My 'Peru Palaver’
What to do if you get stranded abroad
Job cuts following the Covid lockdowns and a struggle to meet staffing demands, has meant that airlines have cancelled flights and airports have placed restrictions on passenger numbers. In addition to the stress and inconvenience arising from being delayed or stranded, individuals may also encounter difficulties as a result of being unable to return to work as planned.
As a growing number of holidaymakers have been facing delays and cancellations at airports, I thought it may be helpful to share my own experience of delayed flights and how I navigated the issue of being unable to return to work as planned.
I often refer to this situation amongst my friends and colleagues as the ‘Peru Palaver’. I’d planned a trip with a close friend around Peru with a three-day excursion in the Amazon Rainforest.
Unfortunately, after an amazing time, a connecting internal flight was delayed which meant we missed our flight home to the UK from Lima. It’s difficult to put into writing the sheer panic my friend and I felt when we realised that we were stranded in Lima. We were unable to get hold of our travel provider due to the time difference and we weren’t sure what our travel insurance covered. Given that we were at the end of our trip, we had spent the majority of our holiday funds, so staying in Peru any longer was not an option.
Things got much worse when our airline said it could be eight days before they could get us on another flight home which would cost £1,000 to £2,000 each. At this point, my friend and I agreed to book alternative flights with another airline for around £700 each. The flight had a number of stops en route, which meant that we had been awake for 27 hours in total by the time we landed at Heathrow.
One thing neither of us had thought about was the impact that the delayed flight had on our employment. We had originally planned the flights so that we would arrive home early in the day to allow us to recover from the inevitable jetlag before returning to the office the following day. I had only been in post at Banner Jones for 18 months at this point, and my employer had already been flexible by allowing me to take 12 consecutive days of annual leave instead of the standard 10 days.
I emailed my line manager in the early hours of the morning to explain what had happened and that I would be arriving in the UK a day later than planned. I wasn’t aware of any policies and procedures in place (even though I worked in employment law!) and so I asked whether I could take unpaid leave or an extra day’s annual leave on short notice. Banner Jones were very flexible and fair and this fairness is one of the reasons I’ve remained with the business. They allowed me to take a day’s unpaid leave so that I didn’t need to use any more of my annual leave. The unpaid day’s leave worked out in my favour as I really value my annual leave for my trips away.
With the potential of more flight disruptions to come over the rest of the summer period and beyond, I thought it may be helpful to set out some pointers on best practice in these types of situations from an employment law perspective:
- Communicate with your line manager as soon as possible about the circumstances, giving them as much detail as possible, including your likely return date if you know it.
- Try to provide solutions to the problem such as booking additional annual leave or taking unpaid leave.
- Consider the possibility of working remotely. This depends largely on your role and also the circumstances, i.e. working remotely in Berlin is much more feasible than working remotely in the Amazon Rainforest!
- As an employee, remember that although delayed or cancelled flights may not be your fault, your employer is not under a duty to allow you to take unpaid time off and can refuse to allow additional annual leave if they wish.
- As an employer, remember that being flexible with your employees can make a huge difference to working relationships, can help to retain your employees and can prevent grievances being raised by the employee once they return.
If you have further questions regarding employment law and HR matters, please contact the Banner Jones Employment Law team.
For tips on travelling to Peru (foodie recommendations in particular), contact me directly at SaraPatel@bannerjones.co.uk
