Furloughed still working

[seavieww]

My boss who owns a medium sized business has furloughed his most his staff as some of our offices have closed - about 75 percent

The office girls ( and one guy) there's 6 of us have been furloughed as from today but are all still managing to work ( from home)

He said he can claim all our wages (80%) so that's around £9k per month on our wages BUT we are all still working as usual

As much as I don't really care per say
He can do what he wants, I was telling my boyfriend today his plans etc and he said he really shouldn't be doing that?

Thing is when you are furloughed you give your details ie national insurance number to hmrc so surely they would be checking to make sure people are claiming it correctly?

Just wanted some thoughts on this

I think a lot of these companies will get round out by HMRC once they do their next VAT return where there should be little or no sales income if they have furloughed their workers rather than the usual amount of sales if they were trading normally.

*found out

I actually do payroll using Sage and they have said to put furloughed workers on a new pay element so it will show on their payslip.

Yes in my March payslip it showed up as furloughed pay.

That's with me still working.

So are you on 80% pay, badboss2020?

No. 100% apparently. Was paid 100% in March and have been promised that again but nothing in writing. Furlough letter says 80%.

Payslips have just been sent for April and there are no furlough comments for the people who have been furloughed, just lower salaries

The office people who have been furloughed have full pay so no 80%

Admittedly there will be no new sales but he's still keeping the office staff working. It's more maintenance for the contracts we already have so no new sales will be coming in.

Although that may change if the company isn't able to continue to make money.

There are 2 field people who have no idea they are being furloughed. They are also friends of mine but obviously haven't said anything
The thing is payroll guy is my best friend which is how I found out. He hasn't said anything to anyone else

I think you should write to you boss and ask for clarification on whether you have been furloughed.

He may have furloughed some staff but not others.

You need to get clarification - you can’t just be paid lower wages with no explanation of why they're lower.

I'm not being paid lower - I have my normal wages

It's the others ( over 200 staff on site ) who have been furloughed - they have been contacted and aware

It's the office staff who are also being ' furloughed ' but are still working and we are getting full wages

So to clarify the office people, sales and field people are being furloughed, still working, full pay just not being told
So nothing on their payslip, just normal wages

Payslips have just been sent for April and there are no furlough comments for the people who have been furloughed, just lower salaries

The office people who have been furloughed have full pay so no 80%

The thing is payroll guy is my best friend which is how I found out. He hasn't said anything to anyone else

Why is your payroll guy telling you anything - doesn't he understand confidentiality? So he is telling you, that there are no comments?

Why didnt he have your NINO if he is in the payroll dept?

this would have been more believable if you worked in the payroll dept for the amount of knowledge you have on other people?

@ScarletFever how do people read this and question what I'm saying is believable or not ? Like I have the time or energy to make something up like this ?

Payslips have come out today ? So I've seen my payslips for myself.
I have no comments on mine as I have full pay

I'm still allowed to ask ' payroll' and they have said he hasn't put any comments on anyone's pay ? What is wrong with that?

Yes he shouldn't have told me I'm furloughed
Big deal
As if other companies don't talk
Hardly confidential information is it

And I've already explained to people who haven't read the post properly how it got to the stage of him asking for my ni

Don't have the patience to explain again

Literally no different to being in the office

I work in sales - I have access to accounts - quotes etc so work closely with payroll

We have 4 other office girls - 5 girls in total one guy and then the boss

2 are field - they are girls

We sit in an open plan office and guess what? We talk

We are a food chain supply company

Hope I've answered all your questions ?

I do payroll and we have furloughed some staff but there is nothing on the payroll system we use that shows them as furloughed so not all payroll systems will show this. They have just got 80% pay but also got a letter via email.

@SunsetYorks yours sounds very legit to me.
Yes our staff got emails but the office staff didn't.
Anyway I'm not going to do anything and carry on. My pay isn't affected and if my boss wants to do that, it's up to him
I don't agree with it but like I said there's probably loads of companies doing it
If and when HMRC catch up with him that's his problem
As for my payroll friend that also up to him

My understanding (from my boss, who is furloughing people at the moment) is that HMRC have got 2000 people on board to PROCESS and manage the furlough scheme, and 3000 people to INVESTIGATE and audit it. If that's true, this will surely come back to bite in years to come. People might not get found out now, but they sure will in future. It would be very easy to find out if people were working when they were being officially furloughed - email records for one thing. If you're furloughed, then you have no reason to be emailing from a company email address. so all it would take would be a look at 'sent items' to see what got sent in that time.

To be honest, I'm more shocked at your friend in payroll who is sharing all this information with you. No integrity whatsoever - mainly on their part, but also on yours. Surely, at some point, you say to them that it's not appropriate for them to be telling you all this?

No way of them knowing the person knew they were being furloughed knew or not unless they actually agreed ? Which I haven't

Yes I get it will show they are still working but as I say I haven't had a letter or email or agreed to it

@seavieww how is it going?
We confronted the boss and he's got rid of two of us on the spot.
Hasn't said whether we will be paid after this month.
Knew this would happen. Now what do i do?

@badboss2020 That is shit. As a first course I would contact ACAS for advice. Good luck

www.acas.org.uk/contact

www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#agreeing-to-furlough-employees
This will tell you all you need to know.

@badboss2020 oh no! I would call acas they are brilliant - impartial advice you don't have to give your details.

I've just plodded on, I do my hours and that's it. Not getting involved in what my boss has chosen to do.

I can't stay there long term as I don't think what he is doing is right but at the moment can't look for another job in this climate