ADVICE NEEDED. Chasing final pay cheque after being made redundant 4 WEEKS LATE!

[jennifer571]

I began working at the head office of a chain of jewellery stores early October. With the bad snow in December sales plummeted and they started letting people go, I was one of them, they made me redundant on the 23rd December, 2 days before Christmas!!

 

I was promised a cheque for my final wages (one months worth) on the 7th January the day I was originally due to be paid but by bank transfer, I have already been told that they are in breach of the contract as it states that I will always be paid into my bank account on the first friday of every month.

 

I was worried from the start as I had taken many calls in the office from former employees chasing their cheques also. So when the 7th Jan come and there was no cheque I got intouch with them they assured me it was sent the 5th but due to bad weather it could be delayed, 2 weeks later and still no cheque I gave them 7 days to get a replacement cheque to me before starting legal proceedings, they assured me a replacement would be sent out recorded delivery, it was another 9 days before I finally recieved a cheque.

 

The cheque was due to clear today (4th Feb) and surprise surprise it has bounced! I have called the office and, convienently, the person I need to speak to is on another call I insist on a call back but nothing! I am in arrears with rent and have survived on £60 for the last month. Obviously I have started benefits claims but these are only just coming through, and needless to say I am desperatley looking for work but January is not a great month for job hunting.

 

Any advice on the next steps to take are much appreciated.

 

Jenny

[SarEl]

There is, I am afraid, no quick answer. You will have to write to them explaining your attempts to contact them, the fact that they owe you £XXX and demand payment within (usually) 21 days. It's called a letter before action (lba) - and hopefully this site will now be pointing you to a link to explain this in greater detail! If they still do not pay you will have no option but to make either a tribunal claim or a county court claim. Tribunal claims are free, county court ones are not (although you can also claim the costs back from the employer) - but you only have 3 months less a day to make a claim to the tribunal, and it can also take some months to get heard (although most people pay up once a claim is made.

[elche]

Hi Jenny,

 

Welcome to CAG. Sorry to hear about your recent dismissal due to redundancy. Good luck with the job hunt.

 

SarEl is right that the starting point is a letter to your former ER requesting all sums due. This letter should of course be sent registered post.

 

I would definitely advise having a read of this - http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/pdfs/guidanceleafletspdf/guideforemployees.pdf

 

But do not worry as you should definitely get some money even if the former ER is NOT insolvent as the National Insurance Fund via the RPO (see section 10 on the pdf link) will cover unsatisfied ET judgments for redundancy pay, and if insolvent will also pay other sums such as unpaid wages (subject to limits).

 

Of course the above assumes that you worked there long enough to qualify for statutory redundancy pay (2 years at least), thus the question;

 

How long did you work there?

 

Che

 

OOOPS - Just re-read your post and note you said that you worked there only for like approx 2 months - Thus ignore the above - apart of course the part about sending the registered letter to serve as your LBA.