Furlough and Annual Leave

Twist20

My partner has just returned to work after almost 7 months on Furlough. His employer has advised him that they will be deducting 1.5 days leave per month of Furlough, so approximately 10 days. They said an email had been sent advising of this but he never received one and has never had any verbal communication from employers while on Furlough. From my research, your employer can require you to take annual leave while on Furlough but must give you notice of this. His manager just says that’s the company’s policy and he has to accept it. Fully appreciate he has had 7 months off but it was the Government who paid his wages, not the company. They didn’t top up the 80%. The company is renowned for poor wages etc even though it is a large successful organisation. There are no unions as they are frowned upon. Appreciate any comments. 

bradders1983

They only have to give 3 days notice for each 1.5 day they take. If they can prove they sent the original email and your partner was on the mailing list, they have covered their backs.

In any case maybe he could be greatful she has a job to go back to, was he really planning on taking all her AL when he has just had seven months off? Easy to see why employers get annoyed.

caeler

You are correct, they should be giving notice which they claim to have done but your husband says he didn't receive.  I guess you have to decide how upset he is about it given he would be paid 100% for each day of holiday which might be positive in terms of cash flow right now.

bradders1983

Some battles arent worth fighting, especially if those AL days were paid at 100%. He has a job, still has AL for the rest of the holiday year to take, and has essentially just had seven months off work anyway. Fight it and he sticks himself out as a troublemaker. How wise would that be if the employer is looking to cut?

MattMattMattUK

Twist20 said:

Fully appreciate he has had 7 months off but it was the Government who paid his wages, not the company. 

Not really, in August they will have had to pay around 15-20% (er's NI and pension), in September 25-30% (10%, er's NI and pension) and October 35-40% (20%, er's NI and pension), so the government did not pay all of it by any means.

Twist20 said:

From my research, your employer can require you to take annual leave while on Furlough but must give you notice of this. 

That is correct, they may also pay you at 100% for the annual leave they require you to take during lockdown.

However, and this is the big issue, as Bradders mentions above, companies will probably be making redundancies, kick up a fuss, be seen as difficult, and you become #1 on the list. So is it worth kicking up a fuss about a few days annual leave, which might result a few days off, if it leads to having a lot of days off through being unemployed?

epm-84

If the employee gets the statutory number of days of holiday and 80% of their normal pay is below the minimum wage then they may be able to report a minimum wage breach if the employer does not rectify it.  Note you have a few years to do this, so it may not be something to do now but something to do in the event of a redundancy in the future.

Griffo1974

Are photographers allowed to stay open during lockdown 

Jeremy535897

A photography shop is not on the list of shops allowed to open.

Twist20

Thanks for all your replies. Believe me he knows full well he’s just been off for 7 months, but you don’t know the history he’s had with this company. I could go on forever, but he stayed because it was a secure job.  I really only wanted to know if there was a legal procedure his company should have followed, rather than waiting 7 months and then telling him . The company is not planning any redundancies and most employees have been back at work for four or five months.  My partner is close to retirement, as are 3 others, and they are the only ones who were off for 7 months, which suited the company.

bradders1983

They can probable produce the original dated email, which would be sufficient as they have given plenty of notice. I still think its a case of pick your battles though. 

bradders1983

Because they wanted to milk the scheme. Nothing else to it.