Asked to return from furlough on vastly reduced hours

pjcox2005

Jeremy535897 said:

That would be a shame. As you have such a long period of service, and a contract that states you should work about 40 hours a week, you have accrued a considerable amount of redundancy rights. I am not an employment (or any sort of) lawyer, but I think that an employer asking you to reduce hours from 40 to 15 could be constructive dismissal. Even if your contract does not enhance redundancy from the statutory minimum, you should have 12 weeks of entitlement. See:
https://www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/redundancy-pay

I cannot imagine that they want to be landed with this sort of bill, so there should be some room for compromise.

Just for clarity I’m reading it that work want OP back full time, but OP has said they can’t due to children. The OP has then demonstrated that they can only work 15hrs so they’ve said come back on that basis. As such, it seems like OP is requesting reduced hours not the company. If company say they have to come back full time then the OP is stuck.
Would your comments still apply in that situation? [OP - apologies if I’ve misread it]

Other points to consider - are either of you key workers for nursery/school support? Can either of you flex your hours more to increase your time at work, or partner take a days holiday a week short term to help. Have you read through changes to furlough as I thought the second stage was to make it more flexible e.g. don’t have to be back full time, but this remains at discretion of employer.

i don’t envy your position which is very difficult but compromise seems best as I’m not sure how many jobs will be about in the next year (although you’ll know your industry better)

Potbellypig

A lot of years of service to throw away. You need to work with them on this, with perhaps having to make some decisions which are not favourable to your current lifestyle. 

Grumpy_chap

It looks like your employer is making every reasonable effort ('bending over backwards') to support you meet your childcare needs while they meet the needs of the business.  Once there is any work to do, then furlough can no longer apply.  I think a sensible conversation with your employer could yield practical outcomes.

• It looks like you do a standard 40-ish hour week in standard normal office hours.
• There are 15 hours within this window that you can wok easily enough and still meet childcare needs and your wife's working hours.
• Could you do more hours by flexi-time, early starts or late finishes, or even weekend days?
• Could you do more hours working from home?  That might be suitable if your children are old enough to not need constant supervision.
• If you can't do full hours, is the employer offering any top up above the reduced hours as a short-term measure.
• Are you only asking for a very short term adjustment if the schools will be open in June - you do not say whether your children are school age.
• Does your wife have any flexibility in the hours she works that would mean you can still meet child care and you would be available for more hours that suit your employer?

It really does sound form your OP that your employer wants to be as supportive, flexible and accommodating as they possibly can.  Remember, you are likely not the only one that will ask similar questions, and the Government advice is to avoid rush-hour public transport where possible so that might add to your request for non-standard hours.

The employer could refuse and insist on standard and full hours.  You could refuse to go back to work other than the 15 hours (and risk disciplinary) or you could resign.  These steps seem like an over-reaction, especially as first port of call.  Certainly if I was the employer and I was trying to work things out amicably and I was just thanked by employee threatening to resign, I would then think maybe best washed-hand of that employee.

You are so lucky to have a good employer that is trying to be supportive - don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

dantine

Grumpy_chap said:

It looks like your employer is making every reasonable effort ('bending over backwards') to support you meet your childcare needs while they meet the needs of the business.  Once there is any work to do, then furlough can no longer apply.  I think a sensible conversation with your employer could yield practical outcomes.

• It looks like you do a standard 40-ish hour week in standard normal office hours.
• There are 15 hours within this window that you can wok easily enough and still meet childcare needs and your wife's working hours.
• Could you do more hours by flexi-time, early starts or late finishes, or even weekend days?
• Could you do more hours working from home?  That might be suitable if your children are old enough to not need constant supervision.
• If you can't do full hours, is the employer offering any top up above the reduced hours as a short-term measure.
• Are you only asking for a very short term adjustment if the schools will be open in June - you do not say whether your children are school age.
• Does your wife have any flexibility in the hours she works that would mean you can still meet child care and you would be available for more hours that suit your employer?

It really does sound form your OP that your employer wants to be as supportive, flexible and accommodating as they possibly can.  Remember, you are likely not the only one that will ask similar questions, and the Government advice is to avoid rush-hour public transport where possible so that might add to your request for non-standard hours.

The employer could refuse and insist on standard and full hours.  You could refuse to go back to work other than the 15 hours (and risk disciplinary) or you could resign.  These steps seem like an over-reaction, especially as first port of call.  Certainly if I was the employer and I was trying to work things out amicably and I was just thanked by employee threatening to resign, I would then think maybe best washed-hand of that employee.

You are so lucky to have a good employer that is trying to be supportive - don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Thanks for your reply.
There are a few issues that I think muddy the water, hence me not posting them initially.    I have counted, and whilst furloughed I have been given about 50 jobs to do to keep others working.      As they are now slowly bringing people back now they have looked at that and are thinking I need to return because of this as the dependency will only increase.     I don't believe two wrongs make a right however.

Also the type of work I am to be tasked with, we were in dispute and had been for over a year.   I had been asked to pick up a form colleagues work who had been made redundant (unrelated work, that I am not qualified to do and have never done before - it constitutes a career change not just something easily absorbed) and had disputed that I should add this to my daily tasks without a new job description, which was refused - this is the only work they would want to give me working from home - and if I accept it, then within a week or two I have accepted it and can be essentially disciplined for being poor at it.    Again, two wrongs don't make a right so I had removed them from my question.

lincroft1710

The problem is threefold 

1. Your childcare arrangements are your affair, your employer does not have to have regard to these.

2. It is entirely up to your employer if you are furloughed or not. As they have work for you, furloughing is no longer appropriate.

3. You appear not to have a sympathetic employer.

It seems that the year long dispute about the extra work may have soured relations between you and your employer. A change in job description is not mandatory. They may be looking for a way to ease you out and if so and they play it well, you could end up with an easily defended dismissal rather than redundancy.

You know your industry and employer much, much better than we do. Think long and hard about the consequences of any action you take or do not take.

Gonna-be-debt-free

I might be missing something.  If you need to work around your wife's hours for childcare, if you quit won't you be in an even worse position?  Isn't 37.5% of your pay better than 0% (even if you would rather have 80%)?

Grumpy_chap

With the new information shared by the OP, it seems there was a possibly soured relationship before coronavirus.

Why not do what you have to do in the short-term, even if that means the other duties you are less happy about?  That will keep funds coming in, rather than resigning in the heat of things.

You can then look for something altogether more suitable for yourself.  Given that you are in IT, I suspect the level of work going forward will be generally as high as it was previously and there could even be new opportunities if increased home-working become the norm as additional IT-support will be needed.

Thrugelmir

There'll be plenty of people searching for employment in the weeks and months that lie ahead. While points of principle are all very well. You need to decide what's best for you at the current time. Having some income is better than no income. Also being flexible as to the hours you could potentially work. Bottom line is that survival of the entire business is more important than you. No one is playing games nor wishes to spend/waste their time with employees seen as troublesome. Nothing personal just the manner of business. 

sharpe106

Not wanting to point out the obvious, but does your wife have any flexibility in her hours?

 You can refuse to go back to work on the hours you can do and they can refuse to carry on furloughing you what would happen then would be up to the company.