Need to quarantine , employer enforcing holidays!

Grumpy_chap

Your employer seems to have been very fair.  You are not available for work while quarantined so using annual leave seems reasonable.

Tedburgundy

MadMattUK said:

Tedburgundy said:

I was waiting for the negative post to pop up, you have no idea about my circumstances.  I went on holiday before this all started and got stuck when air travel was banned across Europe.  I contacted the foreign office who told me to stay put , especially as I have a 7 month old child.  My entire department have been furloughed and only recently returned so don’t make assumptions about being ‘fired’. Why do people like you even bother posting! Only after some advice.

My point is that you are complaining that they are making you take two weeks holiday, when you in fact have been paid for months when they did not have to pay you, it would be good to have some perspective. 
Companies might have furloughed people, but they are also looking to cut costs, even more so going forward. Giving them a get out of jail free card to dismiss you is not a wise move under any circumstances, but even more so with the current and expected future state of the jobs market. 
It is reflective that you went on holiday during the beginning of the pandemic, chose not to return when advised, now claim that "air travel was banned across Europe", which it was not. Repatriation flights have were always taking place even when commercial flights were not and commercial flights only stopped for a few days within the EU.
The point is it is two weeks holiday you are being required to use, alternatively they can put you on unpaid leave, they have furloughed you even though you were not compliant with the scheme and on top of that they have topped up your income, yet you resent them asking you to use some annual leave, it seems you have a complete lack of perspective. 

You have no clue! You respond as if I wanted to be in this situation, please find me the details of the repatriation flight out of the Greek islands? I have a lot of perspective, I want to go to work, I don’t want to quarantine! I simply didn’t like the manner in which they have went about it and thus wanted some advice.   

[Deleted User]

Tedburgundy said:

I have a lot of perspective

You are doing a very good job of demonstrating that you do not.

Tedburgundy said:
I want to go to work, I don’t want to quarantine!

I do not think many people want to quarantine, however it is required by law and means that you are not available for work, which is a requirement of the furlough scheme, so you could either take holiday or take unpaid leave.

Sibbers123

You need to think about this very carefully.

You are currently furloughed - your employer can take you off furlough at any point they want to (it is not compulsory they put you on furlough). If you right a snotty email saying, you can't make me take my holiday, the first thing i would be doing as an employer is replying saying 'you can't make me keep you on furlough', so those 14 days leave will be unpaid leave.

Your employer has been topping up your wages for the last 3 months, I suggest you take this on the chin.

bradders1983

You are also marking yourself out for future unpleasantness (missed promotions, no overtime, redundancy). You may not be top of the popularity list as it is for being in Greece since March, whether this is your own fault or not is irrelevant.  Sometimes it is wise to pick your battles.

phillw

Tedburgundy said:

Yeah I understand, it’s more the fact that they have just sprung it on me when they no I have to isolate when I return.  I had a letter saying my holidays would still accrue whilst being furloughed also, pretty pointless if they are making me use them to isolate.

Are they making you use them or are they giving you the choice of taking it as unpaid leave?
If your usual job can be done from home then you could ask if they would let you do that.
If you can't work from home because you are still furloughed then it sounds a little weird, but then I don't understand why you would tell them you are returning and have to quarantine.

Jonesy1977

Tedburgundy said:

I was waiting for the negative post to pop up, you have no idea about my circumstances.  I went on holiday before this all started and got stuck when air travel was banned across Europe.  I contacted the foreign office who told me to stay put , especially as I have a 7 month old child.  My entire department have been furloughed and only recently returned so don’t make assumptions about being ‘fired’. Why do people like you even bother posting! Only after some advice

 They have the right legally and arguably morally.   

epm-84

MadMattUK said:

To be fair to your employer you are lucky that they have furloughed you, a requirement of furlough is that you "keep yourself available for work", which is something you have not been doing if you have been in Greece all this time, they could have quite easily placed you on unpaid leave, certainly not topped you up and probably even have fired you as you would have been able to get back from Greece long before now. 

Yet we have also been told it is fine for employers to furlough people who can't work if it relates to COVID-19.  That has included people who live with high risk people and can't work from home or those who have children at home due to schools being closed and can't arrange childcare.  Presumably in those cases it works because the person is available to return as soon as the COVID-19 related reason for them being off work is no longer an issue e.g. the schools reopening, the school summer holidays starting (meaning schools being closed is irrelevant) or the risk of someone taking COVID-19 home to a vulnerable person is significantly reduced.  When Martin Lewis took a question from someone who was stuck in Spain he said his understanding was that person could be furloughed.

epm-84

Tedburgundy said:

Yeah I understand, it’s more the fact that they have just sprung it on me when they no I have to isolate when I return.  I had a letter saying my holidays would still accrue whilst being furloughed also, pretty pointless if they are making me use them to isolate.

The government guidance says you incur holidays as usual on furlough but also allows employers to ask you to take annual leave while on furlough as long as you get 100% pay for the days you are on annual leave.

I wouldn't say it's 'pretty pointless' as without it you would have lost a week of paid leave.

[Deleted User]

epm-84 said:
When Martin Lewis took a question from someone who was stuck in Spain he said his understanding was that person could be furloughed.

Martin has also been very clear, as indeed is the legislation and guidance that there is a huge difference between "could", "eligible" and "will be". 

The reality is that a lot of companies are looking to shed staff, many will be looking to do so with the least productive and least "compliant" members of their teams. If someone is being particularly combative or difficult then they put themselves at the top of that list.