Contract terminated whilst on furlough

Wool2709

Hi all
today I received an email from my work saying that my contract has been terminated with one weeks notice

The reason stated was money saving cuts due to Covid-19 effect on business. 

I am on furlough so am not a financial burden on the company. 

I was due to start back on July 4th as it is a posh cafe business. 

I am contracted, a supervisor. The majority of staff are zero hours (only managers and supervisors have contracted hours). 

The franchisee has 7 other outlets.  I am the only person that has been terminated out of 50 staff. 

There has been no communication with myself - to see if I’d be willing to reduce hours etc. 

Last week we were told to prepare for return to work. I replied and asked what safety precautions had been put in place, would I be able to keep my phone on silent as I have the track and trace app - I feel a little anxious about being forward facing with the public as I have been super strict and not seen anyone outside of my household for 14 weeks. 

I did not get a response to those questions. 

I am so confused as to if I can be singled out and why they won’t keep me on furlough - I am one of two people at our store who rely on the job to feed family and pay bills, the others are young students who live at home and use money for clothes and drinking etc. 

I don’t feel like I have been treated fairly. I have replied to the email to ask for a more in-depth explanation and to ask if I can be retained on furlough until end of July but I am being ignored 🤷‍♀️

Any advise would be gratefully received. 

Mrsn

How long have you been employed there? 

As for remaining on furlough until
the end of July they are extremely unlikely to do this, the point of the scheme is to keep the role from redundancy and don’t feel this is appropriate any longer.

Wool2709

Would like to add that I have been employed since November - it is a new business to the U.K. 
Most staff  have been here less than myself so not a case of last in first out. 

Thrugelmir

There's going to be greatly reduced operating capacity. Unfortunately there's going to be headcount reduction whether it's contracted or non contracted staff. Understandable that you take it personally. When from the managements perspective it's not. 

Wool2709

Mrsn said:

How long have you been employed there? 

As for remaining on furlough until
the end of July they are extremely unlikely to do this, the point of the scheme is to keep the role from redundancy and don’t feel this is appropriate any longer.

Just added that info!

We are the busiest store in the company and it will undoubtedly pick up. I was promoted within a few months of working there as I was a hard working and well liked team member. 

I guess my real question is can they just get rid of one person, me?  Seems wholly unfair. 

Wool2709

Thrugelmir said:

There's going to be greatly reduced operating capacity. Unfortunately there's going to be headcount reduction whether it's contracted or non contracted staff. Understandable that you take it personally. When from the managements perspective it's not. 

It’s hard not to take it personally when I am the only person to be terminated though. I put so much effort into helping make the business successful, hence my quick promotion. 

Grumpy_chap

Sadly, you don't have many rights with such short service.
You can ask what their selection criteria were.
Maybe they saw your challenges:
"asked what safety precautions had been put in place, would I be able to keep my phone on silent as I have the track and trace app - I feel a little anxious about being forward facing with the public as I have been super strict and not seen anyone outside of my household for 14 weeks."
as an indication you did not want to return to work, or would cause trouble if you did.  No company wants a disgruntled employee, especially not in a customer-facing role.
Sadly, this has been a common question from other posters, and the regular contributors have pretty much unanimously said "consider whether you'll be first in the queue for no job".  That is exactly what has happened here.

Why were you being so strict?  Are you in the shielding group?

How do you know no-one else is affected?

JCS1

As others are on zero hours, they have no obligation to pay them if they don't work.  One way to save overheads is therefore to reduce contracted staff.

As long as it's not for a protected characteristic, with under 2 years service, there is very little you can do other than make sure they pay what is owed.

jjames1985

Wool2709 said:

Mrsn said:

How long have you been employed there? 

As for remaining on furlough until
the end of July they are extremely unlikely to do this, the point of the scheme is to keep the role from redundancy and don’t feel this is appropriate any longer.

Just added that info!

We are the busiest store in the company and it will undoubtedly pick up. I was promoted within a few months of working there as I was a hard working and well liked team member. 

I guess my real question is can they just get rid of one person, me?  Seems wholly unfair. 

With less than 2 years of service, yes they can.  Assuming they didn't get rid of you because you "rocked the boat" ( and it doesn't sound like they did)  then I don't see how it's unfair. If they need one less person than they have employed than they fire one person.  And that one person has to be someone. Unfortunately for you, it's you.

Grumpy_chap

You are probably best to leave on as good terms as possible.  You might get to return when the work picks up, or you need a good reference.

Wool2709

Grumpy_chap said:

Sadly, you don't have many rights with such short service.
You can ask what their selection criteria were.
Maybe they saw your challenges:
"asked what safety precautions had been put in place, would I be able to keep my phone on silent as I have the track and trace app - I feel a little anxious about being forward facing with the public as I have been super strict and not seen anyone outside of my household for 14 weeks."
as an indication you did not want to return to work, or would cause trouble if you did.  No company wants a disgruntled employee, especially not in a customer-facing role.
Sadly, this has been a common question from other posters, and the regular contributors have pretty much unanimously said "consider whether you'll be first in the queue for no job".  That is exactly what has happened here.

Why were you being so strict?  Are you in the shielding group?

How do you know no-one else is affected?

Because the virus scares me! 

I just asked basic questions on our group chat that myself and others were concerned about. 

I’ve been strict as in taken government advice and not done anything unnecessary. Although I’m not at risk, I’ve spent a lot of time in hospital already for other reasons and don’t want to jeopardise my immediate family as that’s all I’ve got 🤷‍♀️