Coronavirus: Do Brands Have Any Recourse If The Media Wrongly Alleges They Have Furloughed Staff?

• Published date: 18 May 2020
• Author: Ms Jo Sanders and Chloe Flascher
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Redundancy/Layoff, Libel & Defamation, Media & Entertainment Law, Publishing
• Law Firm: Withers LLP

The press has jumped on decisions taken by some famous brands to furlough their employees, pouring out scorn that it is morally reprehensible behaviour by a business which the media believes is wealthy.

The Government scheme is designed as a temporary form of protection for employees' from redundancies, but hostile media reports about the decision by the VB label to furlough staff illustrate just how ready-and-waiting the press are to savage famous names. VB is, of course, the eponymous fashion house of Victoria Beckham and no distinction is drawn in the press between a business and its famous figurehead. Victoria Beckham has since confirmed to The Guardian that the VB label will not be drawing on the Government scheme, a decision which might itself have been made as a direct result of the negative media coverage which ensued following the original announcement.

Richard Branson became a similar target for his comments that Virgin Atlantic, and other airlines, would require a Government bail-out. But what if the media wrongly allege that a company has furloughed its staff? Can it complain?

Whilst furlough is a lawful Government scheme and there is, of course, nothing inherently wrong in using it to protect employees' jobs, a bit like 'tax avoidance' it is now being reported by the media that it is a morally dubious decision when used by some.

If the article falsely alleges that a brand is furloughing staff and therefore exploiting public resources in order to benefit its wealthy owners, we think that is defamatory. The publication may well also be defamatory of the company's figurehead or any wealthy individual associated with the company, if an article suggests that they are undertaking the scheme to preserve their own wealth at the taxpayers' expense.

To bring a libel claim you have to show that an untrue defamatory statement has been made. A defamatory statement...