Employer expecting people to work at home during Furlough

Rich0310

My daughter has been on Furlough leave for about 6 weeks. Her boss keeps giving her work to do from home - approx. 4 hours a day. This is income generating work. She has been paid 80% of her wages and we are assuming this has been paid out of Government funds claimed under the Job Retention Scheme. He even gets rude and nasty if the work isn't done when he wants it done. We know the law is that no work can be done during Furlough leave, but if she says anything to him he is the sort of person who will lay her off.
 What can be done to protect her employment and make a complaint against the employer who is abusing this situation - is this fraud?

sharpe106

The only thing she  can do is report it to HMRC. Yes it is abusing the situation and fraud. However rightly or wrongly if she does report him and he has to pay it back, will her manager know who reported them i.e. is it a small team or only her they are given work to so they will soon figure it out. If they have to pay it back would it make the company going bust, so she loses here job anyway. A lot easier to say no report it when it does not effect you. 

unholyangel

Yes its fraud. 

In her position I would get a new job and then report the employer to hmrc. Has she ever actually agreed to the 80% and does her contract set minimum hours and a rate of pay (whether hourly, weekly or monthly) for those hours? If she hasn't agreed and her contract does specify such information (not zero hours for instance), then she could also potentially claim unlawful deduction. 

gary83

unholyangel said:

Yes its fraud. 

In her position I would get a new job and then report the employer to hmrc. 

Totally agree with you, however the advice to get a new job at the moment might not be the most useful. It’s not exactly an easy time to be looking for work, nor a good time to stand by your principles and resign. It’s easy to say that’s what I’d do. We all now that’s the right thing to do, unfortunately, the employer is probably taking advantage &relying on everyone not being too keen to join the mass ranks of unemployed at the moment.

Hermann

Rich0310 said:

My daughter has been on Furlough leave for about 6 weeks. Her boss keeps giving her work to do from home - approx. 4 hours a day. This is income generating work. She has been paid 80% of her wages and we are assuming this has been paid out of Government funds claimed under the Job Retention Scheme. He even gets rude and nasty if the work isn't done when he wants it done. We know the law is that no work can be done during Furlough leave, but if she says anything to him he is the sort of person who will lay her off.
 What can be done to protect her employment and make a complaint against the employer who is abusing this situation - is this fraud?

Does your daughter have a written agreement furloughing her?

What has made you assume the employer has made a claim under the CJRS?

unholyangel

gary83 said:

unholyangel said:

Yes its fraud. 

In her position I would get a new job and then report the employer to hmrc. 

Totally agree with you, however the advice to get a new job at the moment might not be the most useful. It’s not exactly an easy time to be looking for work, nor a good time to stand by your principles and resign. It’s easy to say that’s what I’d do. We all now that’s the right thing to do, unfortunately, the employer is probably taking advantage &relying on everyone not being too keen to join the mass ranks of unemployed at the moment.

I didn't say it had to be now  

Rich0310

Thanks for the advice. She does have a Furlough agreement. I think we will best wait and she can look for a new job on the meantime.

Fire_Fox

Rich0310 said:

Thanks for the advice. She does have a Furlough agreement. I think we will best wait and she can look for a new job on the meantime.

Your daughter should be seeking her own advice and making her own decisions. With your support of course. 

neilmcl

Rich0310 said:

Thanks for the advice. She does have a Furlough agreement. I think we will best wait and she can look for a new job on the meantime.

Does she have documented evidence that she's being asked to work?

She can report the employer to HMRC via https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/customs-excise-and-vat-fraud-reporting

mattyprice4004

Yeah, that's fraud and needs to be reported. 

bradders1983

As an aside, I see the thread about the poor poor hotel worker being forced to go back to work against his own will was deleted. Can you request your own threads get deleted?