Weather-related absenteeism has brought fresh employment law headaches to firms struggling with redundancies and contract re-negotiations.

Roger Byard, employment head at Kent firm Cripps Harries Hall, said where there is no good reason for missing work, managers should interview the individual and either put it down as unauthorised and unpaid absence or begin a disciplinary procedure. ‘Firm, but fair,’ he said. ‘Why should one individual get a day off while his colleagues struggle into work and cover for him?’

However Julie Morris, employment partner at national firm Russell Jones & Walker, warned against asking staff to disregard official advice to travel only if essential. ‘Is your journey to work essential? Check with the partner in charge of your department. If he or she insists you come in, you are entitled to disobey if it is clearly too dangerous. But if you soldier on and break a leg, then things get complicated. What caused your injury – the partner’s instruction, the local authority’s failure to grit the road, or your clumsiness?’

Morris said most firms would expect staff to take ‘a bad weather day’ as unpaid or annual leave. ‘The exception is when you have to make emergency arrangements for childcare – like when heavy snowfall closes down the schools. Then you are entitled to the day off.’