Gross misconduct dismissall

[oggy1]

Hi,

this is a complicated scenario but here goes:

 

my son was employed by this company for 2 years and after the first year a deal was struck by the owner and my son to purchase the small company.

this was on a 5 year agreement and each year as the payments were made shares would be transferred to my son .

the first payment was made on the day the contract was signed and my son the became the owner with duties to run the business as per agreement and in the best interests of the company.

he was also employed and on a salary and he was the only director.

 

when he signed the contract he took it on trust as the owner was a jehovas witness and they dont lie and are trustworthy.

 

i started work there in june 2010 on a casual /ad hoc basis as i also run my own business which the owner was fully aware.

 

when the second payment was due to be made some problems arose- the previous owner had still control of the bank account and wouldnt pay suppliers on time and we lost quite a few of our credit facilities.

 

due to the ridiculous ways, i had the contract checked and the previous owner could take control at any time because of the clauses in the contract, and the amount of money he was to recieve wasnt as he had thought.

 

he arranged a meeting on thursday morning at 11.am to make a deal is what their solicitor had stated,

by email to my son,who duly went to the meeting to find the other shareholders there and he was informed that due to gross misconduct the had retaken control of the company and he was dismissed.

 

i was dismissed at the same time and asked to leave- i was the company secretary.

 

his employees on his instructions had gone through our personal bags and and equipment and photograhed bank statements and other documents and tried to accuse us of stealing from his company.

 

 

i need to now find out if this is illegal in any way and my son needs to file for unfair dismissal and is there ant time limits

[papasmurf1cx]

This is far too complicated. You and your son would be best advised to seek proper legal advice from a solicitor that is conversant not only with employment law but also company law.

 

Did your son have a solicitor to start with when he signed the papers to take the company over? How much money are we talking about?

[honeybee13]

Hello there. I agree with papasmurf about taking legal advice, but we'll help where we can. Who drew up the contract btw?

 

My best, HB

[oggy1]

hi all,

in answer to the points above , the contract was drawn up by the previous owner and the first payment taken out of the business was £300,000.

the scond payment which should have been paid on the 2nd august 2011 was for £140,000.

the payments were made on the understanding that shares would be transferred as money was paid out.

the crafty solicitor in fact made the shares go from the owner to the ltd co and none to my son.

i have had the contract checked by a solicitor and due to the clauses inserted into the contract my son had basically nothing -just worked his socks off 6 days a week - 14 hour days to promote it and for nothing.

 

the previous owners solicitor also arranged this meeting - according to the phone call and email- to discuss a deal with the previous owner, the solicitor also admitted to my son he got him to the meeting under false pretences.

the solicitor never once advised my son to have legal representation at any point and assured him that it was a honest and genuine arrangement with him having most of the control - when in fact there was none at all.