Friend said DH is abusing furlough

[amy198820]

DH been on furlough from 2 jobs since March (one full time job and one part time job he does one evening a week). He has been back to work on and off since the summer and is now on the flexi furlough scheme and both jobs have topped his pay to 100%. Since the tier 4 announcement he has been put back on furlough completely.

As tier 4 is looking like it will continue through Jan/Feb, and so unlikely he will be going back anytime soon DH had applied for another job to keep him busy rather than sit at home. DH found out before Christmas he has got the job and he has made this new employer aware that this job will just be a fill in whilst he is on furlough and the employer has accepted this and are happy to take him on. (its a friend of a friend type thing)

Spoke with my friend and earlier and told her about DH's new temporary position explaining that its better than him sitting at home all day /gives him something to do until all this passes etc. My friend took umbrage with this and said that we are abusing the system and that this isnt what the scheme was designed for. I didn't really know what to say and so said sorry she was offended and would speak to her later on.

For background before anyone says anything, I was not being insensitive, my friend has not suffered financially due to COVID as she has been working from home continuously throughout.

I want to call my friend back soon as to not let the bad feeling grow. How would you suggest I approach this? I do not think we are doing anything wrong, just trying to get through this pandemic and doing the best for our family as would anyone else.

It's a loophole... Its not breaking the rules.... Considering how many people have used loopholes to get around household mixing this year I wouldn't worry what other people say.

As I've already said, @MintyMabel, no-one is suggesting that every furloughed person is at risk, simply that being furloughed increases the risk. I don't know why you keep in effect repeating what has been acknowledged.

Where I work, for instance, a number of part time admin staff have been on furlough most of the time since March. Since then, the company has had to accelerate to doing much more online working and computerised processes (e.g. for booking) have been put in place to help. The people on furlough have obviously not had practice in the new processes, the company has less work anyway and what there is can be done by fewer people. Unfortunately it's fairly obvious where the redundancy axe is going to fall.

@MaryLeeOnHigh

Because you continue to insist that furlough and redundancy are linked. They aren't and in fact in law they can't be. If a company only considers furloughed staff for redundancy, they are not following the correct process.

But they are following the correct process if they consider redundancy and take into account the needs of the business in terms of reduced demand, staff trained and up to date, and similar issues which will disadvantage furloughed staff. Bear in mind also that those who have been employed for less than two years have even less job security.

I'm not suggesting it's the case everywhere, but recent experience (June/July) was that within a smallish team (12 people) 9 were put on furlough at the start of lockdown, 3 more brought back before end of June, everyone else still on furlough at end of June made redundant. Big company, and rightly or wrongly this was their blanket approach.

My brother is like the OP's DH.

He was furloughed by his £14ph job back in March. It is 100% obvious the company won't survive (vending machines in universities); it's been 'in trouble' for a while, anyway, due to nepotism and putting profits into the owners's villa etc, but Covid did for it. Or is 'doing' for it.

In not making my DB redundant, which will come, they have avoided paying out his redundancy cash; but they have furloughed him (80%).

He has had a lovely summer, out and about on his bike with his mate all over the SW.

Then when that lockdown ended, they had him back, but on 2-3 hours a day.

Now they're back on furlough, and he's got a (PT) job as a supermarket delivery driver (which I'd suggested to him back in April as the demand soared and he's got a lot of van driving experience).

So he's getting his 80% furlough plus this on top.

I can't say it sits well with me, either. I think he should have resigned the first, failing job and gone FT with the supermarket, myself.

And, yes, I guess my view is also clouded by being a 23hr per week coalface HCP who's been putting in 40 hour weeks since May, including one day every weekend.

I know it's 'legal' but it does piss me off that my taxes are paying furlough to someone who is also earning.

@PTW1234

Also there has been a temporary surge for delivery drivers etc. The key is temporary. Lots of these delivery jobs will not exist by the end of next year.

That's also one reason why I told my DB he should have gone delivery driving for the supermarket back in April when there were FT, permanent jobs going.

Now they're largely PT temp contracts, as you say- in fact, I wonder about the legality of some with their rolling temporary contracts; however, I suspect, judging by what I've read on MN, many will never venture out of their house-cocoon ever again, if they can help it, thus I think the huge upturn in deliveries will continue to a large extent.

@Peaches6

Wow, threads like this show you people are a bunch of jealous douchebags.

You're doing nothing wrong, OP. Put in your position, most people would make the same choice. There is nothing immortal with doing what's best for your family, especially during these uncertain times! You don't know if you'll still have jobs in a year's time, so save as much as possible while you can.

Your DH sounds extremely hard working. Good on him looking after his mental health as well.

Ignore the idiots who don't know the rules and get jealous at people earning more money than usual. All those working from home have benefitted financially as well. DH and I have made an extra £700 a month from not travelling alone and no one tells us we're evil, but essentially it's the same. Just don't talk about it with people who may have lost a lot financially this year (which I'm sure you don't do).

Peaches

'Jealous' 😂 Nice try.

You haven't understood the less favourable reaction to the OP if you're labelling it 'jealousy'.

People are calling out immorality.

I'm not 'jealous' of my DB with his lovely furloughed summer of long bike rides; but I am irritated that he's allowed to now collect that cash (from a company that will collapse and was in trouble pre-Covid) and be out working PT, thus getting more PT than he did FT before furlough.

That shouldn't be what is allowable.

But if I were the OP's original employer, I might be 🧐 about the extra 20% they're forking out. They might want to save that as part of the OP's DH's redundancy payout.

It’s not an abuse of furlough but it should be. There’s so many people out of work who could have had that job!

I’m furloughed from 2 jobs and am desperate to do something .. I can’t even get volunteer work .
Your DH is doing nothing wrong in my eyes ..

@HaveANiceFuckingDay

I’m furloughed from 2 jobs and am desperate to do something .. I can’t even get volunteer work . Your DH is doing nothing wrong in my eyes ..

But the issue here is in the 'doing something'. What he's doing is (obviously legally) taking a job away from someone who might desperately need it rather than to assuage boredom.

Legal but shitty in my opinion