Employer refused furlough

Rosie_04

Hi,

Just wondering if I could get some advice please?

I was made redundant (not Covid-19 related) with my last working day being the 13th March. 

I asked my employer if I would be able to apply for furlough, given the timing of my redundancy and the difficulty to get work as a result of what's happening. They said point blank, 'no we've decided not to let you have it'. Is this fair?

I worked for them for 5 years and was left with 4 weeks worth of statutory redundancy pay, which is difficult to stretch in these unprecedented times.

I've had to push for further explanation as to why this the case and a response was that they don't want to rehire me just to claim from HMRC. Obviously, I'm not applying for the sake of it, more that I've paid my NI and taxes for so long that it's not just 'free money' it's more support until jobs are easier to apply for and actually get.

Any thoughts would be massively appreciated

Thanks

Rosie

gary83

It’s allowed, probably to be expected -  the company has no obligation to furlough you. if the company were making you redundant before the virus began they were obviously struggling at that point, probably had a cash flow problem even before Corona, it’s probably only got worse since then. As they’d have to pay out your wages, pay someone to claim them back, wait to receive the money, you’d build up more holiday days and they’d potentially have to make you redundant again once the government scheme finished then it’s fairly obvious why a struggling company wouldn’t be in a rush to do all that.

probably not the answer you were hoping for, if I was you I’d look at universal credit & other benefit calculators 

Rosie_04

gary83 said:

It’s allowed, probably to be expected -  the company has no obligation to furlough you. if the company were making you redundant before the virus began they were obviously struggling at that point, probably had a cash flow problem even before Corona, it’s probably only got worse since then. As they’d have to pay out your wages, pay someone to claim them back, wait to receive the money, you’d build up more holiday days and they’d potentially have to make you redundant again once the government scheme finished then it’s fairly obvious why a struggling company wouldn’t be in a rush to do all that.

Thanks Gary, I see where you're coming from.
It's a massive waste management company (SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK) so they're not really struggling with cashflow, just refined the department I was in due a previous, failed restructure.

7Phil

Sorry to hear about your terrible timing Rosie.
It's sad to hear that employers would hold off and refuse to help employees in this situation. The rules are clear that they could do it and place the you back on furlough (at their risk and administrative costs) if you were let go in March. If anything, employers could extend this as a gesture of good-will. You were there for 5+ years and clearly redundancy was their failure and not yours.

The only thing to remember is if you were to be rehired and furloughed it would be only until the end of the scheme (which could be as early as June 1). You would then face redundancy again at that time. I assume you expect that though and understand that even just having help with 80% salary for 3 months is better than nothing.

My friend is a physiotherapist and her clinic made her redundant in March, in her case it was due to COVID-19 closures. They also refusing to rehire and furlough their staff too. This is an incredibly disappointing and uncaring behaviour. I am encouraging her to keep at them.

My only advice would be to try and appeal to their senses and fight for whatever you can get. If that means writing a letter with a good argument, pointing the rules of the JRS then it just might get you somewhere. Perhaps you could suggest to defer payment until after the scheme is running in May as a compromise?