Furlough and enforced holiday

elaineaustin64

I have been asked today to  on furlough which is fine .  But one week of this will be holiday pay 
can I be forced to take a weeks holiday?  Can I be furloughed if my hours have been reduced from 38 to 32 ?? 

After this I will be going back to 38

gary83

You can be forced to take one weeks holiday, provided you’ve had 2 weeks notice

elaineaustin64

Can they furlough if my hours have been reduced prior to this as I normally work five days went down to four.
is it just me think is wrong to take holiday in the middle of all this unfair 

mobilejo

elaineaustin64 said:

Can they furlough if my hours have been reduced prior to this as I normally work five days went down to four.
is it just me think is wrong to take holiday in the middle of all this unfair 

Is it unfair? Potentially - that could be argued all day on either side. Arguably, nothing happening right now is 'fair' to anyone involved everyone is going to suffer in one way or another... 
But it is legal. That is all that matters.

elaineaustin64

Thank you nothing in this situation is fair I know 
shame when holidays are forced to be used when employees are also doing best for employers in these situations 

7Phil

I don't feel you have received correct advice by the above responses.

You have two parts to your query. One is the issue of being on furlough on reduced hours:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#if-your-employees-are-working-reduced-hours

If your employees are working reduced hours

If an employee is working, but on reduced hours, or for reduced pay, they will not be eligible for this scheme.

Your second part is around being forced to use holidays.
The rules around holidays are not yet described however some good information about how these could be interpreted is available on the Acas website:
https://www.acas.org.uk/coronavirus/using-holiday

Requiring staff to take or cancel holiday

Employers have the right to tell employees and workers when to take holiday.

An employer could, for example, shut for a week and tell everyone to use their holiday entitlement.

If the employer decides to do this, they must tell staff at least twice as many days before as the amount of days they need people to take.

For example, if they want to close for 5 days, they should tell everyone at least 10 days before.

Employers can also cancel pre-booked paid holiday. If they decide to do this, they must give staff at least the same number of days’ notice as the original holiday request.

For example, if an employee has booked 5 days holiday, the employer must tell them at least 5 days before the holiday starts that it’s cancelled.

This could affect holiday staff have already booked or planned and cause upset. So employers should:

• explain clearly why they need to do this
• try and resolve anyone's worries about how it will affect their holiday entitlement or plans

There are some arguments going around at the moment that contradict this advice from Acas' advice, suggesting the lack of the employee's free choice over about the use of their holidays would be an abuse of their worker's rights. We aren't sure yet which rules will prevail. 
If you are told to use holidays then you should at the very least expect to be paid at 100% (as is your right under employment law to 5.6 weeks of holidays, fully paid). If you are forced to use holiday time now and the rules get clarified later, then those holiday credits will come back to you to use again in future.

JonBaker

I have 6 working days holiday booked due to start on 7the July but my company is forcing me to put on furlough for min 3 weeks if I take the holiday? 

Is this right??

We was forced to use 40% of holiday before the end of May which ment from the end of april we was put on furlough for 3 weeks.

We came back to work at the end of May.

We must take a further 20% of holiday before the end of August. 

I have had the week in July booked for 8 months now but am being told that if I take the holiday they will put me on furlough and risk being one of the people they may not ask to come back.

I am not allowed to carry over holiday and I must use a certain amount before September but I'm blackmailed into furlough if I do so???

Where do I stand?

Jeremy535897

An employer may cancel your holiday so long as they give notice at least equal to the length of holiday, unless your contract of employment says otherwise.

An employer must let you take your statutory minimum holiday of 5.6 weeks. There have been recent statutory changes that allow holiday to be carried over. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/holiday-entitlement-and-pay-during-coronavirus-covid-19

If you have already incurred non-refundable costs in respect of the holiday, you could ask for compensation, although there is no absolute obligation to give it.

calcotti

7Phil said:..There are some arguments going around at the moment that contradict this advice from Acas' advice, suggesting the lack of the employee's free choice over about the use of their holidays would be an abuse of their worker's rights. 

See for example https://uklabourlawblog.com/2020/04/06/furloughing-and-fundamental-rights-the-case-of-paid-annual-leave-by-alan-bogg-and-michael-ford/

Jeremy535897

calcotti said:

7Phil said:..There are some arguments going around at the moment that contradict this advice from Acas' advice, suggesting the lack of the employee's free choice over about the use of their holidays would be an abuse of their worker's rights. 

See for example https://uklabourlawblog.com/2020/04/06/furloughing-and-fundamental-rights-the-case-of-paid-annual-leave-by-alan-bogg-and-michael-ford/

It's fine in theory, but if the employer cannot afford people taking all their annual holiday post furlough, all that will result is redundancy.

Semple

JonBaker said:

I have 6 working days holiday booked due to start on 7the July but my company is forcing me to put on furlough for min 3 weeks if I take the holiday? 

Is this right??

We was forced to use 40% of holiday before the end of May which ment from the end of april we was put on furlough for 3 weeks.

We came back to work at the end of May.

We must take a further 20% of holiday before the end of August. 

I have had the week in July booked for 8 months now but am being told that if I take the holiday they will put me on furlough and risk being one of the people they may not ask to come back.

I am not allowed to carry over holiday and I must use a certain amount before September but I'm blackmailed into furlough if I do so???

Where do I stand?

It sounds like your employer is abusing the furlough scheme by placing you on furlough only when you want to take holiday, as this means that they only have to contribute 20% to your holiday pay whilst the taxpayer picks up the bill for the remaining 80%.