Wages advice?

[TTP]

Hi my girlfriend has recently been laid off from her job in telesales. Now they formally said in a letter they will pay her a fixed rate for the next week and the intentions of taking her back on if the work comes in. This was a month ago and obviously she couldn't wait as she has bills to pay so found another job.

It's her pay day from the old company on Friday and they owe her a months wage + the week fixed rate. She got a phone call off her old manager saying they have no money to pay her so I was just wondering if anyone on here is clued up on where she stands legally at getting her money? Or is it a case of breaking there legs in exchange lol

Thanks in advance TTP

[TTP]

Bump....

[10 Bears]

This appears to be a contractual issue as they formally offered a settlement in the letter.

 

In short, it works like this:

 

1. An offer was made via a contract (the letter)

2. No counter offer was put by your girlfriend ie she did not offer counter terms

3. The contract was enacted - both parties honoured their respective parts of the contract (this is up until the phone call)

4. The contract is in breech when they did not pay.

 

So, yes you have a case to claim the money legally - but I expect you should move fast in order to recover it. If the company goes into administration, your girlfriend will be at the end of a long lost of debtors and would most likely get nothing. Depending on the monetary amounts involved (<£10K), then the best bet would be to try to recover monies through the small claims court.

 

It does cost to make a claim - but as this is a breech of contract it will almost certainly go in your favour.

 

A key thing to making a small claims application is that you must be able to evidence you have tried to resolve the issue with the other party - the best way is to have a notorized letter delivered - this is best achieved through a solicitor (more costs), but there may be other cheaper ways.

 

After this letter, and given a fair amount of time for reply (state this in your letter), you can then apply to the court to recover the money you are owed - plus all your costs. More info on the process here.

 

This may sound daunting, but in my experience of similar, you are almost certain to win this (assuming all facts are as stated) and that you follow the requirements of application.

 

Best of luck with it, and go and see the CAB to confirm what I have said.

[Jesse]

Unless they have gone bankrupt, see what the CAB have to say as above.

[TTP]

Cheers guys for the advice. She isn't the only one it's happened to there's about 10 staff they owe the same amount of money to

[Paul Jenks]

As I understand it, wages are the first thing to be paid in the event of a company going into administration. I'll look online to check

[Paul Jenks]

I've just googled

Employee wages rights

 

Along with CAB and ACAS there is some other info out there. One site, stephensons, offers to write a letter for you for £15. Might be a catch, though a short phone call should clear it up.

[TTP]

Cheers Paul I'll look into that, they have contacted her today saying they can part pay her in 2 weeks time and the rest when they have it but I'm worried encase there stalling her so it will be to late to be able to claim anything or is there not really a time limit on this sort of thing?

[10 Bears]

They are trying to make a new contract. Refuse it formally or you could lose your strong breech of contract position.

 

Also advise that any further communication must be in writing (for your evidence). If they call again, politely advise them to write a letter or email and then end the call.

[Paul Jenks]

3 months