When Furlough Finishes

[llm24]

Looking for employers who could answer this question

When furlough finishes I am hoping I am one of the lucky ones going back to work to an industry that has really struggled and will take a long time to recover from COVID

What I want to know is does anyone know if my boss can reduce my working hours ?

You are probably better asking a lawyer and therefore posting in legal.

Thank you LouiseTrees just done that

They can but would need you to agree and possibly sign an amendment to your contract I think. If you don’t agree then they can make you redundant I suppose. You can’t just force them to let you work your full hours.

Of course they can reduce your hours if that's what the business needs require. They can't just make it happen immediately, they have to give you a consultation period and an opportunity to think through how the change will affect you and decide whether you can accept that, but if you don't want to accept a change that they need, then they can make you redundant. There is no obligation for any employer to keep employing someone who is surplus to requirements, and that remains true with or without a pandemic. Potential exception: if they have multiple employees doing the role and the person whose hours are being reduced has a protected characteristic under Equalities legislation then that action might possibly appear to be discrimination unless the employer can show a transparent and fair process to select who is affected which has no discriminatory element. That's quite a flimsy straw to grasp at though.

Thanks all

We know our office is loosing 5 members of staff ( told on a zoom meeting ) nothing mentionned about the people staying having hours reduced . We all have a consultation meeting next week 😩