A YORK law firm has revealed businesses do not usually need to pay employees when travel problems, such as snow, stop them getting to work.

Tom Watkins, of Dickinson Dees, of Bishopthorpe Road, said if a worker does not turn up for their job, they have no right to be paid.

He said: “The law has provided for employees to be paid if the reason they cannot attend is because they are taking holidays or off sick and most employers offer more than the statutory minimum holidays and sick pay.

But travel problems are a different matter and there is no obligation on an employer to pay unless the contract obliges them to, which is unlikely.”

He said, however, that parents of children whose schools are closed are generally protected.

He said it was important to adopt a consistent approach through a severe weather policy, which could also include home-working.