Thank you Elmo South. I am going to look at the website that you have suggested and pass on your advice to my partner. Thank you again.

Apologies for the late reply - no access to a computer till now...I am really grateful for all your advice and support. What an amazing forum that total strangers should take the time and trouble to offer advice. If this does get resolved and my money woes improve - I will definitely be donating to this website as I think it is just wonderful that something like this exists. Thank you to everyone. Particularly Sidewinder. Thank you so much for all the trouble you have gone to writing such a detailed response. I have not made any progress convincing my partner to deal with this situation head on. As mentioned, he is reluctant to send this grievance letter because it will mean that there is no way forward with his job as his boss will not take kindly to action being threatened even though there is no question he is doing something highly unethical. What I would like to know is if my partner gives it another 2 - 4 weeks before taking action/writing this letter - going to see a lawyer (i.e. he would not have been paid in 6 months by then) will he still have a case to bring to court. I am concerned that if he takes legal action at the 6-month point it will not be possible to prosecute the boss. The boss is established in the UK and can not really disappear - so is this a reason to wait a little longer. Is there a stature of limitations regarding this grievance letter and when this can be dealt with. Please note that my partner has non official emails (through out this 4.5 month period) stating he has not been paid etc. Will this suffice to show that this was raised through out the 6-month period or does he have to write this hard core grievance letter...? I agree with everything said about business being business but sometimes an opportunity has more value than money and that is why he is holding off. Also, as he will not be working under this boss forever if his position is intact (and he gets paid). The boss is a bully and plays a lot of mind games. The problem is that this might suddenly get resolved (as said, the job is actually more valuable to my partner than the money he is owed and please note that the salary owed is many times in excess of the amount sidewinder has calculated) - so if my partner has written this letter and then gets paid - he will probably be out of a job and that would be worse for him than not being paid but retaining his job (assuming he is paid in the future). I am so concerned at this stage that this is really beginning to destroy my sanity due to the enormous strain on both our finances and our emotional health and I think I would be able to deal with it better if I knew we can take action later rather than sooner. I know most people deal with things fast and if I could take this out of my partners hands and write the letter myself since I would not do this to my partner and can not make him do it - to some extent my hands are tied... I just do not know what to do... Once again, thank you for your help and any advice regarding time scale and dealing with these things would be much appreciated.

I am extremely concerned about my partner and would appreciate any advice you can offer on what to do. My partner has been working for the same company for over 18 months. He is on a very high salary of over 80K per year plus bonuses (that have not happened yet). The company is a Ltd company and has a large factory that employs hundreds of people. He is paid by this company but works independently for the boss on a different project - which is a property development. He is registered as an employee and paid by the factory that the boss owns. For the first year, there were no issues with payment of wages but in to January 2010 and his salary was late by one month. This is because the other side of the business "the factory" has serious cash flow issues due to a fire and them having to stop production therefore no money to pay salaries. This was paid in February and all resolved we thought. However, since February he has not been paid (so 4 months and 2 weeks!). His boss claims that they are waiting on further investment to take the property project to the next stage (plus pay everyone's salaries and numerous other service providors) and has been promising on a weekly basis that the investment is 100% coming in any day - it has been confirmed and money is being transferred - and he will be paid "within the next few days, end of the week, next week etc" but it never happens. The boss has also not paid the senior member of staff or his P.A that went on maternity leave in February. The terrible thing is that this boss is extremely wealthy personally! My partner has been extremely reluctant to act as his boss is a bully, has all the power and he is scared he will lose his job and this supposed "great opportunity" if he is not patient and waits for investment. The boss has a way of being really evasive so it is very hard to get a straight answer out of him. We have managed to go a long time without him being paid due to his high salary but 4.2 months later our finances are completely drained and I am in quite severe debt now as well due to having to lend my partner money. The boss keeps saying that it is a matter of days before it is resolved and this is what stops my partner from taking action but I think enough is enough and this has to be dealt with. My partner does not have an official contract. He has a letter of employment and also, a letter validating his salary. The boss has also issued all the tax payments etc - so on my partner's 2009/2010 P60 it states that he has been paid when he has not. I think this will be the case with May and June as well but can't be sure as have not seen this year's P60. This is fraud in my opinion and causes me to worry further about the kind of character his boss is! I am urging my partner to take serious action as I am concerned he will not even be able to sue the boss if he leaves it much longer as it will be invalid - after all - not many people go 4 .2 months without being paid and don't take legal action. As mentioned though, the main reason he has not acted is the promise this will be resolved within days every time he raises it and this has also stopped my partner from looking for other jobs. If he had of known in January that he would not be paid still by now - he would have started huinting but he has invested so much in to this now, he keeps holding out. This is actually a very short winded version and there is many further details but the main principle is that my partner is letting his boss get away with this as he honestly believes that it may work out and also, the opportunity lost is worse than the 4.2 months of no wages so is holding out as long as possible in the hope it will be ok in the end. I personally feel this must be dealt with ASAP and no boss should be allowed to get away with this. I appreciate any suggestions you might have and please ask questions if clarification on something will help you advise. thank you all in advance.