How cold does it have to get in order to be sent home?
There isn’t a set temperature where employers have to send their employees home because it’s too cold.
And since October 2012, there’s no minimum temperatures in English schools, either.
The School Premises (England) Regulations 2012 don’t specify a safe classroom temperature, although the National Education Union advises a minimum of 18C.
In the workplace, it’s the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the workplace has additional heating if the temperatures do get too cold.
Employers are recommended to include flexible working hours or rotas to help reduce the effects of a cold snap – but they don’t have to.
Kate Palmer, head of advisory at employment law consultancy Peninsula, told The Sun an employer has no obligation to pay an employee if they fail to turn up for work because:
- The weather is bad
- Public transport is not running
- They miss hours because they turned up late
Plus, employees do not have a legal right to be paid in the event they take an emergency day off with their children.
