Snow & walking to work

Underboss
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23 Oct 2013
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Guildford
When I was in the Prison Service we had to travel to our nearest Prison (11.3 miles) or nearest Police Station (2.5 miles) for duty in the snow. Come one snowy week about 7/8 years ago I duly informed my Duty Governor that I couldn't drive to my duty Prison (27 miles), wasn't walking 11.3 to the closest one but was going to walk to the local Police Station for duty for the day.

I turned up at the front desk, said who I was and what I had been told to do all for the Duty Sgt to come out, laugh, give me a brew and send me on my way home with a letter of proof for my Governor - bloody nice of him. My colleague did the same to her local Prison, slipped on the way (whilst on duty), broke her ankle and sued for I think £10,000 in the end.

Pointless bureaucracy at it's civil service finest that.
 
Associate
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21 Nov 2007
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Fleet, Hampshire
Whilst I agree with the daftness of the comment about walking to work to put a counter point. Is it not always the responsibility of the employee to get to work? If they can't and they can't perform their role remotely then they should not expect to be paid as a matter of course. Companies I worked for before would let you take a short notice days holiday or go unpaid.

If you don't agree then where do you draw the line. What about if someone lived the other side of a range of hills which were regularly snowed on in winter. Should they get a free pass every winter?

There needs to be some give and take here but I think people should accept that any commute is done at their own risk of not being able to do it in winter.
 
Associate
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28 Jun 2004
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Sheffield
Whilst I agree with the daftness of the comment about walking to work to put a counter point. Is it not always the responsibility of the employee to get to work? If they can't and they can't perform their role remotely then they should not expect to be paid as a matter of course. Companies I worked for before would let you take a short notice days holiday or go unpaid.

If you don't agree then where do you draw the line. What about if someone lived the other side of a range of hills which were regularly snowed on in winter. Should they get a free pass every winter?

There needs to be some give and take here but I think people should accept that any commute is done at their own risk of not being able to do it in winter.

That's a fair point. It is unreasonable to force employees to walk 10 miles in the snow. It is not unreasonable to withhold salary or require holiday time to be used if the employee cannot work. There would probably be something in your contract, which would trump most other arguments (unless the contract itself is unlawful/unenforceable, which does happen from time to time).
 
Associate
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27 Aug 2003
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2,230
Whilst I agree with the daftness of the comment about walking to work to put a counter point. Is it not always the responsibility of the employee to get to work? If they can't and they can't perform their role remotely then they should not expect to be paid as a matter of course. Companies I worked for before would let you take a short notice days holiday or go unpaid.

If you don't agree then where do you draw the line. What about if someone lived the other side of a range of hills which were regularly snowed on in winter. Should they get a free pass every winter?

There needs to be some give and take here but I think people should accept that any commute is done at their own risk of not being able to do it in winter.

unpaid leave would be the honest route. Most companies will run like this.

it becomes more difficult if your job is critical. Then I would assume they have a contingency plan in place and / or on call people who can / will be able to get to work.
 
Man of Honour
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26 Dec 2003
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Shropshire
Unpaid leave or short notice day of annual leave has always been the norm where I've worked and is fine, it's not their fault you can't get to work. To be fair the OP has not said what the company would be happy to do once they turn down the option of a lovely marathon round trip in the snow.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
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12,305
Pretty much as others said.

I think i'd have laughed if i was in your shoes, and would have probably said that's likely to take 3-4 hours to walk there, so i'll leave at my usual time and be 3.5 hours late. But also i'll leave work to get home at my usual time so that means leaving 3.5 hours early. So you'll only be in for a 30 minute shift.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
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12,305
Whilst I agree with the daftness of the comment about walking to work to put a counter point. Is it not always the responsibility of the employee to get to work? If they can't and they can't perform their role remotely then they should not expect to be paid as a matter of course. Companies I worked for before would let you take a short notice days holiday or go unpaid.

If you don't agree then where do you draw the line. What about if someone lived the other side of a range of hills which were regularly snowed on in winter. Should they get a free pass every winter?

There needs to be some give and take here but I think people should accept that any commute is done at their own risk of not being able to do it in winter.

Yeah i don't think anyone is insisting the OP gets paid for effectively having the day off. I do agree with you that whilst it's not the employees fault that the weather is bad and he can't get to work, it's not the employers fault either.

Your options would usually be:
- take the day as holiday
- make the hours up on other days
- take the day as unpaid
- work from home

Making the hours up might be difficult depending on the opening hours of the business, and obviously the WFH option isn't available for everyone.
 
Soldato
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SE London Born and Bred
I walk every lunch time for just under an hour (59 mins usually :)) and walk 4.25 miles in that time, but that is doing 14 minute or so miles which is not an average walking speed and definitely not sustainable in snow and ice.
 
Associate
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Up Norf
Whilst I agree with the daftness of the comment about walking to work to put a counter point. Is it not always the responsibility of the employee to get to work? If they can't and they can't perform their role remotely then they should not expect to be paid as a matter of course. Companies I worked for before would let you take a short notice days holiday or go unpaid.

If you don't agree then where do you draw the line. What about if someone lived the other side of a range of hills which were regularly snowed on in winter. Should they get a free pass every winter?

There needs to be some give and take here but I think people should accept that any commute is done at their own risk of not being able to do it in winter.

People will accept the job knowing the commute. if you drive the 10 miles then you should always make a plan for that day when the car goes kaput.

However, if you're unable to physically get there because of a hurdle such as snow, then the employer needs to understand and offer a solution whether that be a days holiday or an unpaid day. Managers who demand the walk to work are trying to flex the little power they possess, and doing so without offering up an alternative is just **** management imo.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Apr 2007
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13,454
I really feel sad for people that work for companies like this.
If it starts snowing at our place they send you home to keep everyone safe.
If it's snowed overnight I get an email from the boss saying stay at home of the roads are bad.
Your employer surely has a duty of care that includes the commute to and from work.
 
Associate
Joined
14 Oct 2012
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1,441
When I once walked 2.5 miles in the snow to work, my bosses treated me like absolute royalty for doing that. 10 miles is just not an acceptable distance to walk in the snow.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
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Shropshire
I really feel sad for people that work for companies like this.
If it starts snowing at our place they send you home to keep everyone safe.
If it's snowed overnight I get an email from the boss saying stay at home of the roads are bad.
Your employer surely has a duty of care that includes the commute to and from work.
They need to strike a balance, as nice as it would be for all employers to say "Don't worry stay at home" most businesses wouldn't last long as their customers will still need whatever they're providing.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Nov 2007
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Fleet, Hampshire
Your employer surely has a duty of care that includes the commute to and from work.

Why would an employer have a duty of care for your commute? They have no say in where you live or how you get to work so how can they be accountable for it.

It is good that there are companies out there prepared to give employees a day off when it snows but I don't think it should be expected as a matter of course.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Nov 2005
Posts
45,169
How far does a postman walk to delivery letter post when it been snowing?
10-14 miles actually but they arent expected to walk the same distance to work and often you don't see post when it's bad.

they likely have proper snow boots unlike the OP, I had some awesome winter snow boots that had retractable metal spikes on the bottom, wouldn't slip even on ice.

when was the last time you walked in the snow the next morning anyway? usually it's not snow by then it's ice
 
Permabanned
Joined
8 Feb 2004
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4,539
Just carry out a basic risk assessment on the activity (walking to work) and send on to your employer with the recommendation to not walk to work. See if they disagree with safety paperwork.
 
Soldato
OP
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unstated.assortment.union
Must be april fools right?

It’s so unreasonable I think there must be some crossed wires somewhere!

Sadly not. Our middle management is dire.

People will accept the job knowing the commute. if you drive the 10 miles then you should always make a plan for that day when the car goes kaput.

However, if you're unable to physically get there because of a hurdle such as snow, then the employer needs to understand and offer a solution whether that be a days holiday or an unpaid day. Managers who demand the walk to work are trying to flex the little power they possess, and doing so without offering up an alternative is just **** management imo.

I have a plan, I live a 3 min walk from a bus route that gets me to work, albeit a little longer journey & if I'm one of the first services out/last in then there's a staff taxi-bus that can be booked.

However due to the snow the service bus was suspended & the taxi-bus wasn't gauranteed to run when I'd finished after midnight.
 
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