Dave Cormack insists Aberdeen players do not qualify for the UK government's furlough scheme.
The Dons chairman made the revelation after announcing the club had received a £2million cash lifeline as Derek McInnes and his players agreed a wage deferral, ensuring 50 per cent of lower-paid staff remain unaffected by the crisis.
A number of Scottish clubs, including Dundee and Hearts, have sought to take advantage of the furlough measure which covers 80 per cent of wages up to £2,500 during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the government's eligibility criteria dictates the scheme won't pay out if employees are still carrying out work.
Cormack, who admits the current season may have to be declared over, says Aberdeen have taken legal advice which suggests players' continued training regime ensures they do not meet the requirements.
Speaking to BBC Sportsound, he said: "All the advice we have taken from all the top sports lawyers we deal with suggests that what we are going is that players have a training regime.
"The players train at 10:30am every morning in their vests, the data gets uploaded and the sports science guys review it. And not only that but the players are calling fans as well.
"And by any definition, what we have seen from our lawyers is that you can't furlough somebody like that.
"Now if we get to a situation that we don't have any football until July or August, I'm sure Derek would want to give a summer holiday at home.
"So that's where we are at on the furlough.
"It's a bad situation there. They (the players) didn't qualify. That's our reading of it from our lawyers anyway."
Cormack also addressed the increasingly unlikely scenario that the 2019/20 season will be able to resume in the near future.
UEFA have repeatedly intimated their intention to have matches return in July and August, but as the pandemic shows little sign of subsiding across the continent, Cormack doubts whether this is possible.
He added: "The best description I've heard of this pandemic is from the Governor of New York who described it as a 300 mile wide category five hurricane that's going at three miles an hour that hasn't quite hit land yet.
"So we have a lot to go through with society in the next few weeks yet.
"But look, if it's impossible to get games played in late July or early August, I don't think we will have any choice but to call the league."
