Employees stranded abroad: Five issues for employers

Author: Stephen Simpson

The cancellation of thousands of flights and the closure of airspace in the Middle East are having an impact on the workplace, particularly when employees are left stranded or their holiday plans are affected. How should employers tackle workplace issues arising from the flight disruptions caused by the US and Israel's war with Iran?

1. Employees stranded because of flight cancellations

As a general rule, employees who have an unplanned absence when they are expected to be at work are not automatically entitled to be paid.

This is because the onus is on employees to get to work and the obligation to pay them under their contracts of employment arises only where they are ready, willing and available for work.

If employees fail to turn up for work because of flight cancellations, the employer is under no obligation to pay them for time not worked, even though their absence was through no fault of their own.

There are a number of options open to employers to solve this problem, including asking employees if they would like to take the time they are absent as annual leave (provided the notice requirements to make workers take leave on particular dates are followed).

• Is an employer required to pay employees who arrive late or do not arrive at all due to disruptions to transport?
• Can an employer require its employees to take holiday at a particular time?

2. Employees working flexibly when stranded because of flight cancellations

If employees are unable to get to work because of flight disruptions over which they have no control, employers may wish to employ flexible working practices if the nature of their work allows it.

As it is now common for employees to have laptops with them on annual leave, one viable option may be requesting that staff work remotely.

On returning to work, shifts could be swapped or employees could agree to work extra hours to make up lost time (provided that working time rules, for example those on rest and the 48-hour working week, are observed).

• Flexible working: good practice
• Shift-swap agreement form
• Working hours policy

3. Employees putting their safety at risk to get back to work in time

It is easy to imagine a dangerous scenario after an employer adopts an overzealous approach towards an employee who is having difficulty getting back to work because of flight disruptions.

An employee stranded somewhere who is threatened with disciplinary action if they do not turn up for work on time might attempt an unconventional, possibly risky, method of returning home.

In those circumstances, the employer could be breaching its duty of care towards the employee if its approach leads to the employee putting themselves in danger.

• Employers' general health and safety duties
• Under common law, what are an employer's health and safety duties to its employees?
• Do employees themselves have any duties with regard to health and safety?

4. Employees seeking to cancel or amend holiday dates

One potential scenario is an employee who has already booked flights to the Middle East being forced to cancel or change the dates of a trip.

In these circumstances, do employers have to agree to employees' requests to cancel or change annual leave dates that have already been agreed?

Technically, employers are not obliged to agree to change booked periods of annual leave (unless employees have a contractual right to cancel leave).

However, it is good employee relations to allow leave dates to be amended where there is a valid reason and the needs of the business permit it.

The cancellation of flights is an instance where employers should be flexible when employees wish to amend leave.

• Does an employer have to agree to an employee's request to cancel a booked period of annual leave?
• Letter responding to an employee who has requested to cancel or rearrange their holiday

5. Employees' business trips affected by flight disruptions

What are employers' obligations if an employee's flights are disrupted while he or she is on a work-related trip?

The extent of an employer's responsibility for paying an employee's expenses if a business trip is extended due to flight disruption will depend on the employer's expenses policy.

Most policies will include a requirement for the expenses to be "reasonable".

It is therefore highly likely that the employer would be required to pay for the additional expense of rearranging travel and other extra expenses incurred (for example, accommodation and subsistence) until the employee is able to return home.

The employee should remain in contact with the employer to provide updates on the options for his or her travel and, where possible, obtain prior authorisation for any expenditure.

• If an employee abroad on a work-related trip is affected by travel disruption, is the employer responsible for the cost of alternative travel arrangements for the employee to return home?
• If an employee abroad on a work-related trip is unable to return to the UK due to travel disruption, is the employer responsible for paying for his or her accommodation and food?

This article was first published in 2017 and has been updated.