Previous employer owes me money :(

Soldato
Joined
7 Apr 2008
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Lorville - Hurston
Hi Guys, I am in a bit of a crisis here regarding my previous company I use to work for, for 3 years.

Here is a bit of a background story before I dive into the real issue. When I joined the company, my task was to continue to develop multiple games and apps for mobile for a big client but before I did that I had to work on this “in-house” project first. About a year later I am still working on the same project as new requirements changed and after over a year, I found out how our soul owner of the company ended our relationship with that large client we was developing applications and games for, before I joined.

From this point on, we was now relying on the owner for money coming into the account as far as we was aware and after I was there for 2 years, most of us knew bad things was on the horizon so we started looking for a new role.

So anyways, fast forward to last summer august and our owner dropped a bombshell on us a day before pay day. That bomb shell was that he all of a sudden decided he was not going to pay our salary anymore until the project we was working on was finished(4th or 5th iteration of the product at this point) So we had 2-3weeks to finish it off.

Now, before that news happened, the owner actually opened up a new company from within us, doing a different project(A project that was resurrected from a previous project done before I started.) This other company, who work in same building as us wasn't effected by the owners decision to cut pay and at that time I was lucky enough to be temporarily assigned to work there fixing bugs so I got paid fine.

Fast forward a bit to around october and we get news that our pay will be delayed due to security clearance issues transferring the money from our bosses account oversees.

We managed to get paid a week or two later and got paid fine nov and dec But come the turn of this year, things started to go heavily wrong.

First we get news january pay will be delayed for a week. Then later on during febuary get news that they cant give us a date when we will get paid due to waiting on the previous cilent we was dealing with to pay us the money they owe us from the previous stuff we worked on for them.

I then managed to find a new job 3 weeks ago and handed in my notice(They allowed me to leave a day after). But after a day of handing in my notice, the company then began to make people redundant!

They gave me a written letter signed by them stating my last day of work there and also stating how by febuary 28th I will get paid everything they owe me up till this day in full plus my p45 and payslip sent to me by mail.

So anyways after making those people made redundant. The company finally got some cash from our previous client but not enough to pay everyone fully. This is when It gets interesting. The company paid 70% of jan salary to everyone except me! And then a further 20% on people who did not become redundant, whilst the other company that was formed last year summer, got paid fully for jan and feb!

I been on the phone trying to understand why they did not pay me a single penny and managed to finally get hold of HR guys there and what they said is that the company is now going into administration and that the administrator will contact me in regards of my salary!

I am truelly gutted about this. Started my new job a week ago, its been great here so far but this issue I am having with my previous company is detracting me. Also making my wife worried too.

I really need some advice guys on what I can do to tackle this awful situation im in and any any advice is welcome.

Thanks for reading this. Any specific questions you need to ask me, fire away.
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2005
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16,100
Location
Paisley
Its simple really, if they owe you money and they are not in administration then they owe you it and should pay, you may have to take legal action though.

If they are in administration, then you become a creditor of the company, depending on assets they have you might get something (ten pence in the pound, twenty pence etc), but more than likely you wont get anything at all.

Send me an email through trust with the company name and Ill do a search on them to see if they are in recievership or not through my riskdisk thing I have.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Apr 2008
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24,069
Location
Lorville - Hurston
i called them up again today and they said that the administrators are there to try and help get the money that the client owes us, quicker, the HR guy said it is not a question of IF i will get paid its when will i get paid.

i have just recieved word from my ex collegue that still works there and said they are going into pre administration. moratoriaum as they say?

They said that if nothing happens in two weeks, the company will "actually" be in administration.
 
Joined
4 Aug 2007
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21,386
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Wilds of suffolk
I think they are top now, thats assuming there are not already secured assets though and thats when it gets messy.
But at least now wages get paid before Inland revenue, as they often used to suck it all up and leave nothing.

You could get heavy and deliver them a letter saying that you will start a claim if they do not pay you within 3 days, the last thing they would want at the moment is anything that may raise suspicion.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Apr 2008
Posts
24,069
Location
Lorville - Hurston
I contacted ACAS and said to me to send them a letter asking when i will get paid. i sent it last weekend. no reply from my old place yet.

However, i recieved my p45 and last few months pay slips but no money in my account.

my ex work mate has said they are trying to screw us by putting on paper that we got paid and to the administrator, it will look as if where not a creditor anymore if the company goes bust.

Also, because of that, we will have to pay more tax as well next year. This is turning ugly. one of my ex work mates contacted a lawyer who said she will be happy to represent us all as one so i am keeping that option open whilst dealing with ACAS.

I am also getting conflicting stories between 3 HR guys. the two main ones insist the company is under administration yet will not provide any of us the administrators contact details. the 3rd HR insists where not into administration and that the administrators where there simply to assist the current situation and to try and speed up the process in getting the money from the client who supposedly owes us a fair chunk of cash.

thoughts?
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
7 Apr 2008
Posts
24,069
Location
Lorville - Hurston
They have now officially gone into administration. i got the letter and booklet from the administrator confirming it all :(

whats strange is that they said i was made redundant? i quit a day before the company made most people redundant..

Anyways what advice you guys have now? is my money owed to me gone for good?
 
Associate
Joined
25 Jun 2009
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Location
Guernsey
I can't offer much help with the pay situation, but if they seem to think you got made redundant, let them keep thinking that... you might see some redundancy pay out of it.
 
Joined
4 Aug 2007
Posts
21,386
Location
Wilds of suffolk
Contact the administrator and ask to claim for unpaid wages, dont specifically mention the redundancy pay it would technically class as fraud.
You are due outstanding wages and they do rank quite highly in the order to get paid.

Have the exact numbers available such as last actual pay and month it related to and hence the months you are due.

Whether you get anything will depend heavily on if there are any assets the administrator has available to sell, its highly likely there isnt a lot in that sort of business but you never know. Its not a completely hopeless case but its not highly probable you will get what your due I am afraid.
 
Joined
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21,386
Location
Wilds of suffolk
Oh btw you sure its administration and not liquidation?
(Administration is usually when they believe they can satisfy the main creditors and still be a functioning business after the creditors have been satisfied, liquidation is a completely lost cause and will mean that everything will be sold off to get as much cash as available to satisfy as many creditors as possible)
Often administration quickly turns into liquidation once an accountant sees the books / mess the company is in.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Nov 2002
Posts
11,202
Location
Cumbria
They have now officially gone into administration. i got the letter and booklet from the administrator confirming it all :(

whats strange is that they said i was made redundant? i quit a day before the company made most people redundant..

Anyways what advice you guys have now? is my money owed to me gone for good?

If it is on paper that you were made redundant then you may be able to claim something from the National Insurance Fund afaik

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/Redundancy/DG_10029836

If your employer is declared insolvent or cannot pay your statutory redundancy pay, you can apply for a direct payment from the National Insurance Fund. To do this you must first write to your employer asking for your statutory redundancy pay. If they are still unable to pay you then you should fill out a RP1 form available from the Insolvency Service
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Nov 2002
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7,626
Location
Under the Hill
You will be top of the creditor list so there in theory should be full payment of your salary unless they have absolutely no assets. If they don't I'd highly suspect that your employer has transfered them to the new business under the counter as such. If this has occurred he will be in quite a bit of trouble but this should be spotted by the administrators fairly easily.

If you have no cash flow issues personally then don't try not to worry, you will probably see the money in a few months and if all goes well some redundancy too.
 
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