Your Survival Blog
Monday, September 24, 2007
You are prepared, but what about your business?
This September marked the second anniversary of Hurricane Rita's attack on coastal parishes of southwest Louisiana causing $11.3 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast. Companies dealt with unprecedented human resources issues during Rita and Katrina, with employees scattered along evacuation routes and temporarily living in company offices. A major hurricane can turn an entire city upside down, but a storm does not have to be a Category 5 to uproot a business and its employees. Here are some important business preparedness questions employees need to address with their company, as well as things business owners need to think about when crafting guidelines for operating in a disaster's aftermath.By David Barron
Your Survival Workplace Preparedness Expert
Epstein Becker Green Wickliff & Hall, P.C.
A major hurricane can turn an entire city upside down. With changes in weather patterns as a result of global warming, cities that may not have needed to prepare for natural disasters in the past now find themselves facing complete devastation. Companies dealt with unprecedented human resources issues during Rita and Katrina, with employees scattered along evacuation routes, even temporarily living in company offices.
In the aftermath of those two high-profile hurricanes, businesses learned valuable lessons from which the prudent can profit by drafting a plan for dealing with labor issues during the next catastrophic storm. The key is adopting policies and procedures beforehand that will minimize confusion in a few key areas.
Requiring employees to work during a hurricane
Every employee’s first instinct in a hurricane will be to protect his or her family and property. However, each business must have a critical group of employees on the job during an emergency to protect the company’s assets. Whether it is an IT Manager charged with guarding the safety of the company’s data, or a maintenance supervisor responsible for ensuring that dangerous chemicals don’t explode or leak, most businesses will need someone on the scene during a storm.
It is therefore important for each company to identify critical personnel and explain the company’s expectations in the event of a hurricane. For instance, most states prohibit a company from retaliating against an employee who is absent from work because he or she obeys an evacuation order. Some states, like Texas, have exceptions if the employee is providing emergency services or is “a person necessary to provide for the safety and well being of the general public.” However, a company can always provide incentives or “hazard pay” for those willing to risk the storm.
Persons necessary to provide for the general public could mean more than simply firemen and policemen, and could reasonably include gas station attendants and others. However, an employee who is required to work during an evacuation should be provided adequate emergency shelter by their employer.
Pay issues
A hurricane or other natural disaster inevitably throws normal business operations off balance and causes employees to work different schedules than normal. These situations can often raise questions concerning payment.
For non-exempt employees, employers must pay for all hours worked, and must pay overtime for any work over 40 hours in a work week. If an hourly employee does not work because of a hurricane-related absence, there is no requirement to pay that employee.
Conversely, if an hourly employee remains on the premises during a storm to watch over critical equipment, that employee must be compensated even if he or she spends part of the time sleeping or watching the local weatherman chart the hurricane’s path on television. Any work that benefits an employer is compensable, so an employee who decides to pitch in with hurricane preparations or cleanup must be paid.
For exempt employees, the rules are different. They cannot be docked for weather related absences where offices are closed. Salaried employees may, however, be required to work extra time during an emergency without any entitlement to additional compensation.
Communication of expectations
The day before a hurricane hits town is not the best time to communicate your business plan for maintaining operations during the storm. Employees deserve advance notice of what will be expected of them during a crisis, and what plans they should make to meet both their employer’s expectations and the needs of their family.
Accordingly, if your business does not already have a plan in place to deal with the operational and human resource issues that may arise in the event of a hurricane, you are already behind. Making quick decisions in the heat-of-the moment is a recipe for disaster from both an operational and morale standpoint. There is nothing worse than having employees band together against the company’s orders during a time of crisis, when both company and employees should instead be pulling together.
Give careful thought to your company’s staffing needs during a hurricane to ensure that your employees know what is expected of them. Putting such a plan in place now, and making it well known, will allow you to rest easy during the next storm.
Crisis does not have to lead to panic. Disaster cannot be prevented, but it can be minimized. If people know what is expected of them, and they know what their rights and obligations will be during the course of a storm, they will weather even the most fearsome tempest with real calm and poise, and it will be exponentially easier to rebuild and to reestablish normal working conditions during the recovery and rebuilding process.
DAVID L. BARRON, is a Member of the Firm in the Labor and Employment practice of Epstein Becker Green Wickliff & Hall P.C. He is Board Certified in Labor and Employment law, and focuses on providing practical solutions for clients’ problems while aggressively representing their interests. Mr. Barron frequently speaks on employment-related topics, and has published numerous articles on topics such as religion in the workplace, workplace violence, tattoos, piercings and other dress code issues, wage and hour litigation, HR Disaster survival guides, keeping politics and religion out of the workplace, and employee benefits issues.
Posted by Saba on 09/24 at 02:26 PM(2) Comments • Permalink