Can employees be forced to take unpaid time off?

Can employees be forced to take unpaid time off?

During this turbulent and uncertain period of time, where coronavirus has gripped the world, many employers and employees are unsure of what measures to follow, particularly when it comes to paid sick leave and travel.

Despite these concerns, Virgin Atlantic staff have been told to take eight weeks of unpaid leave over the next three months, to help the airline cope during the coronavirus pandemic, reported Sky News.

Virgin Atlantic is one of many businesses to have brought in new measures to cope with the decline in passenger demand, which has been due to global travel restrictions put in place to help prevent the spread of disease.

Bosses also revealed that the cost would be spread over six months’ salary to ‘drastically reduce costs without job losses’.

Consulting firm The CAPA Centre for Aviation has since claimed that most of the world’s airlines could be bankrupt by the end of May without extra financial help from the Government or industry.

This news comes after Europe’s largest regional airline, Flybe, revealed it had collapsed into administration after failing to receive a £100million bailout.

However, Virgin Atlantic isn’t the first firm to ask staff to take unpaid time off. Hong Kong’s flagship airline Cathay Pacific previously announced that it was offering a voluntary special leave scheme to all staff members from March 1 to June 30, 2020.

According to Expert HR, in situations such as this, an employer should allow staff to take annual leave as an alternative to unpaid leave. However, the firm warned that “employees may not have sufficient holiday entitlement to cover the absence or may be unwilling to use their holiday for this reason. Employers can require employees to take annual leave by giving them the required notice”.

Elsewhere, Simon Robinson, Founder and Employment Lawyer at specialist Leeds-based firm, Robinson Ralph, told HR Grapevine that all employees should refer to their employment contract to find out if it includes a lay-off clause. He explained: “In some cases, employee contracts will include a lay-off clause which expressly permits employers to ask staff not to work, and includes provision for salary levels that will apply during a lay-off period.

“Where there is no lay-off clause, enabling staff to work from home is a sensible option for employers where possible; and of course this is the current Government recommendation. Working from home will, of course, involve payment of an employee’s usual salary.

“Where working from home isn’t an option, or where the business is struggling financially as a direct result of the coronavirus outbreak, employers will need to start consulting with regards to time off on an unpaid or reduced payment basis, or even start redundancy talks.

“Without wanting to sound alarmist, in certain industries there is a very real risk of redundancies and business collapse, and many employees will prefer to accept reduced pay or even unpaid leave in order to try to help an employer to stay afloat; during what is likely to be a challenging few months for even the most resilient of businesses,” he added.

· By : Jade Burke

🍀🍁🍀🍁🍀🍁🍀🍁🍀🍁🍀🍁

Disclaimer-A ‘views expressed’ disclaimer is commonly displayed on websites in relation to any comments, articles, blog posts or other public content that is considered the thoughts and opinions of the specific author intention is not to copy but to express an opinion.