Storms, frost, snow, cloudbursts and heatwaves. Weather conditions can affect your ability to perform your work tasks and work with the necessary tools and materials. In this case, the employer can choose to send the employee home - so called “weather cancellation”. But what rules apply in such cases? Find out here.
“Inclement weather” is the term for the situation where the weather prevents an employee from carrying out their normal work. If the employer cannot assign the employee other work, they can stop work and send the employee home - provided this is agreed in the employee's employment contract or collective agreement.
Repatriation in the collective agreement
Collective labour agreements vary, and not all of them allow the employer to send an employee home without notice. Similarly, some collective agreements may require the employee to return to the employer as soon as the bad weather ends and is no longer an obstacle to work.
Therefore, both employees and employers should always refer to the collective labour agreement if the weather will affect whether work can be performed.
Repatriation in the contract
If the employee's contract includes an agreement about being sent home due to bad weather, it must refer to a specific collective agreement, otherwise the employee cannot receive unemployment benefits.
Entitlement to unemployment benefits
If you are sent home due to bad weather - and your collective agreement allows it - you are entitled to G-days with the option of half days and a maximum of two days at a time. After that, unemployment benefits take over and you have to register as unemployed with the job centre - if you want to and there is no prospect of returning to full-time work, for example. Of course, you must fulfil the requirements to receive unemployment benefits.
If an employee is sent home for 4 hours or less, half a G-day must be paid for. The following daily allowance rate applies in 2024:
Easily manage weather and other G-d days
Many of Intempus’ customers work outdoors, which means their work opportunities can be limited by wind and weather. With an easy-to-use time tracking system from Intempus, employers can easily keep track of employees, their hours and the projects they are working on or have been sent home from due to e.g. weather. You are welcome to contact us at +45 26390400 for more information on how exactly we can help you and your organisation. We are also happy to provide a free and non-binding demo of the system, so you can get a feel for how we can make administration easier for you:
