Furlough. Can my boss do this? Seems unfair.

[Campervan69]

Just wondering if my boss is allowed to do this it seems very unfair. When the schools closed my boss told me I would have to work shorter hours because he refused to let me work from home although he did agree to everybody else who does the same job working from home.

The following day he closed the Firm down so I never actually worked these hours and normally I would work a 40-hour week.

I've been pressing him as to whether he will be furloughing me and have now received this email:

"Insofar as the furlough payment is concerned, I take a view that, for example, if we returned to work tomorrow, I would have expected you to work 5 days a week from 9am to 1pm as agreed. As such, I can only claim 80% of your new working hours accordingly."

The seems very unfair as the only reason he has cut my hours was because of the coronavirus pandemic. I was receiving full pay in February which the assessment is based upon. Is it legal for him to do this?

How much did you earn before was it over £30k so over the £2.5k a month furlough cap? If not then he's been a bit stealthy and yes probably not in accordance with the scene - if you earn more than that not much you can do as he can only claim the £2.5k maximum

(I had to take a 30% pay cut and was then furloughed)

It does seem like he has misunderstood the rules. He can claim 80% of your wages at the 28th February. Not sure where you would direct him to for clarity though, hopefully more knowledgeable will be along soon.

It doesn't cost him anything unless he's making up the remaining 20% (up to the capped amount). I think they would go on your normal contracted hours. You seem to think he is singling you out - is this true?

My working week is 40 hours so he has put me down to 20 hours which means that I will receive half of my usual pay and then only 80% of that. It seems really unfair and I think he is doing it on purpose as a control issue rather than having misunderstood the rules.

I don't know whether there is any remit for me to to ensure he claims the correct amount or whether I just have to put up with this? He has been really unpleasant throughout the situation.

The claim should be for 80% of your salary as at 28th February. If you were on full salary at that point then it's 80% up to a maximum of £2,500.

The guidelines can be found here:

www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Thanks NatashaAlianovaRomanova I did tell him this and asked him to clarify that he would be claiming for 80% of my usual salary which was when he replied stating that he would only be applying for 80% of the reduced hours I just wondered if there's anything I could do about this.

Give acas a ring they can advise. If you were full time on 28th you should receive that

Thanks Nora I will give them a ring in the morning

You cannot work if you are furloughed

I'm no expert but he can't just make up his own rules. Looks dodgy to me. Could he be trying to claim on your old salary and only pay you your new hours salary so keeping the difference himself?

Sorry posted too quickly, is he expecting you to work those 9-1pm hours?

Maybe he's planning to claim 80% of your 40hpw and then only pay you 80% of your 20 hours? Not sure what checks will be in place to stop employers doing this.

You can get advice from the ACAS website.

Definitely start looking for a new job after all this!

Did you accept the reduced hours? He cannot unilaterally decide to change your contracted hours you have to accept that change.

The guidance is for your normal pay - so either what you received in Feb this year or an average of the previous year if you have varying pay etc. He should absolutely be claiming 80% if your Feb pay.

Either contact whomever does the payroll, or get on to acas for support.

Can your boss/company not afford the furlough wages upfront maybe? No excuse though.

What difference does it make to him if the government are paying it anyway. I wouldn’t just accept it, I think the other posters are right. He’s going to claim full wage and then pay you half. I think you need to make him aware you will be looking into this so he knows you won’t just accept it, he might just come back and say it was a mistake.

I think he's just doing it to be nasty to me to be honest. He is very old fashioned and misogynistic and doesn't like women who stand up for themselves.

My mother-in-law died unexpectedly on the 6th of March and my head has been all over the place because it's been such a hard time my father-in-law is 85 and had to go into isolation whilst grieving so all this on top of everything has just been horrific for my stress levels.

I will definitely give ACAS a ring tomorrow and see whether he is able to do this. Apart from anything else I have been a hard-working and loyal employee who has only taken one day off during my service which was the day my mother-in-law died.

I was under the impression it was your average salary not contact. meaning someone on a 4 hour contract who weekly worked say 20 hours would be entitled to 80% of the 20 hours... not what their current contract states...

Similar happened at my workplace, due to bars/ restaurants advised to close pre lockdown our company knew they would struggle so all staff on reduced hours . Then the government announced the furloughed scheme and then lockdown. I was placed on furloughed leave on 80% pay on my full time hours not the reduced hours as I hadn't even started the hours and like you the hours were changed due to coronavirus.
Like others say Acas and gov website for advice that is wrong I'm sure .
You should be paid 80% of your hours I think the cut off was beginning of March .

That is really helpful thank you on the 28th of February I was just doing my normal 40 hours and receiving full pay so so he should be paying me 80% of that in that case.

Maybe he's planning to claim 80% of your 40hpw and then only pay you 80% of your 20 hours? Not sure what checks will be in place to stop employers doing this.

There will be checks carried out before the funds are released, audits will be carried out once everything has settled down & employers who are found to have misused the system will be issued with penalties as a minimum.

The funds from the government have to be put through the business accounts as income & obviously wages go through as an outgoing so this will leave a trail of what's come in against what's been paid out for this period for wages.

I think it is meant to be based on either an average of your monthly pay since the start of your contract (if less than 12 months) or the same month the previous year (if been there for over a year).

It’s very specific and the reason for that is so that HMRC can easily verify the amounts if necessary through payroll. He can claim 80% of your pay as at 28 Feb and if he dies, he specifically has to pay that all to you.

I am a criminal investigator for a government agency who works with HMRC/NCA/DWP/Police. This particular 'scam' is going to be quite prevalent and already well and truly on our radar.

In extraordinary times, where the normal checks and balances are not so stringently adhered to - because quite rightly, making sure the majority of the population can access wages as fast as possible is by far the greater concern. However this is a fraudsters favourite time to exploit loopholes.

There are/will be huge attacks on the Universal Credit system both by Organised Crime and opportunists who realise how easy it is to exploit.

This also applies to the furlough scheme. We expect many dodgy employers to claim the full amount and then defraud their employees with lower wages to that actually claimed.

To combat this, we will need to rely on each and every employee who doesn't receive the correct amount informing HMRC or ACAS as soon as possible.

The 'correct amount' for an employee on a standard contract is 80% of their pay on 28/2/2020 . For those on varying hours the rules are ;

Employers claim for the higher of either:
• the same month’s earning from 2019; or
• average monthly earnings from the 2019-20 tax year.
If the employee has been employed for less than 12 months before the claim, then the employer has to use an average of the actual monthly earnings since the employee’s start date.
For employees who only started during February 2020 the employers will have to use those earnings.

Please report any fraudulent employers. People who profit and exploit during a national crisis are the lowest of the low.

What has he said when you present the guidelines?