Pay cut whilst been furloughed

Fi_Bailey

I have been furloughed out as of the 1st April for 3 weeks and again from the 22nd April for 3 weeks which I have agreed to with my employer. But I have received an email through my work email address to ask if I can take a temporary 10% decrease in my slary as of the 1st May. I am struggling with being furloughed and the extra 10% will put into debt. Can you advise as to how I go about telling my employer that this is putting me in a very difficult position and what are my rights 

[Deleted User]

You can reject the decrease, but it may mean the difference between keeping the company afloat or not.

Discuss it with them and see what compromise you can reach.  In the meantime, cut your costs to see if you can live within your reduced income.

sharpe106

As you said they have only asked so you can decline it, but as the previous poster said if the company goes bust because they can't afford to pay everybody you will end up with 0%.  Cutting 10% of spending is a lot easier short term. 

Fi_Bailey

Thank you, I have cut my costs already and I am struggling. They say they have asked all salaried staff to take a 10% decrease, but I find this hard to believe, as in another sentence they are saying more people have gone back to work and are out of furlough. I feel I am being discriminated against and this crisis is giving them this opportunity to cut my salary. 

sharpe106

If you are being discriminated again we don't know without knowing all the facts. But yes plenty of companies will be using this to cut wages. For the majority it is the biggest overhead. 

Fi_Bailey

Thank you to both, I have a lot of thinking to do. Your replies have been very helpfull.
Have a good day 

TheAble

Were you going to be getting full pay on furlough? Ie the government's 80% plus the other 20% from the company? 
That being the case, the difficulty for the company is that they're having to find the 20% even though you're not a "productive" employee (no fault of your own, mind).
If you really can't afford the cut then by all means decline it, but if you can then maybe consider it. When things go back to normal I'm sure they will remember and appreciate your gesture.

Fi_Bailey

Hi TheAble, I am getting 80% pay and cannot work anywhere else to make up the difference. They are not paying me the 20% to make up the difference. The going back to "normal" is the issue, they have given me no indication of how long this temporary cut is for, only to say, it will be reviewed on a monthly basis and it would be their hope that they can reinstate salary rates as soon as it is practical to do so. 

TheAble

Fi_Bailey said:

Hi TheAble, I am getting 80% pay and cannot work anywhere else to make up the difference. They are not paying me the 20% to make up the difference. The going back to "normal" is the issue, they have given me no indication of how long this temporary cut is for, only to say, it will be reviewed on a monthly basis and it would be their hope that they can reinstate salary rates as soon as it is practical to do so. 

Ok, that puts it in a little more context. I assumed the "temporary" meant "while you are being furloughed."
In which case I would say it's rather more simple - just decline the pay cut. They're asking you to take it rather earlier than they need to after all - who knows what business will be like when things have lifted?

Fi_Bailey

" Temporary" is not made clear and does not refer to, "whilst I'm been furloughed" Just that it will be a temporary measure that will be reviewed on a monthy basis. I am very confused as to decline or negotiate, will I loose my job, I dont know the Law associated with these situations. Very confused and frightened of loosing my house, etc

sharpe106

Will you lose you job? Nobody on here knows. Your company may be trying to pull a fast one or they may have no other choice. If you decline to sign it the two main options are that they can either carry or as you are now or make you redundant basically. They can't sack you for not signing it.