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02nd Mar 2018

This goes out to anyone who opened their door this morning to a MASSIVE snow drift

Tony Cuddihy

Beast

This is absolutely staggering.

If Dublin has avoided a lot of the snowfall that has affected the rest of the country in recent years, anyone living in the Irish capital is getting it back tenfold over the last 36 hours (and counting).

In Citywest, Dublin North West TD Noel Rock tweeted this image of a front door of a house owned by Niamh McPeake on Friday morning.

The snow is piled so high that Niamh and her partner are unable to see the front door of the house opposite them, and you can probably be sure there’s a car or two hidden under all that sneachta.

No work for them today, and for anyone else wondering if they’ll get paid during the Beast from the East’s reign of terror, this might come in handy.

Employment law expert, Martina McAuley, from HR Team explains the choices available to employers.

“There is no obligation on employers to pay employees who don’t show up for work because of extreme weather conditions,” she said.

“However, many employers do include provision in their contracts of employment for payment to be made in situations like we experienced today across Ireland.

“As the weather conditions are outside employees’ control, employers may decide to pay for missed days or hours, in order to retain talent and ensure morale is not affected. After all, this sort of situation is not a regular occurrence.

“So, while there is no legislation surrounding this topic, employers would be best advised look at the bigger picture. There is also the option of asking staff to make up the time at a later date or suggest it is taken as holiday time.

“It’s very much like sick pay in that it depends how it is dealt with in the contract of employment,” she added.

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Topics:

Storm Emma