AIBU to not do training whilst on furlough

[GreyShadow]

I'm in the middle of furlough, my boss has phoned me and told me that I have to do training tomorrow, by video.

I have already planned to take my LO to opticians at the time of the training. This training is not important to the company and can be done easily on my return.

There is a bit of a back story in that this boss is a complete control freak and passive aggressive bully.

AIBU not to cancel my appointment and tell my boss I can't make the training. I'm already in the bad books as don't make the daily team conf call, which is illegal in my eyes. My boss says it's just "catching up" and it's ok to do that on furlough.

Our team are all in their early 20's and I feel he is bullying control freak.

I have googled about furlough and yes we are allowed to train but can we be forced?

You are being very unreasonable. You are furloughed not on holiday. Do the training and join the team calls.

Get to the front of tepee redundancy queue then. HTH.

Teepee? 😂

the obvs.

Tell them you were not expected to be needed at the time and had got an medical appointment at that time, that you are sorry you are not able to attend but ask if the training would be recorded and if so, for it (Or the slides) to be sent to you as it is so difficult to change appointments at this time.

Worded nicely I’m sure they will understand.

Well of course he can't force you to do the training, but when it becomes time to make redundancies I wouldn't want to be in the 'bad books' for making no effort during what has undoubtedly been a difficult time for a lot of firms.

Just do it and rebook the appointment for another day. It's not a holiday

The daily team conference call is work, so YANBU to not to that while on furlough, but training is reasonable I think. Could you ask that it be rescheduled due to appointments tomorrow?

You are unreasonable. Cancel appointment and rebook. Do the training. Show some willing.

It’s unreasonable of him to dictate that you do it at such short notice. Tell him you’ll do it but since you have already arranged this appointment you might need a little more time.

How long is the training?

The rules of furlough state that you can take part in any team calls and carry out any training so you aren’t breaking any rules by completing this. For this reason I think you are being unreasonable to say you won’t complete them. Have you told your boss you have an appointment for your DC as regardless of being at work or on furlough you would still be able to make visits to dentist, opticians etc

Seems like you could make a bit more effort to be honest. Bosses do tell you what to do - that’s how it works.

But explaining you have a medical appointment you can’t move isn’t unreasonable, especially if you can do the training later that day.

You are furloughed and you are not expected to work during this time BUT they may need to start making redundancies so don’t put yourself in the spot.

Ring the opticians to see if they can change the appointment if not, AJ your boss if you can be sent any handouts/slides/recordings of the training as you had this medical appointment you have tried already to change not to miss the training But we’re unable to.

You are being paid so you don’t have to/can’t go to work but you can do training and quite frankly you should.As for the team meeting there’s no reason you can’t do that either, the guidelines say you can’t do anything that earns money for your employer so a conf call should be fine. You aren’t actually on holiday and being awkward wont help if/when there are redundancies
As you have a medical appointment today it’s not unreasonable for you to do the training at a different time if possible but you might want to rethink your stance going forward

Corrected...

Ring the opticians to see if they can change the appointment if not, ask your boss if you can be sent any handouts/slides/recordings of the training as you had this medical appointment you have tried already to change not to miss the training but were unable to.

They can call you back in at any time so I'd be wary of basically saying you're too busy to work.

Rearrange the appointment. Its opticians, not a hospital appointment. Why won't you go to the team calls?

Actually DO you have a medical appointment? You say you had planned to take your son to the opticians, it’s not clear if you have an appointment

My understanding is that you cannot do work that would generate revenue for the employer but occasional meetings to stay in touch and online training doesn't seem unreasonable.

Only you know whether it's worth possibly losing your job over an opticians appointment and how your boss is likely to react.

Make your decision based on the situation for you not what someone else with a different boss would do.

I would do the training

YABU

You're being paid - the rules are you can have team meetings and training.

If you value your job in anyway, do the training and attend the meetings - you're really putting yourself at risk of redundancy or just straight up being sacked for not doing what you should.

I hope your entitled attitude doesn’t come across in the workplace. If you were working for me, refused to join team calls to keep in touch, and do required training, which is allowed on furlough and I had to make redundancies you would be top of the list

You are being very unreasonable

@HugeAckmansWife

My understanding is that you cannot do work that would generate revenue for the employer but occasional meetings to stay in touch and online training doesn't seem unreasonable.

Flexible furlough starts next week so maybe bear that in mind too, maybe bear in mind that things could be different and those on furlough might be better not to make appointments too far in advance, you can't assume you won't be allowed to be asked to work.

As others have said, if you've been declining the conference calls for (I guess) months and now decline the training, you risk labelling yourself as the difficult, uncooperative one and possibly making yourself prime candidate if redundancies and staffing reductions need to be made.

You are being unreasonable. You’re being paid and I think being difficult about this would not stand you in good stead if redundancies are made. Rearrange the appointment at the opticians

Wtf? You have not been working since what, March. And you are refusing to take part in a conference call daily that will take probably no more than an hour? Your attitude stinks and you will more than likely be first in line for any redundancies that happen in future. The problem is now that, actually you do have a good reason not to do this training but because of how badly you have behaved up until now, this is just another in a long line of you refusing to do what is expected of you.