. I am sure if a bus had overturned en route to school , there would be many threads about endangering schoolchildren.

My DH works in an independent school : it was closed.

Nhs we all got into work... one colleague walking 8 miles in the snow (kind person gave her a lift back after work). Our local selling site was amazing with people with 4x4s offering to take nhs staff to work. Hospital had put a call out out. The response was amazing. Monday...not many patients made it into my clinic but had a full list bar one person yesterday.

We have several options: go to the organisation's nearest workplace to home, and either work from there or get sent home, work from home, take annual leave, or lose a day's pay.

In practice, we nearly always work from home as we're always so behind it's a welcome chance to catch up, and clients don't stop ringing us just because of a foot of snow.

Otoh, we stop doing client visits when snow is forecast. One year, a colleague set off to do a rural visit, the snow came down thick and fast, and a neighbouring farmer had to to tow her to the main road as there was no way her car was going to make it. When she got near home, she had to walk the last mile as the hill up to her house hadn't been gritted. She was not a happy bunny!

If the office is closed and you can't get to any other workplace, you get a free day off, although most of us work from home. As the office is only a mile from my house, I can always get in on foot.

In 2009, I wrapped up warm, put my Yaktrax snow grippers over my walking boots, grabbed my hiking pole and set off looking like an arctic explorer. I was almost there when my work mobile pinged in my pocket. It was a text informing me that the office was closed because the paths and car park were so dangerously icy, and I had to go all the way home again. I was bloody pissed off they hadn't sent it earlier!

I've never had money back for an independent school being closed.

You may not be the type to ask alexander. I do know this is why private schools tend to try their hardest to stay open though!

Yes, I think that is the general idea although the decision has always been made to close at 6am/7am by the head/site manager before having spoken to any teachers?!

They know where the teachers live so they can assess how bad the transport is likely to be for them.

That's how it works here (Maine) where we get lots of snow. They decide around 4-5am if school will open. We get approx 5 snow days per year.

I've always been paid here for snow days but have always tried to work from home anyway.