In the midst of making arrangements for Hurricane Idalia over the last 2 days, the subject of pay during this type of major event has come up among my friends and family and there seems to be no legally recognized policy for employees to be compensated during a major weather event.
For one friend, who works remotely for a company based outside of the state of FL, they will entirely have to use their own PTO if they lose power or not get paid at all for time lost. This person was given no time off to prepare ahead of the hurricane and has to work their scheduled shifts unless they lose power.
Another friend, who works remotely but for a company that has physical offices in FL in the affected areas, will only be paid emergency pay if their power goes out. The offices in the affected area will be closed on Wednesday but remote employees are expected to continue working. They were also given no time off by the company to prepare for the hurricane or get supplies, but they have a kind and understanding supervisor who is able to excuse leaving early to do this. My own company has a similar way of doing things, where they pay only if power or internet is lost, but my supervisor will not excuse employees to leave early to prepare.
A family member who works in office for a small (less than 10 employees) law firm is being given a half day today to prepare and the full day off on Wednesday (the day the hurricane will make landfall). Compensation for the time off is unclear but in the past during such events the owner of the business has paid for half of the time lost and the rest comes from the employees PTO.
My question is why is there not a state or nationally recognized policy in place for compensation during major weather events? Or if there is, does anyone have resources where to find these policies? All of the individuals mentioned above are in the same region of the state, with pretty widely different experiences. It seems like this is all done at the companies discretion and if they wanted to, they could just not compensate employees at all for work time lost during a hurricane.