Boss wants to claim furlough 80% but make us work anyway

[badboss2020]

I've name changed just in case.

I work in a very much effected industry and we've seen most of the business crumble over the last two weeks.

But because of the nature of the business there is still a lot of actual work to do.

My boss is a bully and always has been. My colleague and I have been wanting to leave for a long time and intended to start looking around now.

Basically my boss has now made us all sign the furlough contract that we no longer will be working but that we will get the 80% pay that he will claim from the government.

HOWEVER he has rung us all and told us that he'll only do it if actually keep working throughout that period but pretend not to be.

I don't feel comfortable at all with that. Plus it's surely downright fraud?

What would you do?

Just tell your boss in writing that you believe it would be fraudulent for you to work while being paid furlough, without spelling out who would be committing the fraud.

I wonder if there is going to be some sort of clause in this that shifts some responsibility to the employee i.e. if you are furloughed, receiving government funded money (via your employer) and then found to be continuing to work then you become partially responsible for any consequences.

Has revenue collapsed? How long do you think the work will continue for?

Ultimately if booking are cancelled the work will dry up, pretty quickly. I thought our workload would continue but it dropped off quite suddenly.

How long have you been there, if less than 2 years he could make redundancies.

Bullies need standing up to but it is very hard when you need the job and money.

it's surely downright fraud?

Of course it is, but there'll be plenty more where that came from with scumbags taking advantage wherever they can

I know it's worrying when you need the job and the money, but report him anyway ... it's not as if HMRC will say where the information came from, and even then it'll only be if they get themselves sufficiently sorted to do anything about it

Play innocent when you email or text.
Say, sorry I didn't understand what you meant about working.
Are we getting furloughed and you want us to come in to work sometimes?, if so how many hours a week are we supposed to come to work on furlough.

Bullies need standing up to but it is very hard when you need the job and money
that's why they do it, they know they have you over a barrel, the bully MO is to look for leverage

Place marking as DH in the same position...

How sad that such a generous offer from the government brings all these scumbags out of the woodwork. I'd report it OP, surely you can do it anonymously, and do try to get proof.

DON'T DO IT. If you knowingly go along with this you may be in trouble yourself. Signing to say you are furloughed and then working would be fraud and you could be asked to repay the money.

Employers are not topping up the 20% if employees are furloughed

They are allowed to if they want to, but they don’t have to do this.

This is really depressing me. So many stories of people trying to profit. How can this sit right with anyone??

Fraud

Say to him you partner / close family member works in the investigations officer at HMRC and that you are worried that it could come to light and all turn sour for you and him

Would like to oblige but we dont want any agro, do we !

Report him OP!

HMRC will be doing compliance checks on these claims at a later date.

I am absolutely disgusted with the amount of companies that are using this as a way to get free money - as a PP said we'll be paying this back for years to come.

HMRC will be doing compliance checks on these claims at a later date

Yes, warn your boss that the checks will be thorough including email searches.

report! and then find that new job.

Report

No way would i agree to your boss's crazy plan its got disaster written all over it

So he gets you to work full time and pay you 20% of your wage (the other 80% is paid by the gov). That's outrageous!

Tbh I'd be concerned if I did sign this and carried on working, not only would the company be in the shit, but I'D be prosecuted for fraud also. Not worth the risk OP. Try getting another job with a fraud conviction under your belt.

Do consider that if you go along with it you are assisting him to commit fraud.

You need to get this in writing somehow. Then report.
The money comes out of government funds, not the company so this is theft.

It’s him breaking the law not you. Shop him after you get a new job.

*DON'T DO IT. If you knowingly go along with this you may be in trouble yourself. Signing to say you are furloughed and then working would be fraud and you could be asked to repay the money.
*
^ not being able to pay rent for a month while you try and find work will land you in less trouble. I know it's backed up right now but you can try apply for UC for the time being.

My thoughts are the op should report the situation to HMRC and let the experts figure out if it is fraud or not. The helpline is anonymous and also it isn't the op or anyone's job on here to figure out if the employer is guilty of fraud or not, all the op has to do is act on her feeling of unease and make a phonecall. Just because you have called the fraudline doesn't mean you think they are definitely clotting fraud just that something doesn't sit right with you. I work in child protection and the same principle applies, if you see something which you think might be a safeguarding issue report it and then let professionals do their job and assess the situation.

@FATEdestiny OP makes no mention of working one day weekly rather than five? Sounds like employer expecting everyone to work full time while he is subsidised on his wage bill.

Report.