As Connecticut employers join the rest of the country in support and solidarity for Hurricane Harvey victims, they are reminded that natural disasters and acts of God can strike at any time. Planning and preparedness is not only reserved for protection of life and property, employers should be ready to respond when emergencies strike and ready to tackle a host of legal and practical issues in the face of crisis.

Wage and hour laws are often the source of the most confusion for employers. Calculating pay in the face of an emergency is not a one-size-fits-all analysis. In the case of a business closure due to inclement weather, employers in Connecticut are likely required to pay some employees but not all of their workforce.

Pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Connecticut law, employers are only required to pay nonexempt employees for hours worked. It surprises many lawyers to learn that, regardless of whether an employer closes the workplace due to a storm or an employee decides to stay home, employers are only required to pay nonexempt employees for hours worked. In Connecticut in some circumstances, on-call time is considered “hours worked” and therefore employers need to consider whether passive time would need to be compensated based upon specific circumstances. Whether an employer can require a nonexempt employee to use vacation days should they decide to stay home is a matter of company policy.