Furlough And Dismissal

Since the start of Covid-19 there have been many schemes introduced by the government in an attempt to support the country's economy during this unprecedented pandemic. Furlough has been the most notorious and, in some opinions, helpful scheme that the government have implemented and it has aided a substantial number of companies to remain afloat during this time. The scheme, although coming to an end on 31^st September 2021, was recently the subject of an interesting tribunal decision that has shed some light on an employer's duty to their employees in terms of redundancy or furlough. As will be discussed below, the judge in this case reached the conclusion that a failure to consider and/or offer furlough as an alternative to redundancy, made the dismissal of the claimant, unfair.