Forced to take Time in Lieu and now owe lots of hours!

MissadviseC

Hi everyone, does anyone have any advice? During coronavirus my company would not furlough me as said I was a key worker however we had minimal work coming in so was told to take time in lieu. I was more than able to work from home or come to work if required but my employer has forced me to take time in lieu. I have now built up about 100 hours that I now owe to the company. Nothing was a formally agreed about how we would owe time when we were initially told to take it. My question is do I have to owe hours or can I refuse? We are being asked to owe these hours already as now back at work full time. Anyone know any of the laws around owing time to your employer? Thanks 

Masomnia

Did they pay you in full for the time you weren't working?

pramsay13

There should be an agreement either in your contract or in a policy document about accruing time off in lieu and how to pay it back.
Time off in lieu is to be given instead of paying overtime so you shouldn't have the time off first.

MissadviseC

Yes I was paid in full during the time I wasn’t working during lockdown. Just worried I now have to owe all of these hours along with full time working 

MissadviseC

I wasn’t given a choice about taking the time in lieu, my company wouldn’t furlough us or allow us to work from home. However I didn’t agree to anything prior, was just told “not to worry about it”. But obviously now I’m back full time and have to pay it all back I’m worried lol

gettingtheresometime

I would treat the hours owed as overtime paid in advance.
Presumably there needs to be some agreement as to how quickly these hours are 'paid' back