Snow-day pay a hot topic for workers

Monday's blizzard-related company shutdowns, with so many employees scheduled to be off for the holidays, gave rise to a big day-after question: If you took Monday as a vacation day and your colleagues got a paid snow day, will that somehow carry over to you? Will you be charged for a vacation day or allowed to carry one over?

"I don't blame them for asking. I can see where the question comes from," said Patty O'Connell, co-chairwoman of the Hauppauge Industrial Association's human resources committee and vice president of human resources at People's Alliance Federal Credit Union. Indeed on Tuesday, the subject was "the hot topic of the day," she said, in her office as well as among other employers, with some opting to pony up a carry-over day and others, like O'Connell, saying no way.

People's Alliance employees who took Monday as vacation will not be getting anything extra, she said. The thinking: The blizzard represented "circumstances we could not control. Those who were scheduled and ready and willing to come in to work on a snow day will get paid for the day, even though we were closed. Those scheduled to take vacation day will get vacation pay. At the end of the day, everyone is whole," getting paid for a 40-hour week.

Jeffrey M. Schlossberg, chairman of the employment law group at Ruskin Moscou Faltischek Pc in Uniondale, said he advised a client who had 15 employees off on Monday not to offer an extra day. It's not unlike being on vacation, getting sick and asking to trade the vacation day for a sick day, said Schlossberg.

He called the blizzard "the perfect storm of circumstances," given its timing at the start of such a popular vacation week. If this were, say, November, he said, "the issue really wouldn't have come up."

Still, some employers took a different tack. Diane Pfadenhauer, an employment attorney in Northport, said that given the magnitude of the storm, employers could give a little.

The nine employees who had scheduled paid time off at Austin & Williams, an advertising and marketing agency in Hauppauge, are getting a carry-over vacation day, said Ken Greenberg, president and chief executive. The office was closed, so they couldn't have come to work if they had wanted to, he said, plus "we know people are working hard, and we're trying to be a good family here."

On the receiving end of such largesse was Lisa M. Strahs-Lorenc, director of educational services at Long Island Works Coalition, a division of Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey. She had taken Monday off and got an e-mail Sunday night saying the offices in Melville would be closed due to hazardous conditions.

She found out Wednesday that, yes, she would get a carry-over vacation day, so Thursday she plans to go clothes shopping with a holiday gift certificate. The extra day "was very generous, and I am so appreciative," said Strahs-Lorenc, 56, of Port Jefferson Station. "It's a happy ending."

What they said

Wayne Miller, co-owner of an Islandia-based ambulette company called Choice Medical Transport, said 32 of his 47 drivers made it to work Monday. Miller, 62, of Islip Terrace, said his company brought more than 95 dialysis patients to treatment, and he said he never considered closing: "Dialysis is an emergency." He said the employees who failed to show can either lose a day's wages or deduct a day from their vacation time. "I will not pay them," he said. "I do expect my people in."

Bill Worth, sales manager at John Hancock Financial Network in Hauppauge, said his office was closed Monday and workers can make up the time by tacking on an extra hour of work in the morning and at night. He said he and his colleagues were pleased with the decision. "It was handled in a very professional manner," said Worth, 46, of Ronkonkoma. "It's the best way to do it. Right after the holidays, you don't want to deduct eight hours from someone's paycheck."

Joyce Barron, 49, of Smithtown, works at Adecco, a staffing agency with headquarters in Melville. She said her office opened late on Monday and that just a fraction of her co-workers came to work. Barron said employees who stayed home would find the day cut from their personal or vacation time. "This is a headquarters, so when we are not open, it affects 900 other branches," she said. "For a company of our size, we have to think of all of the ramifications."

Mashaun Cabbagestalk, 28, spent nearly two hours digging himself out of his West Islip home Monday morning. Cabbagestalk, who works for a big-box retailer, was supposed to report to work at 7 a.m. but couldn't make it. He called his boss and was told most of the staff had trouble getting to work. His employer was understanding, but that doesn't ease the sting of losing a day's pay, especially around the holidays. "It wasn't really my fault," he said. "Basically, I lost $100."