Asked to take a Weeks leave unpaid - advice

noblankski

Hi peeps,
Where I work we have been all asked to take a weeks leave from work, unpaid. We have got to sign on for the week I guess. Some have already. There's a couple of problems.
1. There is enough work for the week, so its purely to save money i think(or is it?!?!), so should we accept there isn't any work for us at our own loss, even though there is work, the company is said to be currently losing money, but who isn't. The wording of the statement from the company makes out that we are volunteering to take the weeks unpaid, when in fact we are being asked/told to take a week off.
2. After just speaking to someone tonight, they had a good take on this. Some people could be working over 5 years for the company lets say. So now they are told no work for a week, so their employment is broken. Does this mean if the company go bust, or asks for redundancies then peoples employemnt will only start from this year, post their weeks unpaid leave? Will it affect their lenght of employment? I have the feeling there is a sneaky reason for this.

Thanks for reading

wmpdd3

2. You won't break your service. more like taking a weeks leave unpaid due to personal problems only it's your employers problems!

Technically you could lose .45 of a days holidays as you would have not worked up the time.

1. If you guys have a union arrange a meeting or try the citizen Info service on the Yellow Road.

If you know the co is just trying to save money, it's time to get a clearer picture of the outlook for the next year.

You need a mediator between you and the company to make sure all your interests are been taken into consideration.

It's still a 1/52 pay cut at the end of the day.

ABEasy

noblankski wrote: »

Hi peeps,
Where I work we have been all asked to take a weeks leave from work, unpaid. We have got to sign on for the week I guess. Some have already. There's a couple of problems.
1. There is enough work for the week, so its purely to save money i think(or is it?!?!), so should we accept there isn't any work for us at our own loss, even though there is work, the company is said to be currently losing money, but who isn't. The wording of the statement from the company makes out that we are volunteering to take the weeks unpaid, when in fact we are being asked/told to take a week off.
2. After just speaking to someone tonight, they had a good take on this. Some people could be working over 5 years for the company lets say. So now they are told no work for a week, so their employment is broken. Does this mean if the company go bust, or asks for redundancies then peoples employemnt will only start from this year, post their weeks unpaid leave? Will it affect their lenght of employment? I have the feeling there is a sneaky reason for this.

Thanks for reading

1. They won't break the employment contract as previously stated

2. If they have enough work on and are still asking for you to take a week unpaid, it seems to me that they could be in trouble. The main reason I can see for this kind of action is that they cannot afford to pay the wages at the end of the week so ask you not to work. This may not be the case but it makes no sense to shut down when there is work on. Assuming 'work on' = Sales/Invoiced work

noblankski

Thanks for your replys guys, just when i was speaking to someone about it yesterday things sparked off,, tis one of companies that doesn't do unions. spoke to some experienced people in work too and they reckon there's not too much to be worried about. But you never know. thanks again

wmpdd3

I would still approach a union or the citizens advice bureau just in case.

Nothing worse than some one saying 'What you should have done there.....'