enforced unpaid leave
Author
Discussion

shirt

Original Poster:

25,045 posts

224 months

Thursday 12th March 2020
quotequote all
Can a company enforce blanket unpaid leave, and under what circumstances?

Company has nearly 4k employees, CEO has told everyone that it will be enforced and applies to all employees [company has US HQ, but global offices]. I thought local contract and employment law would take precedence?


MissChief

7,835 posts

191 months

Thursday 12th March 2020
quotequote all
shirt said:
Can a company enforce blanket unpaid leave, and under what circumstances?

Company has nearly 4k employees, CEO has told everyone that it will be enforced and applies to all employees [company has US HQ, but global offices]. I thought local contract and employment law would take precedence?
It will. The CEO doesn’t seem to know this. If you are unable to work from home and you are capable of work but your site closes then AFAIK (and I am most definitely NAL) then you should be paid. At least in the UK.

Muzzer79

12,667 posts

210 months

Thursday 12th March 2020
quotequote all
If you are employed by a UK entity with a UK contract, I'd be surprised if they can enforce unpaid leave.

You would (normally) be contracted to a certain number of hours per week. If the company prevents you from working those hours, that is not your fault so you should be paid.

ralphrj

3,938 posts

214 months

Thursday 12th March 2020
quotequote all
MissChief said:
It will. The CEO doesn’t seem to know this. If you are unable to work from home and you are capable of work but your site closes then AFAIK (and I am most definitely NAL) then you should be paid. At least in the UK.
Lay-offs and short-time working are legal if included in your contract.

https://www.gov.uk/lay-offs-short-timeworking

C0ffin D0dger

3,440 posts

168 months

Thursday 12th March 2020
quotequote all
Our US based company has this in N America, called "furlough" over there, in essence in times when the company has figures to meet and/or times of low production they can tell everyone they're having a nice holiday of a week or two unpaid thus massively reducing the wage bill. If you don't like it then tough, find another job

Nothing in our contracts about being forced to take unpaid leave and I'm not sure we'd ever agree to it. During the last spell they flew over one of the executives to ask us all nicely that if we did want it week of unpaid leave that would help them all massively but it's entirely optional. A few took them up on it at the time as sometimes the time off is worth more than the financial loss. I couldn't afford it at the time so didn't. At the moment though I am effectively buying an extra week of holiday off them by taking a week off unpaid under the parental leave scheme.

shirt

Original Poster:

25,045 posts

224 months

Friday 13th March 2020
quotequote all
I think it’s the same in this case. US staff have no choice, for everyone else it’s optional but using the threat of redundancies. They have the weekend to decide whether they’re willing to accept the unpaid leave or not.

Swern1

113 posts

78 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
I think we are going to see a lot of this in the coming months, not because businesses wants to but because they have to.

sociopath

3,433 posts

89 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
As others have said, no they can't do that u less your contract says they can

US companies rarely understand international employment laws.

My US boss decided he hated me so fired me on the spot, unaware he couldn't do that with impunity. He was absolutely beside himself when he found out he had to pay me 6 month's notice plus outstanding bonuses.
Because he continued to insist he was right he also didn't understand compromise agreements so didn't put any restrictions on me during my 6 month gardening leave, so I walked into a contract 2 weeks later, so was effective paid double for 6 month's.
I may have emailed him and told him :-)

55palfers

6,256 posts

187 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
What is the situation regarding any possible State Benefit entitlement during unpaid leave?


Jamesgt

849 posts

256 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
55palfers said:
What is the situation regarding any possible State Benefit entitlement during unpaid leave?
Let’s hope something is done. I’ll be out of a job by the end of the week. I work on aircraft maintenance so I won’t be picking up another job quickly. Speaking around the airport it seems many people are going on unpaid leave or just laid off from their contracts. The airport is like a ghost town. The hotels are near empty, private hire/taxis not used, local restaurants empty. This has huge implications.

Saleen836

12,191 posts

232 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
I heard on the radio driving home that Virgin Airlines have asked their employees to take 8 weeks unpaid leave due to flights being cancelled etc, i very much doubt many of them have the funds to survive that long before getting into debt.

i4got

5,923 posts

101 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
Saleen836 said:
I heard on the radio driving home that Virgin Airlines have asked their employees to take 8 weeks unpaid leave due to flights being cancelled etc, i very much doubt many of them have the funds to survive that long before getting into debt.
We've already had a couple of Virgin employees on our local FB page looking for any work.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

31,757 posts

258 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
MissChief said:
shirt said:
Can a company enforce blanket unpaid leave, and under what circumstances?

Company has nearly 4k employees, CEO has told everyone that it will be enforced and applies to all employees [company has US HQ, but global offices]. I thought local contract and employment law would take precedence?
It will. The CEO doesn’t seem to know this. If you are unable to work from home and you are capable of work but your site closes then AFAIK (and I am most definitely NAL) then you should be paid. At least in the UK.
But we are all in unchartered waters. I guess the option is help the company out & hope for a job to go back to later.

shirt

Original Poster:

25,045 posts

224 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
All well and good but the company in question doesn’t seem outwardly affected by covid. Share price in line with 12mth average, news stories showing only recent big contract announcements. I get the impression they’re capitalizing on the situation.

What concerns me is that if you elect to take unpaid leave, there’s no guarantee that you avoid redundancy later on. Also if made redundant would they pay the unpaid leave period?

It’s been increased from 2 to 4 weeks already.

2 sMoKiN bArReLs

31,757 posts

258 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
It's all a muddle for everybody

spikeyhead

19,688 posts

220 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
Saleen836 said:
I heard on the radio driving home that Virgin Airlines have asked their employees to take 8 weeks unpaid leave due to flights being cancelled etc, i very much doubt many of them have the funds to survive that long before getting into debt.
If only they were owned by a billionaire....

Whatsmyname

944 posts

100 months

Monday 16th March 2020
quotequote all
spikeyhead said:
If only they were owned by a billionaire....
Is the leave not spread out over a few weeks and also guarantees no redundancies? Also won't Delta have had a say in it?

djc206

13,399 posts

148 months

Tuesday 17th March 2020
quotequote all
Whatsmyname said:
Is the leave not spread out over a few weeks and also guarantees no redundancies? Also won't Delta have had a say in it?
8 weeks in 3 months to be spread out over 6 months pay so just under a third effectively.

They’re offering VR as well I believe, I’m guessing some of the older guys will jump ship. Fingers crossed it’s enough for them

mike74

3,687 posts

155 months

Tuesday 17th March 2020
quotequote all
Jamesgt said:
55palfers said:
What is the situation regarding any possible State Benefit entitlement during unpaid leave?
Let’s hope something is done. I’ll be out of a job by the end of the week. I work on aircraft maintenance so I won’t be picking up another job quickly.
In what way are you hoping ''something is done''?




Gazzas86

1,770 posts

194 months

Tuesday 17th March 2020
quotequote all
how about this......

Fellow Colleague booked annual leave last week, to work another job for the week (at the races in Cheltenham), The weekend just gone, work tell person not to come in this week incase if said person did catch anything, they wont infect our small workforce of 30 people.
Said person cannot WFH, would you expect said person to be fully paid?? i believe HR have taken toil off said employee to cover the week they are off.