Blog
When the Salon Closes: Weather Days and Your Pay
A snow day or a power cut can wipe out a full book. Whether you are paid for it depends on how you are paid and on salon policy.
Sometimes the salon simply cannot open. A storm makes roads unsafe, the power goes out, the water heater fails or a dryer breaks down and takes a circuit with it. For clients it is an inconvenience. For groomers it can mean a day, or several, with little or no pay. Knowing how closures are handled before one happens makes them much easier to absorb.
How a closure hits each kind of pay
Hourly groomers are usually paid for hours worked. If the salon closes before your shift, you may not be paid for that day unless the salon has a policy to cover it. If you were sent home partway through, you are usually paid for the time you worked. Some places have rules about pay when workers report for a shift and are sent home; whether any apply depends on where you work.
Commission groomers are paid on finished grooms, so a closed day usually means no pay for that day. The bigger question is what happens to the dogs that were booked. If they are moved to your next open days, you may recover much of the lost pay over the following week. If they are moved to whoever has openings, or the clients simply cancel, the loss is yours. The guide to hourly vs. commission pay explains why commission groomers carry more of this kind of risk.
Questions to ask your salon
- Who decides to close, how early will staff be told, and how?
- Are staff paid anything for closure days, or for a shift cut short?
- When dogs are rescheduled, do they stay on my book?
- If I have a guaranteed minimum, does it still apply in a week with a closure?
- If I cannot safely travel but the salon stays open, how is that handled?
Get the policy in writing if you can. It is far easier to agree on this before a storm than during one.
Protect your book on closure days
When a closure is announced, work with the front desk to contact your clients quickly and offer them your next open slots. Clients who are rebooked right away are less likely to drift elsewhere. Keep a note of which dogs were moved so you can check that they stayed with you. If you have a few clients who are flexible, early morning or end of day slots later in the week can absorb some of the backlog.
Build closures into your budget
Closures are part of the reason commission pay swings from week to week. A small cushion, built the same way as savings for a slow season, keeps a lost day from becoming a crisis. The guide on budgeting for slow weeks on commission shows how to size it, using your gross pay, before taxes, from a typical week. In areas with harsh winters or storm seasons, it is worth planning for a few lost days a year. See the grooming year for how local weather fits into the seasonal pattern, and taking time off on commission for planning other unpaid days.
This is general information, not legal advice. For the rules where you work, check with your state or local labor agency or a qualified professional.