AIBU to think 80% furlough pay should be topped up ?

[MangoMask]

Ok I have Nc’d for this. I’m not sure if how I’m feeling is justified or not and would appreciate opinions.

Firstly can I say I totally understand in many many ways I am lucky to still have a job. People are going through so much worse, and I really hope I don’t sound entitled/ungrateful but I’m just panicking and fed up as this all came totally out of the blue today.

I work for a small charity, only 8 staff and 300 volunteers. I love the place and what we do. Work wise I’ve never been happier. I don’t get paid much - £20k and I turned down a £5k pay rise in September deferring it until next August when my youngest leaves school and any extra help I get from the government ends. I thought this would help save the charity money. I do really care about the place.

I was briefly furloughed on full pay last March for 6 weeks but otherwise have luckily continued to work throughout. And I work hard, really hard because I love it and I want to. I do 15-20 more hours a week than I’m paid for. I don’t mind low pay or long hours at all but I guess I need to feel valued ? And I have up til now.

This morning my boss rang and told me as of today I am going to be fully furloughed at 80% pay. The charity aren’t going to top it up.

This means over £300 a month less pay. Things are already really tight financially here. I have an 18yr old 6th former and a 20yr old who’s not going back to University this term and it makes a huge difference to my food bills. We don’t really have any spare money each month. So I’m feeling scared about how we’re going to manage. I get no help from their dad and he hasn’t had contact with them in 4 years. I just feel so responsible for everything and our belts are so tight already I don’t know what to do. I just keep crying today.

The reason why I’m pissed off is the section I’m in charge of, managed to take £80k over budget despite the chaos of the last year. It’s rare I blow my own trumpet but I put everything into achieving that. So I keep being told we actually have ‘excess funds’ because they weren’t expecting me to do so well. They’re spending £10k on non vital improvements this month alone.

I’ve offered to use all my holiday (18 days from last year which i never got a chance to take and 25 days this year) so that I could still get paid the same - but apparently it doesn’t work like that.
I know I’m just feeling scared today so don’t know if I’m being entitled / unfair or whatever. I guess knowing they have more than enough to top the pay up, but are choosing not to makes me feel unvalued and a bit shit.

So AIBU thinking they could have topped up the 20% ?

You shouldn't have turned down the pay rise. You should have been doing all you can to get off benefits - it's really wrong to have turned it down so you can keep getting them.

As a side issue, I'm surprised your employer didn't put a stop to the extra hours you were doing as with those extra hours being unpaid, it drops you below minimum wage and would get them into trouble.
Next time, don't turn down a pay rise!

I wouldn't mind 80% of my pay for dong nothing right now, as I'm getting 100% of my pay for doing twice as much as I used to do.
I certainly wouldn't be complaining about it, anyway!

OP.

You sound very nice, well-meaning and thoughtful but naive and (sorry) a doormat - everyone is getting something out of you.

Put yourself first. Tell your DC they have to contribute. Don’t let furlough lead to you spending hours looking after your parents.

Get on moneysavingexpert.com and do some reading. Loads of money saving tips and ideas. If you are brave you can enter a statement of affairs and get help from other posters.

you were foolish to turn down the pay rise but I do understand you thought it was a win/win. It’s a harsh lesson to learn but hopefully you have leaned it now.

Now make the most of your time off. Never mind that you’d rather be working. Think about what you’d like to do with your time.

All the best.

YABU

Could be far worse. How about a 15% pay cut early last year and no furlough? Implemented across the board at my company in order to mitigate the number of redundancies last autumn. It hasn't been enough and we're just about to enter a second round of redundancies.

Better to vent here than in RL.

So you work full time and then work a full 2 days per week (20 hours) on top for free. So the weekend?

Ok well I would strongly say you should look for another job and I think you’ve worked out the consensus is you should have taken the payrise offered. I would talk to them about your holiday, are they disputing you are owed that much?

@MangoMask

Plussizejumpsuit - That’s exactly it re turning down the pay rise. I wasn’t trying to be a martyr just trying to do the right thing. I don’t mind not having much money because I love my job. I was just feeling shocked and worried but it looks like I’m being unfair.

Does anyone know if you are allowed to do other paid work if you’re getting furlough pay ? I was told not but maybe I’m wrong on that as well.

I do appreciate the feedback though. I don’t mean to be ungrateful for what I’ve got.

I thought you could work other places just no work for the company that you're being furloughed from.

But having said that, the rules are changing all the time, and you have a computer and clearly also can hold down a job....go to to the Gov website yourself and look it up!!!! Jeez!!! (fair enough if you've looked it up but are unsure of the wording or a particular example, but why would you want a stranger on the internet to do this for you?)

[quote Tumblebugsjump]@Mammyloveswine not so easy, we have two of similar age at home, both have previous work experience, neither of them can get a job in any of the local shops, cafes, etc, they have had a few hours casual work. They have been applying since the last lockdown. Getting a job, any job right now where we live is extremely tough. [/quote]
Maybe now is the time to teach some entrepreneurial sense to your children. Looking for jobs in cafes and shops in the middle of a pandemic is not exactly the best idea!! (actually laughed out loud at that)
I think you need to think a bit more outside the box. There are so many blogs on side hustles... set your kids (although they are ADULTS!) the task of thinking up more creative ways to make income rather than serving coffee in a pandemic

Although I am not denying it is rubbish and I really do feel for you 80% is a reasonable amount.

As both as your children are adults they should be working and contributing to the house if you are struggling. There are plenty of jobs going in supermarkets and factories and they could easily top the £300 up between them

Does anyone know if you are allowed to do other paid work if you’re getting furlough pay ? I was told not but maybe I’m wrong on that as well.

Depends on your employment contract. Some good advice on the furlough rules on the CAB site at www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/coronavirus-being-furloughed-if-you-cant-work/

Thank you again for the replies. Really appreciate the constructive advice as well.
I've never posted on AIBU before and it's been a pretty bruising experience but perhaps a good reality check. I thought I was an ok person and was doing the right thing, but I've obviously made big mistakes and was expecting too much.
I've found a couple of evenings jobs I can apply for and I'll try and clarify tomorrow with my work if this is ok or not.

You turned the pay rise down so your own fault really.

I’m a bit of a people pleaser like you OP. And I’ve done the working extra hours for nothing bit, thinking I’m indispensable, but honestly to a lot of employers you’re just a number. I found that out a long time ago, as you have now. Maybe it’s been a good learning curve for you - when you return to work after furlough, make sure you just put the hours in that you’re paid for. Clearly that don’t value your work as much as you thought they might.

Thank you Livelovebehappy, yep that's definitely a part of it. Though to be fair the other staff and my boss are lovely. He's only being part furloughed and when we thought we could use holiday to make up the difference he offered me his 6 days leave in addition to mine, because he knows things are difficult for me. We all work hard because we love the charity so I do still feel valued. This decision is being made by the Trustees.

But yes I've learned something important here - and maybe I need to do some thinking about the future.

Try not having had any government assistance at all.

30 years in a full time PAYE job. Became self employed late in 2019 tax year.

Don't get furlough clearly as no longer an employee and don't get self employed grant as less than half my income was from self employment in that tax year.

80% of salary and you are moaning?

Good luck with applying for jobs OP. I voted YANBU and the scathing comments are undeserved, some ppl on here love to stick the boot in behind their keyboard.

You can work for another company while being forloughed

"The reason why I’m pissed off is the section I’m in charge of, managed to take £80k over budget despite the chaos of the last year."

Ermm you want charity donations to be used to top up your tax payer funded furlough?

It leaves a bad taste tbh

But these funds won't be spent on that, they have been actively finding things on the site to spend it on to reduce the balance.

What do you mean by this op? Why on earth is a charity trying to reduce its reserves in this way?

Hi OP - I understand your feelings. I don't think furlough should be topped up as standard but I understand your frustrations here.
A few points

• yes you can take up alternative work whilst furloughed as long as doing so will not breach your current employment contract.
• check your employment contract for a lay off clause otherwise furlough cannot be imposed on you. Of course you may not be better off with the alternative (redundancy) but depending on your length of service it is worth looking into.
• there is no reason why you cannot use holidays initially to ensure you are getting full pay - it seems unreasonable so I'd ask for a clearer rational beyond 'it doesn't work like that'.

Otherwise yes your adult children should definitely be contributing at this stage.
As for turning down the payrise - I get it - the benefit system is just badly set up - just make sure you get full benefit advice before turning down sth like that and consider all the implications (future payrises, future job prospects, redundancy etc).

OP are you part of the senior management team? The idea of spending money randomly to reduce reserves sounds so implausible that I wonder if you haven’t got the full picture or a full understanding? Whilst not ideal to have huge reserves, in the current climate it makes absolute sense and the only time it would become an issue is if the charity spookier for external funding and the funder feels that they don’t need the money because the reserves are so high. In reality what might seem like un reasonable spending may well be part of a longer term plan of investment

Or it might be that the charity is in receipt of government rescue funding which needs to be spent by 31 March or returned?

I do think you've had some really nasty responses op. But either you've misunderstood how the charity operates or it's extremely badly run.

Fwiw I don't think furlough should be topped up to 100% because I think that there needs to be some differentiation between those on furlough and those still working - and probably working longer hours than normal to make up the staff shortfall.

Hi Medievalist, thank you for replying. It's way more complicated than that but I'm trying not to be too identifying. But to clarify the 'excess' is neither from donations nor government funding and the charity is very well run.

I agree with what people have said, and many of the extra hours I was doing were like you mentioned, to make up for others who were on furlough so I do get that completely too.

But I have my head on straighter today. I was posting out of fear and shock yesterday. And I've certainly been given a wake up call on here 😂. We live fairly frugally already and I can't apologise for being scared.
But I do apologise if I've come across entitled or insensitive to those who are in difficulties, had pay cuts, self employed etc. I feel really awful if I've done that. I'm truly sorry for everyone who is struggling.

There are issues with both kids (yep I know they are adults but they are still my kids) which will make getting a job difficult for them, not impossible and they are trying. I'm not going to say anything else about them because I don't think I can handle more criticism today !

But I just feel very responsible for everyone and somehow yesterday I felt I'd let them down by getting furloughed and the pay reduction. I'm not saying that's rational by the way.

I'll try and get more information today about what I can and cannot do with regards to working. I'm quite good at just blindly accepting what I'm told and I need to be more proactive and questioning I think.

We will of course be ok, and I know I am still lucky. Believe it or not I am grateful to all the posters, it has given me the kick up the arse I obviously needed.

Opportunities in the work place are rare
You should have taken the pay rise

I used to do lots of unpaid over time, because I enjoyed my job & it suited me at the time
It didn't stop the company making 100s of us redundant (before Covid)

I do sympathise op. I've also been in a situation where I was working lots of unpaid hours because I loved my job. It's a trap that's very easy to fall into, especially in the charity world where lots of people are willing to go above and beyond for a worthwhile cause. I've always done a job rather than my hours and don't really understand people who down tools at clocking off time and aren't prepared to give a bit more.

I also think it's easier said than done for young adults to get jobs at the moment. But the mantra on Mumsnet is always that dcs should pay market rent as soon as they're able to get their first paper round!