I've only just been told i'm on furlough whilst working since march

henreeather

jimkelly said:

Did you sign and return a letter stating that you agreed to be furloughed?  That’s the usual procedure.

never received the letter he claimed to have sent. not signed anything either. only just been sent an email with the letter that was supposedly posted to my home address dated march, which could have been written this morning for all i know

macman

To state the obvious, you cannot do any productive work for your employer while you are on furlough. Them calling it 'volunteering' simply does not get them off the hook.

Gonna-be-debt-free

Have you spoken to them about it since you found out?  There is the possibility that it is a genuine (albeit monumental) error.  Particularly if there are a large number of staff that were furloughed is it possible that it was a communications error where one manager thought you were to be furloughed, but another thought you were not furloughed and therefore gave you work.

I would suggest you quite forcefully point out to them that you have not been furloughed, you have not signed anything agreeing to be furloughed, and have been working under the company's direction the whole time, and point out to them that they will need to rectify the situation.