Furlough

aaron435893

Hi 
back in March before furlough was a thing. I placed myself on unpaid leave as I didn’t want to attend the supermarket in which I do tactical merchandising work being an asthmatic. When the furlough scheme came out I was hoping the company would place me on furlough, but they absolutely refused to do this without the shielding letter, which I didn’t have. Then a couple of weeks back I had an email out the blue stating I would be placed on furlough from April 26th. When I asked for this to be put back to the start of furlough scheme 19th March they have refused. Any ideas what I can do? Or is it just a case of accepting this? Means loosing out on 5/6 weeks money which the government would pay the company for anyway?

thanks  

bradders1983

You can do nothing, with all due respect the supermarkets didnt have to place anyone on furlough and any that did was a goodwill gesture.

sharpe106

You did not attend work through your own choice, if they back date the claim what would that say to the other employees who attended work?

Lyndylew

Hi! I work at a nursery I'm on furlough but not sure if it is furlough we found out that our Boss is paying our furlough using government funded Childrens fees (ie 30hrs nursery government scheme), is this legal? we have also been asked when we come back to drop some hrs or for anyone to take voluntary redundancy is this legal if what Boss is doing isn't legal?

Grumpy_chap

@aaron435893 - I think you have just got to take this as it is and consider furlough from April as pretty good all things considered.

@Lyndylew - I am not sure that I understand your question(s). 
There are restrictions on the ability of Government funded organisations to claim furlough - you would need to see how that affects the nursery. 
I think you are saying at the moment you are not working and receiving 80% pay, but you don't know how that is being funded.  To a certain extent, how it is being funded is the concern of the employer and not the employee (unless it is clearly illegal funds from a drug cartel or something).
In the future, you can be asked to take shorter hours and the alternative to that may be redundancy.  Normal contractual rights remain (unless you agree to a change) and redundancy rules apply.  You do not have to agree to the shorter hours.  Why is the nursery going to have fewer children in the future than they have now?

Tomatoni

Hi I work in the food superstore that was open all the time during Covid-19. My husband is a disabled person. On the 16th March 2020 we got phone call from our surgery informing us that my husband is at high risk. We were told that my husband needs to stay at home and to be shielded for 12 weeks and a shielding letter we should receive by 29th March 2020. To shield my husband and others I asked my company fo advice. Without shielding letter I could not get furlough but still I was able to get two weeks of holiday and after two weeks holiday I got unpaid leave. As we did not get shielding letter on the 06 April 2020 my husband called his surgery. Only then my husband was informed that the medical criteria has been changed on 24th April 2020 and he was not on high risk list any more? From 4th April 2020 I am on unpaid leave. After all I wonder if I have right to ask my employer for furlough?

sharpe106

Why can't you return to work?

poppy12345

Tomatoni said:

Hi I work in the food superstore that was open all the time during Covid-19. My husband is a disabled person. On the 16th March 2020 we got phone call from our surgery informing us that my husband is at high risk. We were told that my husband needs to stay at home and to be shielded for 12 weeks and a shielding letter we should receive by 29th March 2020. To shield my husband and others I asked my company fo advice. Without shielding letter I could not get furlough but still I was able to get two weeks of holiday and after two weeks holiday I got unpaid leave. As we did not get shielding letter on the 06 April 2020 my husband called his surgery. Only then my husband was informed that the medical criteria has been changed on 24th April 2020 and he was not on high risk list any more? From 4th April 2020 I am on unpaid leave. After all I wonder if I have right to ask my employer for furlough?

No, you don't have any rights. If work is available then you won't be furloughed. Unpaid leave is correct. Was the reason you didn't go to work because your husband was originally advised to shield? Even if the advice didn't chenge, lots of people have continued to work all through lockdown and they live with extremely vulnerable people. They just have to stick to strict hygiene rules when returning home from work.

When your husbands GP changed the advice was there any reason why you didn't return to work?

I'd advise you to start your own thread next time, asking questions on other peoples threads causes a lot of confusion.