Career Spotlight: How to secure your job in a storm
Some of the most important acts of generosity in Hurricane Katrina's wake have come from employers. Harrah's, for example, is promising to pay employees of its shuttered casinos for the next 90 days.
But for the thousands of workers who don't enjoy such corporate largess, the damage to their houses may be nowhere near as devastating as the harm to their workplaces, since it's hard to find a new home without a paycheck.
All workers–not just the newly jobless residents of Louisiana and Mississippi–should know what their rights are in times of emergency and take a few simple actions to protect themselves against disaster.
While each state has slightly different labor laws, workers generally have scant legal protection during such emergencies. Workers who believe, say, that a storm is dangerous and decide to leave against an employer's wishes can be fired, says Donald L. Schmidt of Marsh, the insurance services division of Marsh & McLennan Cos. After the government has issued a mandatory evacuation order, however, only a few special employees, like police officers, can be required to remain on the job.
Once the emergency is over, employers should pay employees for work already performed, of course. But they are not necessarily obligated to keep paying wages if the business shuts down and work is stopped. The federal WARN Act, which normally requires businesses with more than 100 employees to give 60 days' notice or 60 days' pay for a shutdown, specifically exempts companies closed by hurricanes, earthquakes, or other disasters, says Frederick Barrow, an employment lawyer for the law firm Littler Mendelson in Dallas.
And while the federal Family and Medical Leave Act requires employers to grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to workers who are sick or injured or caring for a laid-up family member, the act doesn't require employers to grant leave for, say, cleaning up a flood-damaged house or tracking down a missing relative.
Workers can forestall some of the worst financial crunches by taking a few easy steps:
- Arrange for your paychecks to be directly deposited in a checking account. The failure of postal service in the flooded areas reveals the risks of waiting for paychecks to arrive by mail. If you want to play it really safe, choose a savings institution with branches outside of your community, so that you can go to another branch if you have to evacuate.
- Try to save up enough to cover a couple months' expenses for emergencies.
- Keep at least a week's expenses in cash in an emergency kit you can grab quickly. Some workers may be able to depend upon the kindness of employers. But just in case, it's smart to have some cash set aside.
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