Received SSP but company gone into liquidation

[robert_harper_2000]

My friend at work, her husband has been off work with back probs caused at work. He was told to take time off work by doc and company advised him to sue them once her got back to work for the pay he was owed. He did 3 days back at work after 10 months off and was told the company has gone into liquidation - company has no insurance to claim his money. Does he have any rights? He will apparently get his reducnancy about 17 weeks worth.

 

He was hoping to get his pay to deal with the debts he built up during his time off work

[paulgmb]

The company must have had insurance. Has a receiver been appointed?

The receiver will be able to tell you who the insurer was and the certificate should have been displayed in the workplace.

Any statutory redundancy and statutory notice will be paid by the BERR (DTI)

[robert_harper_2000]

So what should I tell his wife to tell him? to find out who the receiver is? do they have a claim against them?

Cheers

[Sidewinder]

The Official Receiver should be able to advise details of the company's insurer - the claim would be against them, not the Receiver, but this would almost certainly be a complicated matter needing specialist legal advice. Claims for certain industrial injuries can be lodged decades after companies have ceased trading, so the case wouldn't fail due to the company not existing any more, but to stand any sort of chance of being paid your friend will need to prove negligence. As an industrial injury involving an extended absence, HSE should have been involved, and there should be records not only of their investigation and any accident book entry applicable to the injury. These together with any correspondence will help with the claim.

 

I would suggest that your friend speaks to a PI specialist to handle this.

[elche]

SW and Paul are right as EL insurance is a legal requirement for an employer. Provided that a valid policy existed at the time of the accident, it is irrelevant that the employer is now gone as the insurer will meet any liabilities - should be able to prove your case - Duty - Breach - Causation

 

I'm sure that a database of employer's liability insurer's does exist (similar to the MIDIS one for car insurance) and a solicitor should be able to contact the ABI in order to locate the insurer.

 

DO REMEMBER that you only have 3 years from date of accident, (or knowledge of injury) to bring the claim

 

Che

Edited November 8, 2008 by elche