After four days of snow, yesterday I decided that I’d had enough of the stuff. So I personally have stopped the snow. Yes – me. I did it. I ordered a sledge from eBay last night, and since I clicked on the “Buy It Now”, not a single flake of snow has fallen.
Mind you, it’s still rather icy outside. Icy on the pavements – the roads are now pretty much clear. Or, that is the middle of the roads are clear. I skidded a bit whilst parking this evening, and so decided to go out with a shovel and break up the ice I’ve parked on. After all, there’s quite a river of water running down the guttering. I’ve smashed up the ice around my car, and if the flow of meltwater continues, in the morning, driving off should be a tad easier than parking was.
I was tempted to have a go at shifting the ice on the pavement outside my house, but in the end the spectre of liability put me off doing so. I contented myself with breaking up the ice on the front garden path leading to the front door. Apparently under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 I am obliged to attempt to keep my property free of ice. There are those who would argue that it is shame that the council doesn’t meet their legal obligations in shifting the ice, but there’s so much of it, and only so many council operatives.
And as the snow recedes into slush, so the arguing starts. Reading the news, I see that there are those who didn’t get to their various places of work last week for all sorts of reasons. Some really couldn’t get to work as buses and trains were cancelled. Some really couldn’t get to work as roads were impassable. And some saw the snow as being reason enough to stay at home. (After all, that’s about the only thing many people would seem to have learned from their time at school.)
And what penalties are there for who didn’t turn up at work? It would seem that employment law forbids them being deducted a day’s leave or a day’s wages. So effectively they’ve acquired extra leave. Hmm…. One of our people was snow-bound for three days last week. I think I should be given three days extra holiday….
The question of whether or not you are legally obliged to be paid if you don't get into work all seems to hinge on your contract of employment and whether you contact your employer or not.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you I think all off us who battled into work should get extra holidays in line with thoses who stayed at home, and I would go further, I feel I am due a tax rebate for the days that we had to home educate my daughter because the school was closed.
Something that really got my goat on the news yesterday what the phrase 'kept at home' when referring to children being off school due to closure. The inference of the phrase is that as parents we were responsible for our children not attending the school, when it was actually down to the School being worried about getting a bad league table rating due to poor attendance figures had they opened.