Recently there was a severe weather alert (level 3 emergency) in the county where I work.
Company policy states that if there is a level 3 emergency declared, the day will be unpaid with no disciplinary consequences for not showing up (no point, no pay).
Because the level 3 emergency was dropped partway through the day, the company has disciplined all employees who did not come in for work saying that the 'no point, no pay' policy only applies in cases where the level 3 emergency is declared for the entire day. If there is no level 3 emergency then employees should come to work for 'business as usual'.
The concerns of the employees punished are:
- The policy as-written clearly states no punishment if you do not come in when there is a level 3 emergency
- There was absolutely no guidance in the official policy or related by any other means indicating that the policy changes mid-day if the level 3 emergency is changed
- Even if the level 3 emergency is changed mid-day, there is no way for employees to resume 'business as usual' immediately without having come in during the level 3 emergency in the first place
We would like to bring this up with management to get the points removed from our records for this event and to make the management create clearer guidelines before resorting to punishment in the future.
How can we tactfully bring this up to management to negotiate their decision?