furlough or 50%

[Startagain51]

Asking for my daughter - she works in social media for a company that can't do any business during the lockdown.

She was initially furloughed but was told to work from home 'as normal'. She pointed out this was fraud, and the company left her alone for a while. She's now been told she's going to be taken off furlough, but that she'll get 50% of her wage and only be asked to do 50% of her workload (from home).

What's her legal position? She can't manage on 50%.

Furlough is for a minimum of 3 weeks so after 3 weeks the company can come out of Furlough and organize itself any way.
These are extraordinary times and I think I would rather be working to prove my role is essential than Furloughed

Unless there is something in her contract that allows the company to reduce her hours and pay she can refuse to accept this. Of course, if she does refuse the company may decide to make her redundant. Staying on furlough would be better from her point of view (more pay and she keeps the job) but that is only going to work if the company is willing to play ball.

Thank you, that's really helpful. They have now said they want her to work 80% of her time and they'll pay her 80%. She's concerned that they're actually just getting her to work while the government is paying her and she'll be part of something fraudulent, specially as there's nothing in writing, but hopefully she will get some kind of written offer.

There will be no come back on her if the company is trying to claim through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme fraudulently. The company may be in trouble if the authorities find out but she won't be.

Thank you, that will really put her mind at rest. She can get on with working now and not worry.

It depends on how much she earns
The Furlough max is £2500 and employers can pay the other 20%
so 80% could be less than 2.5k and she would get that and her employer could top up the rest, but she cannot work
If her employer wants a different arrangement she should probably phone ACAS