Are employers obligated to bring back their furloughed employees?

If they accepted a loan in order to stay in business, they will have to repay the loan if they don’t keep all of the furloughed employees. If they DO bring back all of their furloughed employees, they won’t have to repay the loan.

The problem, of course, is that many businesses will not be able to re-open. They have gone bankrupt. The Democrats in congress have delayed funding and redirected most of it to their own projects, such as the Kennedy Center (which let go all of its musicians and employees anyway), Planned Parenthood, etc. —all under the guise that they were giving the money to the workers directly (which they did not do).

Even if that were true, 22 million people now have no work to go back to,

One of the jobs I know it is still opened and many employees are working from home so it is still up and running. Unfortunately some of them weren’t able work from home so they had to be furlough.

No, they are not obligated to bring back their furloughed employees. That’s usually the expectation, but it is not a requirement. Furloughed employees retain all of their employment rights, however, so the employer can’t hire someone else for the position without going through the process of laying off the original employee.

@Yellowdog “The Democrats in congress…”

You mean the party that currently controls one half of one branch of the federal government? The Republicans control the courts, the Senate, and the entire executive branch (which oversees the distribution of relief funds). And all of the bills that have been passed so far have had broad bipartisan support. So it’s complete and utter nonsense to pretend that the Democrats have somehow managed to wrestle control over the process.

“redirected most of it to their own projects, such as the Kennedy Center (which let go all of its musicians and employees anyway), Planned Parenthood”

The emergency relief bill contains a Hyde Amendment provision that explicitly excludes Planned Parenthood from receiving money. And the Kennedy Center is owned and operated by the federal government. The money it received was for its utilities and upkeep budget, not extra money to retain its employees (who already receive unemployment benefits). If you’re really this uninformed, you should consider educating yourself instead of spewing your ignorance all over the internet.

@honeybun35 I hope so, as I have been furloughed, too.

@Yellowdog I wish you could just answer questions without blaming democrats for everything and getting the story wrong.

Not obligated. If they keep them furloughed and not laid off for 8 weeks, the company gets to keep their money from the government. That means a good chance a portion of the furloughed employees get laid off week 9.

Are you still getting your health insurance through the company?

I just got called back to work!! I’m so relieved!

@JLeslie Why would they lay off their employees on week nine if they’re up and running again? Do they want to be open with no workers?

@Yellowdog If they are up and running full capacity they will all come back to work. If they aren’t running at full capacity, or closed, I think they lay off the workers so they stop paying benefits. It depends on the situation with each company.

Maybe I misunderstood, don’t the companies get to keep the money from the government even if they furlough employees?

If they furlough anyone, they have to pay the loan back. If they keep all of their employees, the loan is forgiven.

@Yellowdog Oh.