MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
a mate of mine has worked for an agency for the last 8 months, his employers have paid the agency his wage, the agency owes him 3 months salary but have just gone bust, his employer has offered to take him on at +5% wage increase but wont pay the missing 3 months wages. (two months employer has paid the agency, one month employer has yet to pay but are going to despite he won't receive a penny and it will all go to the receivers?!?)
what's his position? is he to kiss good bye the past 3 months salary? what can you do in this situation?
(my suggestion is that we pop around for a quick word with one of the directors!)
I think he will have to register his wages claim with the administrators & hope to see something sometime in the future but don't get him to hold his breath tho 😕
can't we seize the directors assets?
Why did he work for another three months for no pay? When he didn't get payed at the end of the month, what made him keep on working? He's probably just another creditor. But get him to see the citizens advise people there might be a scheme or something to get him some money.
can't we seize the directors assets?
people operate as a Director of a Limited company so that if things go t!ts up they only have a limited liability normally their own stake in the business.
As above why did he keep working for them if he wasn't getting paid for 3 months???
I'd have been off after 1 months missed pay.
I was in the same situation for 2 months and 3 days. Nerve wracking but walking out with no where to go isn't the easy decision you seem to think. I think your mate is basically screwed. Sorry.
Grabbing the Directors assets and twisting until he coughs might work or at least be very satisfying.
I am the said mate, didnt want to approach the stw massive as I've spent the last two days going through the options with the end client and other contractors in the same boat by Mr Nutt is convinced you'll all have some top secret legal loophole. So...
- Invoice terms are 30 days with the agency, being crap I usually end up getting a few (say 3 weeks) invoices together and then sending them.
- I was due to get paid the 23rd for the last months work, rang em they said yep we'll bacs it to you. No sign of payment, rang them next day no answer.
- We've had loads of late payment problems with them in the past but have got paid eventually, unfortuantely I'm not (or wasn't) in a position to change my agency
So as I understand it, the money that the employer has paid to the agency for the invoices I've raised will go into the agencys pot to be dividied up between creditors with the tax man, customs, agency staff and preferred creditors all seeing a share before I do.
The only possible recourse I can see is for Novembers invoices which I've not invoiced for yet. What happens if I dont invoice them? If/When the company is wound up can I then approach the end client and ask them to pay it? Are they under any obligation or because the contract was with the agency am I stuffed?
Krag - I feel sorry for you mate this is a pi$$ poor position to find yourself in just before Xmas 😕
FWIW HMRC is no longer a preferential creditor in bankruptcy cases.
You need to get all your outstanding invoices into the administrator ASAP so they can review your claim. You could take them to the end client & ask them if they will pay them but they will probably tell you to go forth & multiply as their contract was with the agency - but hey ho no harm in trying.
It's a very hard lesson to learn but keep on top of your invoicing & don't let things slip into arrears in the future. If invoices aren't being paid don't do anymore work until they are, then make a point of chasing them up quicker.
Cheers crispy and thanks for the advice. Yeah it is shit and you're right its a valuable and hard earned lesson about staying on top of invoices. I was due payment on 23rd November and 5th December which would've brought me back up to date so shit timing...
Employer have been reasonable, they obviously dont want to pay for my services twice so arent going to stump up for anything they've already paid for. They're also under a legal obligation not to default on payments so intend to pay them for invoice they're going to get next week from the agency. They've offered me a 3 month contract at 5% increase (agency markup was 15%) but it's frustrating to say the least that all the work I've done for the last 3 months has been for nowt. Arrrgh.
krag - I'm glad to hear that the Employer is willing to offer you a 3 month contract - you must have been doing something right 🙂 - at least getting paid direct should solve the problem of going through the agency. Just keep on top of them there invoices!!
Fingers crossed mate that they extend your contract after the 3 months is up & put this setback down to experience.
Yeah, they're willing to do 7 day terms too should so at least see some cash before Christmas which is a good thing. And at least I have a job at the moment so got to look on the positive side I guess.
Right, gorra stop thinking about it now and chillout 🙂
>can't we seize the directors assets?
Try tickling them first ?