Can my previous employer furlough me?

CGinv

As of today 31st March I have just completed 9 months maternity leave and my contract with my employer of 6 years ends today due to me getting a new job with better hours to suit family life. My new job was to start tomorrow 1st April but due to covid-19 this is no longer happening. Can my previous employers re employ me and furlough me until I am able to commence my new job? I feel like I am in no mans land and tomorrow will now be unemployed.

Galloglass

Your old employer would have difficulty in rehiring you to take advantage of the furlough scheme as you are out of contract. 

You should apply for new style JSA / Universal Credit. 

mobilejo

Potentially they may be able to if you fit the criteria (see the bit in bold):

Employees you can claim for

Furloughed employees must have been on your PAYE payroll on 28 February 2020, and can be on any type of contract, including:

full-time employees

part-time employees

employees on agency contracts

employees on flexible or zero-hour contracts

The scheme also covers employees who were made redundant since 28 February 2020, if they are rehired by their employer.

But they just might not want to, and have no obligation to.

onlyfoolsandparking

A friend of mine was laid off couple of weeks ago then made redundant so was definitely employed 28th Feb, rang his employers up pointed out the Government scheme got rehired and then furloughed at 80% so I would say yes it is possible.

unforeseen

I think that is going to be the very rare exception rather than the rule

sharpe106

onlyfoolsandparking said:

A friend of mine was laid off couple of weeks ago then made redundant so was definitely employed 28th Feb, rang his employers up pointed out the Government scheme got rehired and then furloughed at 80% so I would say yes it is possible.

Everything is possible, but that is not what the scheme is for. I also think when the government issued guidance they did not think people would go back to old employers just to claim money for a few months. I also think there will be a small army off accountants going through everybody claim when the crisis is over to see why people claimed. 

Justice13075

There is a video on youtube from Martin Lewis and he says they can. I assume it is a moral question

mobilejo

sharpe106 said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

A friend of mine was laid off couple of weeks ago then made redundant so was definitely employed 28th Feb, rang his employers up pointed out the Government scheme got rehired and then furloughed at 80% so I would say yes it is possible.

Everything is possible, but that is not what the scheme is for. I also think when the government issued guidance they did not think people would go back to old employers just to claim money for a few months. I also think there will be a small army off accountants going through everybody claim when the crisis is over to see why people claimed. 

It would appear that the Government did envisage "re-hiring just to pay people for a few months" - Martin Lewis specifically asked the Treasury about people who had voluntarily quit after 28th Feb and was told that they can be re-hired and furloughed. That was surely their opportunity to clarify the issue if that was not intended.

5) CONFIRMED: Old employers can rehire you to furlough you. If you left a job after 28 Feb, that old employer can rehire you to furlough you. The guidance already states they can do this for those they made redundant, yet we asked the Treasury if this applies to those who left voluntarily (eg, to start a new job that's now fallen through), and it has just confirmed it can.