Advice please regarding redundancy / new job offer

GinG

GinG

GinG

Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2006
Posts
7,763
Morning All,

Before I phone CAB when they open at half 9 I wonder if anyone here is able to give advice of the position I find myself in.

The company I am working for is not yet insolvent, however we had not raised invoices for about 3 or 4 weeks. I had not been paid last week for the previous week, nor will I likely get paid this week for last week.

I have a job lined up, and customers are already leaving and going elsewhere including the company I am looking to start with.

Where do I stand with regards to the contract, has the contract been voided due to the wages not been paid?

I was told the Administrators were being called this week, however the boss has now said someone may be looking to invest, call in the administrators of their choice and try keep the company going.

Due to the way things have been handled, I am not prepared to work with the company moving forward. However I also do not want to miss out on any redundancy to be paid.

I think what I am trying to ask is, if I sign a contract to start in say 2 weeks time do I pretty much void any redundancy pay owed to me? Bearing in mind I have not been in the office since last Thursday.

Also as above....is the contract void as technically I should be giving 4 weeks notice + there is a rider in there about working for competitors which to be honest I am not too worried about!

I would like to sign up to new co asap so they can start arranging company car, phone etc.

Many thanks
 
First off your contract is not void, yes you are legally owed wages but again this does mean you can go on strike nor does it void the contract.

Redundancy is a complicated thing but essentially you don't get made redundant until they have gone through the due process and THEY have serviced notice on you. And only then after that period would you get redundancy pay. However my gut feeling is the company will go insolvent = no money to pay the redundancy so you would have to go via the government (redundancy insolvency fund) - but be warned its a government statutory set amount and you will not get contractual redundancy.

So to answer your other question. Yes you will waive any redundancy if you leave on your own will.

I previously worked for Acas but have been out of the game for a couple of years so don't take the above as gospel. So follow up the call with CAB and failing that get some legal advice
 
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Many thanks for your reply.

Gut feeling is it will go under, however as mentioned had a call this morning saying someone is coming up and talking about investing to keep the company going.

In all honesty once the guy sees that for the last 4 weeks the company has not been raising invoices, customers will have been going elsewhere & also the fact the MD has actually sent all the contacts already to a competitor I feel he is wasting this poor guys time!

Going to ring CAB anyway and see what they say. I appreciate the cap on the government but if this guy is going to be dragging out the process I will just give up on the £3k redundancy as a wage coming is much more important for me!
 
I think i'd bail in your situation, unlikely you'll get redundancy unless you want to hang around, sounds pretty unlikely there is any money to pay it and you'll be bottom of the list of people owed money.
Move on.
 
GinG said:
Going to ring CAB anyway and see what they say. I appreciate the cap on the government but if this guy is going to be dragging out the process I will just give up on the £3k redundancy as a wage coming is much more important for me!
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This part is key.

Lets say you decide to hang on and see how the company manages/if you get your redundancy; you haven't been paid for 2 weeks, how much longer can you manage without being paid, before you start missing bills/rent/mortgage payments?

If you don't take this new job now, and the company goes under in a few weeks, will the job offer still be available, and if not how long do you think it will take to find a new one?
 
peige said:
I think i'd bail in your situation, unlikely you'll get redundancy unless you want to hang around, sounds pretty unlikely there is any money to pay it and you'll be bottom of the list of people owed money.
Move on.
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If the company goes into liquidation, the redundancy pay will be paid by the government (and they pay it fairly quickly too). It will be capped at the current upper limit (£464?). They'll also pay your outstanding notice pay, but I think that's only if you're still not working at the end of your notice period.
 
If you need stability - then you need to target that as other have said.

It's unfortunate but I know others that have made a move before being given notice of redundancy. In the end.. it's rosy glasses in hind sight when people say "Oh, I wished I stayed on for redundancy.." better to break clean and secure your own future.
 
Went in today and dropped in phone & ipad.

We had a gentleman's agreement he would pay me cash for the 2 weeks owed. There is a company looking to buy all the assets and take over however I told him I already had other plans. Things went downhill, no mention of cash, said I would have to claim the wages from the insolvency practitioner, however I would be OK as he assumed I had insurance on the mortgage.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement...down over a grand in wages which will take weeks to claim back and may in the end be capped through the government.

Best crack on getting the customers over to new employer!
 
GinG said:
Went in today and dropped in phone & ipad.

We had a gentleman's agreement he would pay me cash for the 2 weeks owed. There is a company looking to buy all the assets and take over however I told him I already had other plans. Things went downhill, no mention of cash, said I would have to claim the wages from the insolvency practitioner, however I would be OK as he assumed I had insurance on the mortgage.

To say I am annoyed is an understatement...down over a grand in wages which will take weeks to claim back and may in the end be capped through the government.

Best crack on getting the customers over to new employer!
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Need to be careful about your insurance protection. If you 'quit' then they'll likely refuse to pay you anything. Most likely you will need to be made redundant in order to qualify for any payments.
 
Obviously, get everything in writing, there is no such things as gentleman's agreements in employment.

Note the point above, insurance usually covers events outside of your control / not expected. If you have quit / handed in your notice, 99% sure it will not be covered.
 
I think what GinG is saying is that the boss assumed he had insurance on his mortgage so he could screw him out of the money without him missing his payments but he doesn't have the insurance.
 
tom_e said:
I think what GinG is saying is that the boss assumed he had insurance on his mortgage so he could screw him out of the money without him missing his payments but he doesn't have the insurance.
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That's my take too - really is something you don't think about too much if you're working.. but as I was made redundant in Nov.. I'm still looking for a job now.. sometimes the insurance is a necessary evil - however often they cap the maximum duration of the payout (they're not a charity etc etc).
 
He assumed I had insurance, which is not the case.

Spoke with another colleague who was also promised cash, and he is still being told to go in end of this week...granted not on the same wage but very annoyed! He however is built like a brick poo house and confronted the guy last week and even got his wages last week cash!

Spoke with CAB and I am going to wait till Friday to see if the company goes into liquidation, if not I will be sending a letter to request the monies.

End of day, one way or another I will get the money, even if it is the capped amount from the government. We moved into a new house before xmas so all our savings have been used up, luckily as it is only short term we do have an overdraft.

Onwards and upwards!
 
You took your IT equipment back to a company that's going under? I would have left with it in lieu of wages and told them that.

You are right to get out while you can though!
 
In addition to what's been said, as an employee you rank higher than unsecured creditors (but still below any secured creditors like a mortgagee) in an insolvent liquidation up to a statutory limit and you should put your claim in with any insolvency practitioner appointed.
 
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