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AIBU?

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Original poster

Everyone is talking about people being pinged causing shortage of staff

39 replies

catsatonmymat · 10/08/2021 18:13

Is it also possible that (not necessarily supermarket workers) but other non essential shops, offices etc. furloughed staff for months on end. Those workers still accrued their holidays which means that as well as their annual leave they are entitled to the holidays they would normally have had if they hadn't been furloughed. I know this has happened in our office - the workers who were furloughed (not me unfortunately) have loads of annual leave to catch up on meaning that everyone else has to cover.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 10/08/2021 18:18

You can have annual leave while on furlough so the employer could have required them to take it while they were off work anyway. They'd have to pay annual leave at their usual wage rather than the furlough rate of pay

PJday41 · 10/08/2021 18:21

God forbid employees get the annual leave they were entitled to.

It's not people getting pinged that's causing staff shortages where I live. It's been migrant workers returning home after brexit and covid making travelling home difficult.

Madwife123 · 10/08/2021 18:24

My employer has cancelled all annual leave due to staffing. We are short because of sickness. Either covid positive as many are coming down with it at the moment, isolating or stress and burn out from working through the pandemic and work conditions.

Morph2lcfc · 10/08/2021 18:27

Yes as demented pixie said employers could request thst employees take some holiday whilst on furlough to avoid this exact problem, if the employer didn’t do this it’s bad planning on their part

Original poster
catsatonmymat · 10/08/2021 18:36

None of my co workers took annual leave while they were on furlough and they were off 5 to 6 months. There is honestly someone off all the time now.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 10/08/2021 18:48

That's the employers fault for letting that happen

kowari · 10/08/2021 18:53

@dementedpixie

You can have annual leave while on furlough so the employer could have required them to take it while they were off work anyway. They'd have to pay annual leave at their usual wage rather than the furlough rate of pay
Yes, where I work, those on furlough or WFH were required to take a proportionate amount of leave. Only fair so that those working throughout were able to take their holidays.
BillyWhozz · 10/08/2021 19:04

Where I work we allowed people to roll up to 5 days into the next year to prevent this kind of impact.

newnortherner111 · 10/08/2021 19:05

It is quite possible in some cases that this is being used as an excuse to cover for poor holiday planning, or weak management. I can think of companies I have dealt with who are always short staffed because it is the school summer holidays.

54321nought · 10/08/2021 19:08

Staff shortages here are down largely to Brexit, not pinging

BeeDavis · 10/08/2021 19:10

Last year my employer had people take 2 weeks annual leave if they were on furlough. I was supposed to do the same but I came off furlough before the 2 weeks were ‘booked in’ so I cancelled them and took them another time! As it would have meant me coming back off furlough for 2 weeks then having annual leave for another 2 weeks when the whole point of me coming back was because I was needed. I only went on furlough for 7 weeks but there were some on it for a lot longer so I suspect they had annual leave taken off them.

gardeninggirl68 · 10/08/2021 19:10

yes its a bit of that

and the pinging on top.....customers don't care though, they are as rude as ever!!

Bighorriblemirror · 10/08/2021 19:23

@gardeninggirl68

yes its a bit of that

and the pinging on top.....customers don't care though, they are as rude as ever!!

I can imagine, some of the most horrible days I've ever experienced in nearly 20 years hospitality were July and August last year. You'd have thought me and my colleagues were personally responsible for the restrictions we had to implement and quite possibly covid itself. I left because it was making me hate people and hate the job, work in care now and it has its issues but I've not been spoken to or treated as badly as those 2 months in hospitality. People were just horrible.
MadeOfStarStuff · 10/08/2021 19:40

If that’s happening it’s because employers managed it badly. They were entitled to force people on furlough to take some annual leave and for those who were on furlough long term it’s crazy to not enforce them taking a proportional amount of leave. Employers also need to not allow more leave at once than they can cope with even if that means refusing some people.

HeechulOppa · 10/08/2021 19:43

I was furloughed and had to take my annual leave pro-rata during that time.

Meggie2008 · 10/08/2021 19:46

We were asked to take two weeks annual leave during furlough. I conveniently started back at work the week they made that request so didn't have to, but most people obliged.

AnyFucker · 10/08/2021 19:47

As someone who worked all through the pandemic in some of the most stressful situations imaginable, hearing that furloughed people have “accrued” annual leave makes me feel very, very angry

All those Prosecco garden partiers in the sun on the government tab last spring and summer made me delete my social media before I lost my fucking mind

kowari · 10/08/2021 20:12

@AnyFucker
Same here, and the people complaining about having to take proportionate leave. They were topped up to 100% on leave so lost nothing!

Clocktopus · 10/08/2021 20:19

It's statutory leave that's accrued, the same as people on maternity leave and sick leave accrue too.

AnyFucker · 10/08/2021 20:23

But they were neither on sick or maternity leave. They were not ill nor having a baby. They were paid to stay at home.

On annual leave already, in effect. Certainly so in comparison to essential workers.

Taking “accrued” leave now really does rub further salt in the wound for some people

Clocktopus · 10/08/2021 20:25

They weren't on furlough by choice though, or at least the majority weren't, as their job wasn't possible due to covid restrictions. Why shouldn't they still accrue their statutory leave? And why shouldn't they sit out in the sun for that matter either?

kowari · 10/08/2021 20:31

@Clocktopus

They weren't on furlough by choice though, or at least the majority weren't, as their job wasn't possible due to covid restrictions. Why shouldn't they still accrue their statutory leave? And why shouldn't they sit out in the sun for that matter either?
Of course they still accrued leave. Our workplace required furloughed employees to take two weeks of their accrued leave before June 2020, topped up to 100%.
JaggyJumper · 10/08/2021 20:34

I certainly didn’t choose to have 3 months off at the start of the year. I would have loved nothing more than to be able to work so I don’t see why I would be punished by not being allowed to take annual leave? Surely it’s the businesses problem then if they are letting people take it all at inconvenient times normal leave rules should still apply but it definitely wasn’t all prosecco garden parties thats for sure Hmm

Helenluvsrob · 10/08/2021 20:40

Those of us who worked through didn’t take AL either though - not a lot of point when you couldn’t go far or actually do much 😱😂

And yknow. School holidays

kowari · 10/08/2021 20:46

@JaggyJumper
It would certainly be unfair if you were expected to work the remaining 9 months without a break because you had three months off that you didn't choose to have.

I think the OP is talking about where employers did not require employees to take proportionate leave during furlough. So, for example, having six months off and still having a full leave entitlement left afterwards, rather than taking half of their leave while furloughed, half when back at work.

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