Notice period and Furlough

Jay5832

Hi,

On Friday at 5pm (27 Mar) the whole office was sent an email saying that 80% are to be furloughed (including me) and we’ve to sign the form by Monday morning.

I handed my notice in on Mon 23 Mar which was accepted and my leaving date of 23 April was confirmed on Tue 24 Mar. I’ve also got a few days holidays outstanding.

Not sure why I’m being asked to furlough when I’m leaving in a few weeks (assuming that nothing changes with the new job) so not sure if I should query it or just accept it given they’ll no doubt have loads of questions from the rest of the staff to answer?

Thanks for your help.

discat11

I suppose 2 fair questions you should ask yourself would be:
1) are you happy to receive 80% of your wages (capped to a max of £2500 gross) from (presumably) 27 Mar -23rd April?
2) do you think you can negotiate for your full wages instead given that you're leaving soon?
 

Galloglass

Seems you are being asked to furlough so your present company can claim your payroll cost under the government scheme (From 1st March to 23rd April).

What does your new company say about furloughing when you arrive there?

Jeremy535897

The new employer won't be able to furlough as OP won't have been on the payroll at 28 February. The important issue is whether they will still want to employ the OP.

robbiez

Galloglass said:

Seems you are being asked to furlough so your present company can claim your payroll cost under the government scheme (From 1st March to 23rd April).

What does your new company say about furloughing when you arrive there?

The new company won’t be able to furlough him as he wasn’t on payroll on feb 28th.
i would accept the offer anyway, if it is still available.
nothing to say you can’t leave the current employer and start with new employer if you are furloughed.

Janehl1

Last Monday we were sent home and yesterday I received a letter from my employer stating that as of the 26th March we will be furloughed and paid a basic wage of 40 hrs for 2 weeks and 80% of a basic wage of 40 hrs thereafter until further notice . As I have read it on the government website we are entitled to 80% of the wage we earn not a basic wage and as I work 55 hours a week I am going to miss out massively 😢 is he within his rights to do this? I am supposed to sign the letter to say I agree and post back.

Jeremy535897

I think there are two elements to this. The first is a change in the terms of your contract of employment to reduce your working hours in the future to 40 hours a week. It is up to you whether to accept that. The alternative is likely to be redundancy.
The second issue is your pay while furloughed. This is calculated as follows:, according to Government guidance
"Your employer will get a grant to cover 80% of your monthly earnings, up to a maximum of £2,500. Firms will be eligible for the grant once you have been furloughed, from 1 March. Your employer:

• will pay you at least 80% of your usual monthly earnings, up to a maximum of £2,500, as your wage
• can claim for a minimum of 3 weeks and for up to 3 months - but this may be extended
• can choose to pay you more than the grant - but they do not have to

You’ll still pay Income Tax, National Insurance contributions and any other deductions from your wage.

If you are concerned that your employer is not paying you what you are entitled to then you should raise this with your employer in the first instance, then with Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service).

How your monthly earnings are calculated

If you’ve been employed (or engaged by an employment business in the case of agency workers) for a full year, employers will claim for the higher of either:

• the amount you earned in the same month last year
• an average of your monthly earnings from the last year

If you’ve been employed for less than a year, employers will claim for an average of your monthly earnings since you started work. The same arrangements apply if your monthly pay varies such as if you are on a zero-hour contract.

If you started work in February 2020, your employer will pro-rata your earnings from that month.

Bonuses, commissions and fees are not included as part of your monthly earnings."

The above guidance states what you should do if your employer offers less (see bold), but bear in mind that they don't have to put you in the scheme, and could just make you redundant.

Janehl1

Thank you for your reply. Yes that’s how I read it on the government website. I have worked for the company for 5 years and already have a 40 hr contract but have worked 55 hours a week for over 12 months now.

Jeremy535897

5 weeks statutory redundancy plus statutory notice and accrued holiday pay is quite a cost to them (more if it's more in your contract) so they might be quite happy to furlough you.

Janehl1

I will speak to my employer on Monday and ask why he is not following the government guide lines and go from there. Thank you for your reply .

Jay5832

Many thanks for all the replies.

The point about the business being able to claim my salary back from 1 March - leaving date now makes sense of why I’m being asked to furlough.

Don’t know if it’s strictly in the spirit of what furlough is supposed to be used for but if it means the business doesn’t collapse and jobs are saved in the medium to long term then happy to do my bit.

I’d also like to think if the new job falls through between now and my leaving date that my current employers will rescind my notice and allow me to continue to furlough.