Employment ended 29/2 - can I be rehired and furloughed

RURUCOOP

I ended my employment after one months notice,  on 29th February to take on work as a self employed freelancer.   As I was on the payroll with my former employer on 28th February - can they rehire me, furlough me and claim 80% of my salary?   The remainder of the workforce is being furloughed.   Obviously I cannot claim under the self employed scheme.   Guidance isn't clear as I was not made redundant.   Any thoughts ?  

sharpe106

You can always ask the scheme is to protect jobs that would or maybe lost during the coronavirus as you already left they will not be able to claim for you, as that does not meet the criteria. It is up to them if they want to risk applying for a benefit they know goes against the rules.

robbiez

Current guidance is clear that your old employer can rehire you if you were made redundant due to coronavirus.
You were not made redundant due to coronavirus so you old employer cannot rehire you.

calcotti

If they have no need to furlough employees I don’t think that’s possible.

Jeremy535897

I'm not clear that you had to be made redundant due to coronavirus. But as OP wasn't made redundant but left voluntarily, doesn't that rule out rehiring and furloughing anyway?

sharpe106

Granted it does not say but as the scheme is meant to protect jobs that are lost or may be loss due to the coronavirus I think most employers understanding of that would be the job loss has to be due to the coronavirus not that they were planning on laying them off anyway.  

 I would have thought in that situation most employers would not want to anyway as they would have to risk paying out to the end of April and potentially not get the money back, and if it goes on for several months may even end up having to pay more redundancy money out.  

RURUCOOP

I have just seen on the guidance on the site that Martin Lewis  has had it confirmed  that workers who left after 28th February for reasons other than redundancy can be rehired and furloughed.    Lawyers for my previous employer are refusing to look at this unless we have some official confirmation from HMRC- any ideas where I could get that ?  

Jeremy535897

Apparently Treasury confirmation is about to happen.