Petition · past parliament

Require Employers who laid off their staff to reinstate them for retention pay

Rejected 15 signatures

What the petition asks

Require Employers who prematurely laid off their employees due to Corona Virus to reinstate employees (at least temporarily) so they can receive the government funded retention pay.
Employers have the power to allow their staff to receive retention pay. However before retention pay was made available, many employers laid off their staff, leaving them stranded with no income and no hope. Employers should be required to reinstate all employees who were laid off prematurely.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign this petition calling for the same action: Remove firms discretion and obligate firms to furlough employees where eligible.

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/

Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/

Timeline

27 Mar 2020 Petition opened for signatures
12 May 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 15
Status Rejected
Rejected 12 May 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.