Stay Home During Bad Weather

We've had some interesting weather in southwestern British Columbia over the last few days! It's included some less than ideal driving conditions due to ice, snow and rain, often in combination. A common bit of advice heard in the media is "if you don't have to travel, stay home!" Does anyone heed this advice?

Losing a Day's Pay or Employment

For most of us, the only way to get where we need to go in a day is to drive and probably what we see as the biggest necessity is the need to drive to work. If you look out the window, decide to stay home and call your employer it will probably cost a day without pay or a day of vacation. For those workers not so fortunate, it could mean the loss of a job.

B.C. Employment Standards

I called the Employment Standards Branch and Worksafe BC to see if there were any job protections for employees who decided to stay home and did not show up for work as expected. I was told that the employer could fire an employee at any time for any reason.

Unless the worker is part of a union and there was something contained in the collective agreement, you were on your own for any job consequences stemming from your decision.

Road Safety at Work

Road Safety at Work responded to my query with the following:

Regardless of where they are commuting to/from, if the employee deems that driving to work is unsafe, it is within their rights to refuse unsafe work. They must genuinely believe that the drive would be dangerous and present undue hazards. It would be up to the employee to clearly communicate this to the employer, thus allowing the employer the opportunity to provide a safe alternative. If a safe alternative is not possible, the employee should clearly communicate that they are exercising their right to refuse unsafe work.

Driving to work is the employer's responsibility when the driver goes directly to the work site rather than the base of operations. An example might be a health nurse who travels to the patient's home rather than the employer's premises.

I Can't Afford to Stay Home

Little wonder then that a work day with significantly bad driving conditions still sees the usual rush to get there. Everyone has balanced their safety with the need to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads and decided that they could not afford to stay home.

Being a Good Employer

If you are an employer, perhaps this would be a good time to talk about a safe commute to and from work for your employees. While a missed day of work is an inconvenience for the business, losing the employee due to a collision for any length of time could be worse.

If conditions are really bad, maybe you should call it a snow day.

Learn More

• WorkSafeBC - Refusal of Unsafe Work

Share This Article