Employee working whilst furloughed!!

Emails forwarded providing clear evidence

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For the past few months I've been provided with WhatsApp messages from one of our employees who - although having agreed to be flexi-furloughed - stated that he'd worked no hours. The furlough claims were prepared on this basis.

Today though out of the blue he forwarded me several emails which show clear correspondence trails with suppliers going back and forth during the claim periods, demonstrating that he'd at the very least spent an hour or two each month dealing with emails and a bit of admin.

He's pi$$ing me off - how should I deal with this? Email him and demand details of all work he's undertaken? Speak with the managing director?

Replies (7)

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A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
07th Apr 2021 19:02

So your time recording system for flex furlough consists of you asking employees by WhatsApp if they have worked? Who instructed the e/ee to work? Did they just overlook a couple of hours and are telling you now? If someone asked them to do the work you could simply adjust their pay and next month's CJRS for overclaim and put in a proper process in the meantime. If they did a couple of hours off their own bat just to be helpful and don't expect to be paid full whack for it then let it go, but put in a proper process .....

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Replying to Arthur Putey:
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By Missing in action
07th Apr 2021 19:36

Proper timesheets are kept for employees undertaking regular flexi-furloughed hours, however the employee in this instance is the retail manager. He's been on flexi-furlough since December, but I've not expected him to have been undertaking any work as his shop has been legally required to be closed since January.

I simply seek confirmation via WhatsApp to check that I've not missed anything - I'm working remotely so wouldn't necessarily know if something came up that he had to attend to.

The hours will have been off his own bat. Seems he only views graft in his shop as proper work, and doesn't realise dealing with ad-hoc emails and supplier calls whilst on furlough are work too.

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the sea otter
By memyself-eye
07th Apr 2021 19:12

Employee working while claiming furlough?

Who'd have thunk it eh?

From Hamlet: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio......

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By Hugo Fair
07th Apr 2021 20:55

"... one of our employees who - although having agreed to be flexi-furloughed - stated that he'd worked no hours. The furlough claims were prepared on this basis."
It's not just down to the individual employee to tell you what hours he's worked. What does the Flexi-furlough Agreement with this employee say about his furloughed and his working hours? You do have such an Agreement don't you?

"He's pi$$ing me off - how should I deal with this?"
Whoah ... why so much antagonism? Has anyone explained to him the concept of what constitutes 'working' (even if, for instance, the shop is closed)? Where do you sit in the hierarchy (his boss, co-worker, etc)?

"he'd at the very least spent an hour or two each month dealing with emails and a bit of admin."
Whilst this may mean making an adjustment to CJRS claims, it's hardly a 'material' issue or indeed a hanging offence. Is there something else you're not telling us?

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
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By Missing in action
07th Apr 2021 21:36

What do you think I may not be telling you?

I'm a co-worker, the company accountant. I am not his boss, and I do not instruct him in any way. I have though explained to him what constitutes working for the purposes of CJRS.

My employer did put in place a flexi-furlough agreement, which states that he will be instructed to work part-time as the business requires, and will be furloughed for the remainder of the time.

Of course a few hours is not a massive deal to get worked up about, but is it that bad an idea to take a zero-tolerance approach? Continually turning a blind eye to a few hours here and there across the furloughed workforce and over many months does add up.

Plus, irrespective of what the employee has been instructed to do in accordance with the flexi-furlough agreement, if I find out that they've done additional hours off their own initiative (perhaps coming in for an extra day to complete a task), I'm not claiming it.

(Plus it's not always possible to know in advance how much time is required to complete the work required, so to expect the employer to always instruct an exact number of hours in advance is unrealistic. Surely asking employees to keep timesheets and provide these at the end of the claim period is a reasonable approach.)

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
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By Missing in action
07th Apr 2021 21:37

What do you think I may not be telling you?

I'm a co-worker, the company accountant. I am not his boss, and I do not instruct him in any way. I have though explained to him what constitutes working for the purposes of CJRS.

My employer did put in place a flexi-furlough agreement, which states that he will be instructed to work part-time as the business requires, and will be furloughed for the remainder of the time.

Of course a few hours is not a massive deal to get worked up about, but is it that bad an idea to take a zero-tolerance approach? Continually turning a blind eye to a few hours here and there across the furloughed workforce and over many months does add up.

Plus, irrespective of what the employee has been instructed to do in accordance with the flexi-furlough agreement, if I find out that they've done additional hours off their own initiative (perhaps coming in for an extra day to complete a task), I'm not claiming it.

(Plus it's not always possible to know in advance how much time is required to complete the work required, so to expect the employer to always instruct an exact number of hours in advance is unrealistic. Surely asking employees to keep timesheets and provide these at the end of the claim period is a reasonable approach.)

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
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By Hugo Fair
07th Apr 2021 21:51

Not sure whether it's due to another quirk of this site's software ... but a couple of minutes ago there was a perfectly reasonable response from OP here - that has now (as per his nom-de-plume) gone 'missing in action'!
I was about to reply but (my refresh to 'grab' a quote having plunged his response down the plughole) am no longer able to do so ... and will now retire for the evening.

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