Give notice whilst on furlough. Will my payoff be capped at 80% ?

[HR BLAH BLAH]

My business has put all staff approx 70 on official 30 day redundancy notice back end of last month and we are all already on furlough. The situation is that personally they have confirmed I would get just x 1 months Redundancy notice pay as I’ve only been there 18 months. However if I hand in my notice I have to give them 3 months notice *and both of these scenarios is written in my contract. So will these monies be as my normal salary pay (late £40k) or at the capped furlough rate of £2.5k per month ? Do I beat them to it in a couple of weeks and hand in my 3 month notice and run ? I’d rather get 3 months than just one months money !!!!!!! My huge worry is that it’s been two weeks or so now since we all got the 30 day Redundancy notice email Saying they’d contact each of us individually to deal on a case by case basis and as of yet nobody has heard a thing ? Again is this normal / legal ? There is only a couple of weeks till the 30 day period ends so how can they possibly cram everybody in !!! Advice and help would be really appreciated..........thankyou*

[ULA]

Given that you are on furlough and are not supposed to be working, redundancy consultation will have to be done remotely. This may mean the process for dealing individually with 70 people remotely may be causing an issue, however the company still has a duty to consult with you. It may be worth a few of you agreeing that you will all email in to your employer to find out what is happening with redundancy consultations.*

At the moment there appears to be no definitive guidance on the issue of notice pay (although this may change) and at what rate it should be paid.* Many take the view that an employee’s right to notice in accordance with their contract (or the statutory minimum notice, if longer) has to be paid at their normal rate of pay. If that is right, then if notice is given during furlough the employer would need to ‘top up’ the furlough pay to the employee’s full rate for any weeks which represent part of the employee’s notice. Although, as a counter to this another interpretation is that by agreeing to be furloughed, the employee has agreed to a reduction in pay for the whole period of furlough and that this applies whether they are on notice or not, therefore for any weeks of notice that fall during furlough they would only qualify for the furlough rate of 80% of pay or max £2,500.

My view would be that Tribunals would probably take a dim view of employers who do not pay full pay during the notice period but this is just my opinion.

Since you are already on notice of termination of employment due to redundancy you cannot hand in your notice.
*

[HR BLAH BLAH]

Thanks so much for your advice Ula. My consultation meeting is early next week however the company has not given anything in writing at all about their Redundancy plans Etc etc so I can prepare for the meeting. The business is very amateur and in my opinion won’t last I don’t trust them at all. So rather than sit and wait why can’t I just hand in my 3 month notice now so I can have a clean break ?*

[ULA]

If your employer is going to make redundancies within 90 days and given the number of staff involved, if you are all in one location then they will need to begin consulting at least 30 days before giving the first redundancy notice.

I am struggling to see that having been put on notice that your job will be terminated by way of redundancy due to the business closing that you can now hand in your notice, particularly if that notice would take you beyond the day that the company is intending on closing.*

[HR BLAH BLAH]

Can anybody advise please ? 30 day redundancy consultation ends this Thursday more than 20 staff involved.

Last week was the first consultation meeting via the phone and they could not answer any of my questions I put forward saying they would need to come back to me and take legal advice etc So we agreed to end the meeting and I would put my questions in writing so they could answer in writing and provide documentation for the process scoring matrix + reasons + plans + other roles + cost savings to protect jobs etc etc This 5 day deadline ends 5 pm today.

Email lands from them last night saying they want another telephone meeting this Wednesday to discuss my questions raised but I asked for it all in writing and the supporting documentation / evidence. I do not trust them at all, I don’t believe they have any process at all. They said in the email I am at risk of redundancy still.

is this legal ? Can they do this ?

one last point is that furlough protection pay lasts till October so why would the business get rid of dozens of staff on the scrap heap when the government is issuing all our wages for the next few months ? £70 quid a week income support and 0% chance of getting a similar oYed job elsewhere in this environment is giving me and my family sleepless nights. How is this morally right ? What would the business achieve by getting rid now when it’s not costing them a penny ? Do I have any legal / moral argument for this to protect me ? I am disgusted that they have been given a lifeline of free furlough pay to keep food on our table and bills paid yet instead they are getting rid now ? How can this be allowed ?

one final point is that they have confirmed o would get x 1 months pay notice for the redundancy pay off but my notice if I hand it in
Is 3 months so am I allowed just to hand my notice in before they get rid of me ?

Thanks

[ULA]

Hi, i have merged your two threads as they are related and it makes it easier for those of us giving advice to have everything in one place.

Have you received anything since there was a deadline of 5pm today for the information you requested? Would be good to know if you have an if so what information was provided.

Unfortunately despite the government furlough scheme having been extended this does not stop a company from starting a redundancy process. Ideally since the 80% level has been extended to the end of July it would be good to think companies who need to make redundancies could try and hold out until this time and maybe beyond depending on the potential tapering of the scheme and the contributions employers will need to make. However there is nothing that legally says they have to.

With regard to notice my response to this question is still as I detailed in my post #4.