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Emergencies and Natural Disasters - Best Practices and Resources

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Emergency scenarios and natural disasters can happen fast, often with little or no warning, and the potential to disrupt your business operations and the lives of your employees can be massive. Below are some areas to cover when thinking through how to react to and prepare for such situations, for U.S. employees.

Open Communication & Establish Cadence

  • Establish dedicated communication channels, such as a dedicated Slack channel or an email thread or group, to provide impacted employees with timely updates regarding work expectations, office closures, safety procedures, and any changes to regular business operations. Be as transparent as you can about the reasoning behind these decisions, to reinforce trust and ensure alignment.
  • If feasible, consider offering remote work options for employees who are able to perform their duties from home. Communicate the expectations and temporary nature for this new arrangement, while understanding that natural disasters can cause unpredictable disruptions.
  • If the potential or ongoing emergency or disaster is impacting an essential function, core customer segment, or primary business operation, consider informing key external contacts – like payroll providers, logistics and distribution vendors, and key customers – of your situation in advance and when they can expect updates.

Highlight Support Services & Benefits

  • Provide employees with information on how to access their Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for help with counseling, emotional support, and connections to other services.
    • Benefits-eligible employees of Justworks PEO customers have access to Health Advocate.
    • EAPs may also offer grief counseling services.
  • Promote virtual services and telemedicine available to your employees via their health plan or other plans.
    • Benefits-eligible employees of Justworks PEO customers can utilize One Medical’s virtual care, and those enrolled in Aetna plans can also utilize Teladoc.
  • Stay tuned to state and local government websites. There are often FAQ and resource pages that come together to highlight resources for the public in the early hours of an emergency.
  • Make sure any resources you provide to your employees – especially regarding aid requests or evacuation information – are vetted. Unfortunately, bad actors can use the confusion surrounding an emergency or disaster to exploit financial resources from individuals trying to provide aid to those impacted.
  • Disaster unemployment insurance may be available based on the severity of the situation and employee’s location. To determine eligibility and assist employees in filing claims for disaster-related interruptions, contact your state’s unemployment office or labor department.

Paying Employees & Offering Leave

  • Understand your options for paying employees based on their exemption status (per the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)). 
    • Employees who are exempt under the FLSA must be paid their weekly salary for any week in which some work is performed but the office is required to be closed for any reason. Employers may require that employees use accrued PTO during this time.
    • Non-exempt employees are not required to be paid for any hours not worked. 
      • Some available options to consider for non-exempt employees include: 
        • Paying employees for some or all day(s) missed despite work not being performed.
        • Providing employees the choice between an unpaid day and utilizing their existing PTO.
      • Under the FLSA, any time that an employee is required to wait (e.g. for the power to be restored) or any time that is spent "on-call" on or near the employer's premises, may be considered hours worked and must be paid.
        • Certain states, such as California and New York, also have reporting time laws, which require an employee to be paid for a minimum number of hours (or a full day) for reporting to work, even if little or no work is performed.
    • Note that state laws may have additional stipulations regarding pay for emergency or disaster scenarios.
  • Review any federal, state, or local laws that may apply to emergency leave, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), paid family leave or disability programs, or paid sick leave laws. Employees may be eligible for a few days off or a longer leave of absence if they or a family member have an illness or injury caused by the disaster, or if they or their family are called to active duty to respond to the emergency. 
  • Consider providing an additional bank of PTO (aside from regular PTO policies) for emergency leave to those severely impacted by each scenario, and define clearly who is eligible, how much time they may receive, and the expiration time of any PTO available in this additional bank.

Planning & Preparedness

  • Review emergency protocols and policies. If you don’t have any in place for your physical office spaces, consider drafting emergency evacuation plans. Some states or localities require workplace violence prevention policies, which should also be considered here.
    • Consider agreeing upon a general, consistent response to common requests around the options to work remotely or grant additional PTO.
    • Ensure employees have updated emergency contact information on file.
  • Identify key personnel who will be responsible for coordinating response efforts, and ensure all employees are aware of who to contact in the event of an emergency.
  • After an emergency or disaster has passed, conduct a review to assess how the response plan was executed, identify any challenges encountered, and make improvements for future emergencies. 

Resources & Notes

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Disclaimer

This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, legal or tax advice. If you have any legal or tax questions regarding this content or related issues, then you should consult with your professional legal or tax advisor.