Employers may tell employees not to work during a period when they cannot be usefully employed for reasons outside the employer’s control, such as severe and inclement weather, equipment breakdown, industrial action or a government shutdown. This is called stand down.

During a stand down an employee stays employed but the employer is not required to pay the employee.

The hours they’re stood down for don’t count towards their ordinary hours for the purposes of calculating overtime.

See also Pay during inclement or severe weather and natural disasters and Stand downs.