After Hurricane Wilma roared through her Jupiter neighborhood last October, Kellie Clark, an appointment scheduler at a gas company about 25 miles away, couldn't make it to work. Downed trees and power lines made the drive dangerous. Moreover, she couldn't leave her two disabled children in their darkened house. She tried repeatedly to call the company, but no one answered. She figured the business was closed. When she finally made it in the Friday after the hurricane, she was promptly fired.

"To this day, I get so angry when I think about it," Clark says.

Clark has little recourse: The gas company had a perfectly legal right to fire her for missing three days of work. "You can have Gov. Bush on television admonishing you to stay home and stay off the highways," says Brian Buckstein of Dobin & Jenks of Jupiter. "But legally, your employer can order you to come in to work."

Businesses can order employees to work -- even if authorities are advising people to stay off the roads.

Buckstein thinks Florida lawmakers should change the law to prohibit employers from firing or otherwise discriminating against employees who miss work in the course of following emergency instructions, such as evacuation orders. Other states, including Texas, have such provisions. But other lawyers contend the existing laws are fine; they say problems arise when employees, employers or both aren't aware of them.

Labor attorneys say managers should bone up on labor and wage laws related to disasters, then make a plan that lays out the law and how the company will handle staffing, pay and absences. Most importantly, managers should share the plan with employees in meetings with plenty of time for discussion and questions. Lisa Berg, a labor and employment lawyer at Stearns Weaver Miller in Miami who leads emergency-preparedness seminars for businesses, says up to 70% of all businesses have done no such planning. "That's just not wise in Florida," she says.

Berg says the No. 1 question she gets from business owners after hurricanes is: Do I have to pay my employees if my business had to close? For non-exempt, or non-professional, employees the answer is no. "However, excellent human-relations practice is to pay them even when you had to be closed," advises James Bramnick, chairman of Akerman Senterfitt's labor and employment group. "The smaller the business, the harder that's
going to be."

The next most common question is: Can I order my employees in to work after the hurricane? The answer is yes -- even if law enforcement and other authorities are advising people to stay off the roads. Salaried, exempt-from-overtime employees must be paid even if the business closes, but an employer can withhold pay or fire a professional who refuses to come back to work after it reopens -- even if employees have evacuated out of state, and even if schools are closed and they can't find child care. "If they are ready, willing and able to work, they must be paid," says Bramnick. "But if they're not coming back for personal reasons, they don't have to be paid."

And, of course, if a company makes non-exempt employees work overtime to deal with a hurricane or other emergency, they must pay the overtime. Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor made Florida Hospital in Orlando cough up $2 million in back pay after workers complained they were required to stay on hospital grounds during hurricanes Charley and Frances but not paid for all the hours.

Preparing a disaster plan -- and discussing it with employees -- can clear up confusion before the first storm hits. Bramnick recommends a voice mailbox with a toll-free number that employees carry in their wallets so they can call for updates. Managers and employees also should work out who will be expected to come to work when. "Most people are going to want to put their families first, and that's understandable, but it's going to conflict with their employer's interests," says Berg. "If you prepare in advance, everyone knows what the obligations are."

On the web:
To get started on an emergency plan, check out the U.S. Department of Homeland Security site ready.gov and click on "Ready Business."