I havent been paid for 5 months+ commission :(

[pirell]

hi there ppl,

 

as the topic title states, i havent received my wages since may, and no commission since march! as of the end of august i was also made redundant, based on the financial difficulties the company has been going through.

I worked as a business developer selling courses for companies.

 

the crux of the matter is not that the company fell into difficulty whereby the credit crunch affected our sales or anything, it was just down to mis management. The people who provide the funding to my former company are the learning skills council, so in essense..the govt. and they didnt go bankrupt or anything! it is just that due to the irregularities they observed, they have requested an exhaustive amount of audits and spreadsheets confirming all the learners we registered to undertake training.

 

this is the main reason why they literraly froze any further payment to the company since March, which trickled down into a full stoppage of wages since May. Yet we worked as normal for the company under the premise that "the govt will always pay eventually".

 

however, 5 months later this has become a major issue now. 90% of the staff have resigned and i was made redundant at the end of august. i was promised payment at the end of sept, and this hasnt happened, now were being told a NEW audit has been requested so it coudl take another month or two, you can imagine the financial strain i and my other colleagues have been under in these circumstances.

 

to cut it short, some of the former staff want to take the management to tribunal for the wages owed. and He has in turn said that he has no money to pay, since he has received no money from the people who pay for the courses we sold. he has also said that as a result of the pending tribunal he will have no choice but to wind up the company and "technically and legally" owe nobody nothing!

 

he says he will shut down the company and open up another one in another name and he wont owe us money since as a Ltd comapny his liability is just a pound. He claims to pay those who were patient enough to wait until all this issue with funding owed is resolved but he will not pay anyone who takes him to court.

 

The fact that the company underwent so many audits is down to the mismanagement, even teetering on fraud, many things i know about. so my questions is even if he does close down the company, and trades under another name..is it possible to still claim this money owed and or at least push for a case of gross mismanagement barring him and his Mum and dad who are the other two directors from being directors in any new company he intedns to run. bcos they ignored so many warnings from staff as we all saw it coming but them.

 

I will only want to wait one more month before considering legal action becuase the entire mgt have shown no real sympathy or courtesy. no one has been updated on the situation, its always us who have to call and find out what the payment situation is. so any advice on this would be much aprpeciated. thanks

Edited October 9, 2009 by pirell

[toddle2u]

Even though the Company is still trading and you haven't been paid your wages and redundancy you can still claim them from the government. You can claim from the Redundancy Payments Office. Are you due redundancy? Have you worked for them for more than 2 years? You can only claim back 3 months unpaid wages though and the maximum you can claim is £350 per week. Google 'redundancy payments office' and all the info is on their. It would be a lot simplar for you if he did liquidate the company as you will then be able to claim for unpaid holiday entitlement as well.

 

I am aware of these types of companies and their fraudluent activities - i.e. charging the Govt for non-existant training.

[pirell]

tthanks for the reply. I have been working there for 18 months so I just miss the 2 yr cut off for compulsory redundancy pay. am I still able to claim anything if the company is liquidated. I have heard of a govt scheme in these circumstances

[toddle2u]

If it is liquidated you can claim for unpaid wages and holiday pay but not redundancy as you will not qualify for it

[debtinfo]

As toddle has answered that bit i'll go for the other half. He cannot pick and choose who he pays if the company is wound up, it is true that he not personally liable for the debts, it is true that he can start another company.

 

However, as the director he will be investigated, and at that point you can put your two pence worth in if you know that he has mis managed the company. As part of the investigation he could be disqualified from running companies for up to 15 years.