Part-time work quandry

I’ve had a tweet from Caspar who says this: @Jasmine can you help me please. I currently work part time & furloughed – my employer wants us to take a 25 percent cut on our contract hours which would take me to 8 hours I have been since offered a job working 22.5 hours a week from September do I need to inform my employer?

I asked my friends at ACAS about this and here is their reply:

it’s a relatively long answer but I think will be really helpful. Long partly because there’s just a bit of info lacking but this will help your follower make a decision. Otherwise feel free to point to our helpline. 

The situation: 

• Employee is on furlough leave from part-time Job A
• Employee concerned around part-time Job A because employers wants to reduce hours
• Employee has been offered 22.5 hour part-time Job B
• Employee wants to know what they need to do

The missing piece of info (which matters!) is whether the employee could work both Job A and Job B at the same time when furlough is over and done with.

• If Job A was a mornings-only job and Job B was evenings-only, then broadly speaking whether the employee does Job B or not is not the affair of Employer A.
• However, if Job A and Job B both involve shifts at the same time (i.e. both needed the employee to work Wednesdays 12-4) then the employee needs to make a choice:

• • They can resign from Job A and take Job B, making sure they give the required notice – and they should be paid for their notice period
  • They can decline Job B and stick with A
  • They could (possibly) explain their situation to the employers to see if either employer was prepared to work around the other so she could do both jobs
• In both cases whilst the employee is on furlough they can take up a new job. However, we would encourage them to talk with the current employer about their situation to try and reach an agreement if the furlough ends because the nature of furlough leave means they could be asked to return to the old job at very short notice. (As furlough will end in October, this would only last until then).

So Caspar, I hope that helps. Come back to us on these Messageboards if you have more questions 🙂