Employment Law Bulletin - Returning to Work - Article 2: Returning Furloughed Staff Part-Time

Returning furloughed staff part-time

The next stage of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will begin on 1st July. Employers will be able to bring employees back to work on a part-time basis, with the Government continuing to subsidise their pay so that they continue to receive up to 80 per cent of their normal pay to a maximum of £2,500.

This option will only apply to employees who have already been furloughed under the original scheme. The last applications under that scheme will have to be made by 30 June – meaning that employees will have to have been placed on furlough by 10 June in order to qualify.

Full details of the new arrangements are yet to be set out by Government. It is clear however that the employer will need to pay in full for the proportion of a normal working week that an employee will be asked to perform. The CJRS grant will only be made in respect of that part of the week that the employee will not be working. The employer will need to provide details of the employee’s normal working week so that the appropriate amount of CJRS money can be calculated.

Employees who have been placed on furlough will have agreed that they will not perform any work for their employer. If the furloughed employee is being paid in full – that is – the employer is topping up the grant under the furlough scheme so that the employee suffers no loss in pay, then bringing the employee back on a part-time basis is straightforward.

But in many cases the parties will have agreed a lower rate of pay for the period of furlough in line with the funding available under the job retention scheme. so that the employee is only receiving 80% of their usual salary – capped at £2,500 a month – in line with the funding available under the scheme.

If the employer wants the employee to return to work on a part-time basis and continue to be paid less than his or her normal salary, then that will require a fresh contractual agreement. The employee should be asked to work on a part-time basis in return for a salary made up of the employer’s payment for work done together with the amount that will be funded by the CJRS. It will be important to stress that the arrangement is temporary and that normal working will resume either when the job retention scheme ends, or when the employer is ready to bring the employee back full-time.

If an employee is paid by the hour with no guaranteed minimum week, then there is no need for a separate agreement. The employer will be able to ask them to return to work a limited number of hours, in accordance with their contract. The employee will then gain the added benefit of an additional payment from the job retention scheme based on their pay in the previous tax year.