Blocked roads, cancelled services and traffic delays. A snowstorm can make it impossible for employees to get to work on time – but not every situation means a pay claim. A summary of the basic rights and obligations of employees and employers, clearly and without myths.
Snow, impassable roads or a sudden collapse of public transport can make it objectively impossible for an employee to get to work on time – or at all. From an employment law point of view, this is usually a so-called ‘obstacle to work’ on the part of the employee. The Labour Code and the related implementing regulations provide for such situations, but at the same time set quite strict conditions.
The crucial point is whether the interruption is unforeseeable. If the employee could not reasonably have expected not to be able to get to work and at the same time tried to resolve the situation – for example, by using another connection or other reasonable means of transport – he or she is entitled to an excused absence. In such a case, the employer is obliged to grant leave of absence for the necessary period of time.
Conversely, any absence caused by snow cannot be automatically excused. If the situation was known in advance (e.g. a long-noticed calamity, closures, closures) and the employee did not adjust his/her journey, the employer may conclude that the conditions of the obstacle are not met. Each case must be assessed individually, taking into account the specific circumstances.
Are you wondering what your employer‘s obligations to you are? What criteria must your working conditions meet, what do you have to be paid for, and what about holidays? And conversely, what rights does your employer have against you? The answer to these questions can be found in our article.
It is a common misconception that if an employee does not get to work because of snow, he or she is automatically entitled to wage compensation. In fact, the opposite is true. Unforeseen interruptions in transportation are leave without pay, even when the absence is properly excused.
The legislation is based on the fact that transport to work is generally a risk on the part of the employee. Therefore, the employer is not liable if the employee was unable to attend work because of the weather or the collapse of the transport infrastructure, provided that the workplace itself is operational. The exceptions are very narrow and concern, for example, severely disabled employees for whom weather conditions make transport by non-motorised means impossible.
However, the employee may agree other arrangements with the employer – typically to make up missed time or to use leave. Such an agreement must be voluntary; the employer cannot unilaterally decide that the absence will “automatically” be covered by leave or that it will be an unexcused absence if the conditions of the impediment are met.
Are you wondering what your employer‘s obligations to you are? What criteria must your working conditions meet, what do you have to be paid for, and what about holidays? And conversely, what rights does your employer have against you? The answer to these questions can be found in our article.
Unpredictability is a key concept in assessing absenteeism due to a snow calamity. The law only protects an employee in situations where he or she could not have reasonably foreseen that he or she would be absent from work and could not have prevented it even with reasonable efforts.
If the traffic complication is known in advance – for example, an announced closure, a long-standing road closure or recurring problems in the area – the employee is expected to make adjustments to his or her travel arrangements. In such cases, the absence may no longer be considered an obstacle to work and may be treated as unexcused. On the other hand, a snow calamity, although often predicted by meteorologists in general terms, is of a different nature in terms of employment law.
The weather forecast does not, as a rule, make it possible to predict with sufficient certainty which specific roads will be impassable, the extent of the traffic collapse, which services will be cancelled and which will be delayed. Thus, although an employee may know that it is going to snow, he or she cannot objectively assess in advance whether or how he or she will get to work. It is this uncertainty as to the specific impact that is the reason why a snowstorm is generally not considered to be a foreseeable traffic complication within the meaning of employment law.
The decisive factor is therefore not the mere existence of a weather warning, but the actual and sudden impact on traffic at a given place and time. If the employee only discovers on the day of work that traffic is not working or is substantially restricted and there is no reasonable alternative, such a situation may be considered an unforeseen interruption of traffic, giving rise to an excused absence from work.
The reasonableness of an alternative solution shall always be assessed on an individual basis. An employee cannot be required to use a financially prohibitive solution (e.g. a long distance taxi service) but instead it may be reasonable to expect a shorter walking commute or to use another available service. The employer may require the employee to substantiate the existence of the impediment – for example, by providing information on non-functional transport. These facts then play a significant role in assessing the legitimacy of the absence.
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