Because people who have recently changed jobs currently fall between the Furlough cracks in that they would not be on their new employee's payroll as of 28 Feb 2020 so would not be able to be furloughed, there seems to be some government approved solution being proposed that they can be rehired by their previous employers and thus claim through the job retention scheme. Martin Lewis has recently commented on " The Govt's CHANGED its guidance - firms can now rehire and furlough staff who left after 28 Feb to go to work elsewhere.

On the face of it this would seem that the previous employer just needs to cover a small administration and cash flow cost, but the remuneration paid would be fully recovered. However, dig a little deeper and a can of worms can be seen as what is not clear is how employment law and statutory rights would then apply.

For example, what terms are the employee's being rehired on, does it reset their continuous employment date, or will it be seen as a continuation? If a continuation what happens at the end of the furloughed period, would the company have to official go through the redundancy process and if the previous continuous service date apply, would the rehired employee then be entitled to redundancy payments?

What happens if the re-hired employee had been made redundant and received redundancy and ex-gratia payments?

During the furloughed period:

• Would the employer have to contribute to the workplace pension scheme?
• Would accrued holiday be payable at then end of the furloughed period.
• What happens if the company folds during the furlough period?
• What happens if the furloughed period is extended and cash flow becomes critical?
• What benefits would rehired employees be entitled to receive?
• Would existing insurances properly cover re-hired employees? 
• What if a rehired employee became pregnant?
• What responsibilities would the former employer have with regards their duty of care responsibilities, sickness etc etc.

At the end of the furloughed period:

• Would the employee have to agree to leave, what if their new company has not survived and the employee refuses to leave?

If not thought through some employers might find that by doing the "right thing", their act of kindness turns into a nightmare.

Although it may be possible to anticipate everything and contractually agree terms, as this is "policy of the fly" some things are almost bound to be missed and when all said and done an employee's statutory rights will nearly always trump any contractual agreements.

Some issues may even need to be tested through tribunals before there is an certainty as to what is and isn't allowed.

Former employees may initially be grateful to their former employers for helping out, the employer may think that what they are agreeing to is a cost neutral, but they need to think through the full implications and appreciate that come the end, desperation and an uncertain world could mean that ending the arrangement could be very complicated and turn nasty.  

At a time when people want to help out and do the right thing, the phrase "It is not worth it" seems to be ringing loud and clear.