ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996 TAG: 9601150060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
Roanoke: The city will pay employees for Monday, the worst day of the storm, if they missed work. Employees who showed up get time off later. As of Friday, the cost of clearing snow from this winter's storms was $100,000 higher than expected and growing, City Manager Bob Herbert said.
Salem: Nonessential city employees absent Monday received an extra paid day off. But essential employees, such as street workers, had to report. They will get extra vacation leave. Snow removal cost $47,260, City Manager Randy Smith said.
Blacksburg: No-show town employees will collect full pay by taking a compensatory day off or using vacation. Snow removal cost $55,000 to $60,000, said Ken Mattingly, director of public works.
Pulaski County: County employees did not have to report to work Monday, but anyone who did not make it to work after that had to use an annual leave day. Monday was declared a paid holiday for county employees.
Roanoke Gas: Employees who missed work can credit the time as a vacation or personal day.
Norfolk Southern: Office workers can take a vacation day or personal leave for last Monday.
American Electric Power: The company required employees who missed work because of the weather to take a vacation or personal-leave day. About 90 percent of line crews and others normally called on to deal with problems created by bad weather showed up Monday. Roughly 30 percent of the company's Roanoke office staff showed up Monday and 70 percent Tuesday.
School districts: Schools don't have to deal with the problem of paying workers who can't make it in to work because of snow. School employees must make up the missed days. It's just a matter of shifting the workdays to another time. School officials say they will face significant costs for clearing parking lots, sidewalks and steps at schools.
Hills Department Store on Brambleton Avenue in Roanoke County: Hourly employees who don't come to work don't get paid. General Manager Phil VanderPloeg said the store was closed for two days and business was down 75 percent as he opened his doors Thursday. "Sales have been pathetic, just because I haven't been open," he said. He doesn't expect to recoup the lost sales. One of his biggest problems, he said, has been rounding up enough employees to keep the store open. "A lot of them live on the mountain," he said.
Pat's Hallmark on Campbell Avenue in Roanoke: Employees won't get paid for the missed days. The store reopened Wednesday, and customers started trickling in. Store manager Nancy Altice usually has two people working during the day, but on Thursday she said she had been the only employee able to reach the store. "It's going to hurt us," she said. Although she didn't sell all her leftover Christmas merchandise, she expects to recover some of her losses in the next month or so as people prepare for the next holiday. "Valentine's Day, thank goodness, is a last-minute holiday," she said.
Bush-Flora Shoes at Towers Shopping Center: As salaried workers, the store's employees will get their usual wages, but slow sales have meant smaller commissions. January sales will be 20 percent lower than normal because of the snow days, said owner Art Bush. Bush-Flora was hit hard because one of the store's two biggest yearly sales was to start Monday, but the store was closed. On top of that, most customers didn't get the sales flier in last Sunday's newspaper, which was delivered on time to only half of subscribers and several days late to the rest.
Wheat First Butcher Singer in Roanoke: The stock brokerage rewarded employees who made it to work Monday, when they office was open, with an extra day of paid vacation. No-shows will collect their regular pay, said Tyler Pugh, vice president and branch manager of the stock brokerage office. The stock market was open only shortened hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday. Pugh said that affected brokers throughout the country. Brokers almost always contact their customers by telephone, but Pugh said volume was off 30 percent to 40 percent because of the shorter hours. He believes some of that business will be made up, but not all of it.
Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield: Employees will be paid for Monday, when the office was closed, and those who missed Tuesday - when the office was open until 12:30 p.m. - must use earned leave to collect full pay. Sales won't be hurt, said spokeswoman Vanessa Scherzer
Shenandoah Life Insurance: Employees will be paid for Monday, but those who missed work Tuesday must use a vacation day to collect full pay.
First Union National Bank: Employees who did not work Monday, when the bank was closed, will be asked to use earned paid leave. Managers will reward workers for outstanding effort with time off. The storm didn't halt banking. Thousands of customers made deposits at automated teller machines, withdrew money or both when the bank was closed. Some people applied for loans by phone. The company paid to house and feed many workers at a motel, but total storm-related costs were not available. Spokesman David Scanzoni said he doubted the bank lost business.
Federal Mogul in Blacksburg: Absences were unpaid. The supplier of automobile engine bearings planned to have employees work this weekend and expected to bring the company to within 90 percent of production targets. The workers also can make up lost income, because pay rates were to be time-and-a-half Saturday and double-time today, plant manager Richard Levine said. Only about 60 of the 600 Federal Mogul employees worked Monday, but about 75 percent of the staff worked Tuesday.
New River Valley Mall: The mall was closed Monday and closed early Tuesday and Wednesday. Workers will receive an official paid snow day for Monday, but those who missed further work will not be paid. The mall's 60 stores lost business, but mall manager Mike Poldiak did not know how much.
Guardian Angle Nursing Care in Fairfield: Home health nurses with access to four-wheel-drive vehicles and others filled in for snowbound staff, and some will get a bonus, owner JoAnn Ashby said. Nurses who couldn't get to their assignments won't be paid.
Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem: Workers who didn't make it in were charged annual leave. Police and other workers with four-wheel-drive vehicles drove essential employees from hard-to-reach areas to work, Chief of Staff Dr. Rajiv Jain said. Supervisors decided who was essential. Some employees stayed overnight in empty wards and ate free at the hospital. Overtime costs rose.
Carilion Health System: The company estimates it spent $50,000 at Roanoke Memorial Hospital to rent equipment, buy chemicals and hire contractors for snow removal and to pay related costs. The hospital's emergency room saw about 75 fewer patients for an estimated loss of $33,000, said spokeswoman Shirley Holland.
Staff writers Joel Turner, Mag Poff, Jeff Sturgeon, Sandra Brown Kelly, Dan Casey, S.D. Harrington, Greg Edwards, Elissa Milenky, Brian Kelley and Paul Dellinger contributed to this report.
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