To ask a question about the 80% furlough

[lastqueenofscotland]

Our work have called us to advise as of Monday they are furloughing the whole company.

However we are on a small basic and generous commission structure.

I’m struggling to find out if it will be 80% of my basic or 80% of an average of what we’ve earned over the past tax year?
Does anyone know

If there is no work and the employee doesn’t agree to furlough then they are likely to be made redundant

Any of our staff who refuse furlough will have to be made redundant, there just won't be a choice as we're probably looking at a 5 month shutdown in our case. I think a very tiny proportion of businesses have 5 months wages in the bank!

@statisticallychallenged I recommend you get agreement in writing. Do you have a lay off clause in your employment contracts?

Yes, we do - recently added but all signed!

And I will get it in writing - we have e-sign software so can do this fairly easily. But it's not actually stated AFAIK which was what I meant. It feels like due to the haste of this, the lack of detail, and the practicalities of social distancing/lockdown, many employers could end up getting it wrong

I completely agree that businesses need to act swiftly and the details aren’t coming quick enough. Putting things in writing can hopefully limit ‘misunderstandings’ later on. Sounds like you are doing your very best.

How can a company be shut down for 5 months the government are offering 3 months backdated to March 1st? Is it going to be extended?

They're offering 3 months initially but have said they'll extend as necessary. 5 months is our best estimate for our industry (childcare - we're working on the basis we won't reopen until the schools do and that this is likely to be after summer holidays)

If it's earlier, great. But we're not planning our cashflow on 3 weeks or whatever.