Employment law updates: Coronavirus

Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) updates

Employment law updates – Coronavirus Redundancy payments:

The government announced on 30 July that workers who were furloughed will be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment based on their pre-furlough salary and not the reduced furlough salary. This was implemented by the Employment Rights Act 1996 (Coronavirus, Calculation of a Week’s Pay) Regulations 2020 which came into force on the 31st July.
Employees with more than 2 years of continuous service who have been made redundant are entitled to a redundancy payment up to a statutory maximum (which remains the same). This is based on age, length of service and salary.
The changes will also apply to Statutory Notice Pay and awards for unfair dismissal.

Furloughed workers:

Employers have been able to bring furloughed workers back to the office for any amount of time and for any kind of shift pattern since 1 July while still being able to claim the CJRS grant.
From 1 August the Government has advised that employers and employees should be able to exercise discretion as to whether they can work safely from the office.
The furlough scheme will end on 31 October 2020.

For employment law advice please contact Rupert Farr: Rupert.Farr@blaketurner.com or 020 7480 6655.