Furlough scheme help & questions

AlfieClements

Hi, I hope someone can give me some help.
I work for a council owned Sport Centre which is obviously closed and they are refusing to furlough me despite furloughing pretty much everyone else. They have said that because I am a university student I haven't worked enough recently to deserve it essentially(I worked 8/12 months in the last tax year). I have worked here for 4 years and really rely on this income. I have been appealing this for 2 months now and hardly have got any response. The reason they give is that they wanted to top everyone else's wage up to 100% but can't afford to do everyone so they had to set a criteria. Questions:
1. Could they choose to pay everyone else the 100% and if you don't meet their 'criteria' just pay 80% on the furlough scheme.
2. When is it too late to be furloughed?
3. Why haven't they furloughed me? Like honestly, is there any good reason not to on 80%, they have basically told me theres other jobs going elsewhere so go find one if you need money.
4. Do I have any legal highground with this, I know no employer has to furlough anyone but can I talk to anyone who can help?
Please help as I have had the opportunity of financial support taken away from me for no good reason.
Thanks you.

Jeremy535897

You should be paid what your contract of employment says. Are you on a zero hours contract? Today is normally the last day you can be furloughed.

Grumpy_chap

You are too late now to be furloughed if you have not already been furloughed.
However, work or no work and furlough or no furlough, your contract of employment still stands.  How is that structured and what does it say about lay-off?  You have been there 4 years which starts to give you some rights but, as a student job, you possibly have a contract that is very flexible (to give you flexibility normally) and they are now using that flexibility to their benefit.
Are you paid by them PAYE or self-employed?

AlfieClements

Jeremy535897 said:

You should be paid what your contract of employment says. Are you on a zero hours contract? Today is normally the last day you can be furloughed.

Hi, thanks for the response. Yes I am on zero-hours. They have basically said that they made a criteria such that you have to have worked 6 straight months coming up to furlough otherwise they don't think you qualify essentially, feel pretty let down by them personally. I have worked 34/40 months prior to closing in March.

AlfieClements

Grumpy_chap said:

You are too late now to be furloughed if you have not already been furloughed.
However, work or no work and furlough or no furlough, your contract of employment still stands.  How is that structured and what does it say about lay-off?  You have been there 4 years which starts to give you some rights but, as a student job, you possibly have a contract that is very flexible (to give you flexibility normally) and they are now using that flexibility to their benefit.
Are you paid by them PAYE or self-employed?

That's a real shame, I will have missed out on so much financial support when I really need it. I am unsure as technically I haven't been laid off yet just have no obligation to be working so I am unsure. I am paid via PAYE so I 100% could have been furloughed, they basically said they do not want to be spending public money on me...

Grumpy_chap

I am surprised that, as it is a Council-owned sports center that they could furlough anybody as there were restrictions on public funded businesses being able to use furlough. 

AlfieClements

Grumpy_chap said:

I am surprised that, as it is a Council-owned sports center that they could furlough anybody as there were restrictions on public funded businesses being able to use furlough. 

We are a sports centre, some people have been redeployed but we cant all be made to go do a job that is completely different.

Jeremy535897

It seems that they have made a decision about who to furlough, and have decided not to furlough you. It is too late now for them to change their mind. If you have a standard zero hour contract they don't have to offer you work, but check your contract of employment. It sounds like they have used objective criteria for selecting who they furlough, and haven't discriminated (within employment law), so there isn't much else you can do.