DILEMMA OF THE MONTH
Do I Need to Pay Employees When the Power Goes Out ?
BY Suzanne Lucas
ILLUSTRATION : JOHN CHASE
I ' m running into a weird problem with employees working from home : power and internet outages . California will undoubtedly have rolling blackouts again , plus unexpected outages . My employees do customer service over the phone . They cannot work without power and the internet . Do I have to pay them when the power goes out ? Can I make them verify that their internet is out ? Can I require them to tether their computers to their phones if their internet goes out ?
Let ’ s start with the most straightforward question first : Can you require them to use their personal phones if their internet goes out ? The answer is yes , if you are paying for their phones . California requires that businesses pay all business expenses . You can ’ t pass it on to the employee . So if you want to go this route , you ’ ll need to pay for their cell phones — at least a prorated amount for the time they use them .
The second most straightforward question is , can you require them to verify their internet or power outage ? Yes , but do you want to ? You know power goes out regularly , and I promise , if they lie about this , their performance issues will show up in other ways . Focus on performance .
California has a blackout problem , and even with new plans in place to reduce blackouts , you can guarantee the power will be going off at some point . You are wise to think about this problem before summer temperatures rise or fire season starts . Here ’ s what you need to know .
24 comstocksmag . com | June 2022