Furlough To Sick Pay Query

nunez_r

Hi everyone, I have a query on behalf of my partner around furlough/sick pay. My partner works in retail and was in the process of discussing returning to work with her employer, she is currently on furlough pay as until we manage to sort childcare she’s unable to return, however yesterday she had quite a bad fall and we’ve found out today she has a broken foot and must wear a boot for 4-6 weeks. Today she rang her store and spoke to the manager and explained what’s happened. Her boss has said she will have to discuss it with HR as she pay have to come off furlough pay and be put on SSP, does anyone know if this would be the case as it’s obviously going to mean a loss in income when she wasn’t going to be able to return just yet anyway due to the childcare situation and they have previously told her she could remain on furlough until at least the end of July if it’s needed until we’ve managed to sort the childcare out!! Any help or advice would be much appreciated 😁

poppy12345

Technically yes SSP is all she's entitled to, providing she qualifies. As she was due to return to work the furlough would have ended anyway. If she was unable to return to work because of child care issues then SSP will mean she's better off because otherwise it would have been unpaid leave.

nunez_r

poppy12345 said:

Technically yes SSP is all she's entitled to, providing she qualifies. As she was due to return to work the furlough would have ended anyway. If she was unable to return to work because of child care issues then SSP will mean she's better off because otherwise it would have been unpaid leave.

She wasn’t due to return exactly, she’s been in discussions around potentially returning for around 2 weeks as with all the staff, most of her store staff have returned but they don’t have problems surrounding having to get childcare in order for her to attend work. She is still on furlough and was informed she shouldn’t feel pressured to return as she can remain on furlough until the end of July and hopefully at that point we could return to having family help us out with childcare like pre lockdown. I guess my point is she was unable to return to work yet anyway and was still going to be furloughed for atleast another month regardless of breaking her foot or not is transferring her to sick pay necessary or the correct thing to do? 

sharpe106

They have a choice they can furlough or SSP it is up to them.

Mrsn

It will ultimately be HR’s decision, they may be sympathetic to the situation and allow furlough to continue but they don’t have too.

I understand from your point of view about you don’t feel it’s any different than if she just stayed on furlough but actually with furlough they can recall at very little notice whether there’s childcare issues or not (and without being unkind that’s not their concern if they did want her in) and she won’t be able to do that with the foot situation and that’s the difference. 

nunez_r

Mrsn said:

It will ultimately be HR’s decision, they may be sympathetic to the situation and allow furlough to continue but they don’t have too.

I understand from your point of view about you don’t feel it’s any different than if she just stayed on furlough but actually with furlough they can recall at very little notice whether there’s childcare issues or not (and without being unkind that’s not their concern if they did want her in) and she won’t be able to do that with the foot situation and that’s the difference. 

Yeah I understand what you mean the foot situation has obviously not helped really as that will be the focus point of her not returning to work yet I reckon, I get they can recall at any point they kind of have done with other staff but they don’t have any reason to not return hence whilst there back in but I’m guessing they couldn’t force a return to work if we’re unable to get childcare due to the government guidelines? But I see what you mean fingers crossed they see a sympathetic view to the situation after all it’s not as if it’s coming out of the companies pocket at least for another month so surely not sweat from there point of view? 

poppy12345

nunez_r said:

Mrsn said:

It will ultimately be HR’s decision, they may be sympathetic to the situation and allow furlough to continue but they don’t have too.

I understand from your point of view about you don’t feel it’s any different than if she just stayed on furlough but actually with furlough they can recall at very little notice whether there’s childcare issues or not (and without being unkind that’s not their concern if they did want her in) and she won’t be able to do that with the foot situation and that’s the difference. 

  but I’m guessing they couldn’t force a return to work if we’re unable to get childcare due to the government guidelines?

No they can't but if they choose not to continue to furlough an employee then it would normally mean unpaid leave.

However, if you're living in England i do believe that from 4th July the rules change and childcare can resume, if grandparents were looking after grandchildren.

nunez_r

poppy12345 said:

nunez_r said:

Mrsn said:

It will ultimately be HR’s decision, they may be sympathetic to the situation and allow furlough to continue but they don’t have too.

I understand from your point of view about you don’t feel it’s any different than if she just stayed on furlough but actually with furlough they can recall at very little notice whether there’s childcare issues or not (and without being unkind that’s not their concern if they did want her in) and she won’t be able to do that with the foot situation and that’s the difference. 

  but I’m guessing they couldn’t force a return to work if we’re unable to get childcare due to the government guidelines?

No they can't but if they choose not to continue to furlough an employee then it would normally mean unpaid leave.

However, if you're living in England i do believe that from 4th July the rules change and childcare can resume, if grandparents were looking after grandchildren.

I’ll have to look into the childcare guidance further as I know boris states 1 other household could mix with another an even stay over but would still require 1m social distancing which if that’s the guidance around childcare it’s not possible is it, i guess we’ll have to see the outcome of what HR are willing to do  

gary83

nunez_r said:

Yeah I understand what you mean the foot situation has obviously not helped really as that will be the focus point of her not returning to work yet I reckon, I get they can recall at any point they kind of have done with other staff but they don’t have any reason to not return hence whilst there back in but I’m guessing they couldn’t force a return to work if we’re unable to get childcare due to the government guidelines? But I see what you mean fingers crossed they see a sympathetic view to the situation after all it’s not as if it’s coming out of the companies pocket at least for another month so surely not sweat from there point of view? 

The companies main priority is making sure their work gets done and they stay viable, to put it bluntly their employees childcare issues are probably near the bottom of their worries right now. Also It’s not just about the finances, whilst your right for another month that money comes straight from the government and goes out your other half will continue to build up holiday time. 

In addition the other things the company might be thinking about is if they have work to get on with, that’s what they employ your wife for, if they can manage without her now then if times get tougher in future then why not cut back on staff permanently? They might also think about the problems it could potentially cause in the workplace, if they allow a handful of staff to remain on furlough at home on 80% will the staff in working for only an extra 20% have any bad feeling towards the “lucky few” as they might see it who get to remain at home because they have kids. Would this lead to a whole load of other people requesting/ demanding furlough so the company don’t have enough people to get the work done?

gary83

nunez_r said:

poppy12345 said:

nunez_r said:

Mrsn said:

It will ultimately be HR’s decision, they may be sympathetic to the situation and allow furlough to continue but they don’t have too.

I understand from your point of view about you don’t feel it’s any different than if she just stayed on furlough but actually with furlough they can recall at very little notice whether there’s childcare issues or not (and without being unkind that’s not their concern if they did want her in) and she won’t be able to do that with the foot situation and that’s the difference. 

  but I’m guessing they couldn’t force a return to work if we’re unable to get childcare due to the government guidelines?

No they can't but if they choose not to continue to furlough an employee then it would normally mean unpaid leave.

However, if you're living in England i do believe that from 4th July the rules change and childcare can resume, if grandparents were looking after grandchildren.

I’ll have to look into the childcare guidance further as I know boris states 1 other household could mix with another an even stay over but would still require 1m social distancing which if that’s the guidance around childcare it’s not possible is it, i guess we’ll have to see the outcome of what HR are willing to do  

How old are the kid or kids? Where would they have been usually whilst your wife was at work? 

Whilst it’s worth having the conversation with HR & good luck with that it’s not really practical to expect everyone in the country with kids to remain on furlough and off work. Might be worth hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

nunez_r

gary83 said:

nunez_r said:

poppy12345 said:

nunez_r said:

Mrsn said:

It will ultimately be HR’s decision, they may be sympathetic to the situation and allow furlough to continue but they don’t have too.

I understand from your point of view about you don’t feel it’s any different than if she just stayed on furlough but actually with furlough they can recall at very little notice whether there’s childcare issues or not (and without being unkind that’s not their concern if they did want her in) and she won’t be able to do that with the foot situation and that’s the difference. 

  but I’m guessing they couldn’t force a return to work if we’re unable to get childcare due to the government guidelines?

No they can't but if they choose not to continue to furlough an employee then it would normally mean unpaid leave.

However, if you're living in England i do believe that from 4th July the rules change and childcare can resume, if grandparents were looking after grandchildren.

I’ll have to look into the childcare guidance further as I know boris states 1 other household could mix with another an even stay over but would still require 1m social distancing which if that’s the guidance around childcare it’s not possible is it, i guess we’ll have to see the outcome of what HR are willing to do  

How old are the kid or kids? Where would they have been usually whilst your wife was at work? 

Whilst it’s worth having the conversation with HR & good luck with that it’s not really practical to expect everyone in the country with kids to remain on furlough and off work. Might be worth hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

My son is 4 and in reception which is usually where he would be which we currently have 2 problems with, 1 our primary school is still only issuing places to key workers such as nurses, police etc and 2 my partners mum would usually take our child or pick him up depending on shifts etc so our issue at the minute is he can’t go to school even if my partner worked around school times and because his nan isn’t allowed to come within 2 meters of him currently it’s not as if she can look after him whilst she works 🤷🏼 We’re not holding our breathe but we can only hope HR work with us or help us out some way but like the majority of people have stated it’s not their priority really