This petition was rejected

The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:

Decisions about reemploying staff who were made redundant ahead of the Government launching the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme are a matter for individual employers, not the Government or Parliament.

If a company made employees redundant, they can re-employ them and put them on furlough and claim for their wages from the date on which they furloughed them through the scheme: www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

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

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

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: 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:
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: 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: committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/