Company in administration - boss saying i have resigned

[gartin]

Hi

Wonder if anyone is in a position to be able to advise me - story in brief.

I had an situation with my boss, i asked to speak with him following him having told me about the company going into administration and him advising me he was going to do this before the next pay day (and therefore not pay any staff)...i had obvious issues with this (I was his PA), he ended up throwing me up the wall with the back of his office door - i left the office immediately and thereafter called got the police involved (this is just the background and as such will not go into the police issues just the employment side)

After taking advise i phoned the other partner and offered compromise agreement and agreement on severance which he initially seemed receptive to. Thereafter, over the course of the week, he was obvious that the other partner (the one who assaulted me) was not going to be agreeable to this.

I put the request in writing on day 2 and made clear i hadn't left but was just trying to offer a solution to the situation. I was signed off work by my Dr (with anxiety) for the month, i followed all procedures with regard to sickness and i also (on advice of ACAS) sent a letter of grievance in.

Toward the end of the month it became clear that they were saying that i had resigned (malicious on their part to ensure i got no redundancy payout)

The company, went into insolvency/administration last month - the advisors have told me that the company is saying i resigned, they issued a P45 to all staff (a month after i went off sick and after the company had gone into insolvency/administration) and backdated mine to the day i was assaulted and left the office..thus meaning that i wasnt employed at the time the company shut.

I am now struggling as the insolvency firm seem to be taking his word for it. I have filled in all the relevant forms and submitted them, the administrator is evidently going to be appointed next week. I have provided all documents (i have a 10 page log) my sick certificate and all emails and letters which make clear i did not resign.

Where do i stand? can they take his word over mine with no proof - what are my chances of getting any payout which i am due?

Sorry this is so long but i have kept as brief as possible but need to cover all the facts

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[honeybee13]

Hello there, welcome to CAG. I'm sorry to hear about your problems.

 

You have a few issues to deal with, but could I ask one question please? How would the ex-boss[es] prove you resigned? I assume you didn't sign anything.

 

I expect some of the others will be along later with advice for you.

 

My best, HB

[gartin]

hi

thanks for the response...they are saying i verbally said i resigned on the phone - on day one...when what i actually did, on advice, was to offer them the choice of compromise agreement...i followed this verbal suggestion up with emails and texts etc...all of which i have copies of, and with regard to the texts i have response from the partner to say that he was 'getting severance worked out'...i think what actually happened was the one who was involved with me decided there was no way he was going to pay me severance or end my contract via compromise agreement.

Thereafter i went to the police and thats when the maliciousness kicked in and he decided to then go along the stance that i had resigned.

So to confirm i have absolutely not signed anything nor have i put in writing my wish to resign - thats because i didn't want to resign - knowing the company was imminently shutting within weeks i got signed off with anxiety (as i was very very stressed with it all) and put in a grievance....

I would not have resigned and did not resign.

[honeybee13]

Hello again.

 

Well, I'm not a forum expert, but if they can't produce a resignation letter signed by you, which is the right way to resign, they might be in a spot of bother. I hope so.

 

My best, HB

[gartin]

Well this is what i thought...thinking logically...but today the insolvency guy, who was very vague...said..they had to listen to what the director had said...even if, i said to him, it was an out and out lie. I have mentioned several times to them that they surely needed to get a resignation letter signed by me - as proof otherwise surely he (the director) could have said 20 people out of the 30 he made redundant, had 'left'...so they were entitled to nothing?

It doesnt make any sense to me..but never having been in any sort of situation like this before i would be happy to receive any advice anyone has to offer.

 

Thanks again

[Sidewinder]

I would suggest that this will need specialist legal advice way beyond any advice which the Forum can offer, however.

 

Your question to the Adminisrator needs to be "Well if I had resigned on that date, why has my P45 only been made up now? Why not at the same time as I supposedly resigned? Challenge him to contact HMRC and establish when the P45 was received by them (one part has to be sent to HMRC). They should record the date that they receive it. What do the pay and tax details on the P45 suggest as to your 'leaving' date? If you effectively worked there for a month after you had supposedly left, do the amounts on your payslips tally with the amounts on the P45? Even if they weren't paying you full pay, with a period of sickness certified by your GP presumably you were getting SSP?

 

What about the Police enquiry? Dates, statements etc which would indicate that you had not resigned but were in a dispute with the employer?

[MrShed]

I cant add anything here, but subbing - a quite ludicrous situation, and want to keep an eye to see how it pans out (hopefully for the best).

 

I would echo Sidewinder though in that this really does require some proper legal advice.

[Sidewinder]

Indeed. My thoughts are increasingly leaning towards an allegation of fraud and get the police and HMRC involved.

[suziebear67]

Hi

 

You should also fill in a form for industrial injuries benefit its not only for accidents, it definatley applies to being assaulted at work.

[jackieandwayne]

susiebear, do you have a link to that please? Does this apply to mental injuries?

[gartin]

Thank you for your response.

My P45 said i left the day he assaulted me - the P45 was made up at the end of the month following (i.e. 5 weeks following the day i went off sick).

With regard to pay - i received a payslip the day after i left the office (when the other partner was saying everything else was being worked out - i.e. i thought my severance and compromise agreement) on the payslip i had only been paid up until the day i walked out (when i was expecting to be paid to month end) we were paid on 25th of every month to month end so effectively had a week in advance. I disputed this immediately saying how could they have stopped me monies when they didn't know how long i was going to be off for....

The responses i had were ' i thought you had left' and i received a letter (which i had been lead to believe was going to be about the compromise and severance) from the main partner saying ' i believe you have a query over your pay - as with all leavers this will be sorted out on the next pay run'.

This i took to be a complete wind up as obviously he had told me there was going to be no next pay run.

So i have had no SSP - though i put in writing that i expected them to be paying me it.

I have submitted all my SSP forms to the HMRC cc the insolvency firm - but obviously the HMRC will be looking to the insolvency to confirm i was employed at the time of my claim period.

 

The insolvency firm said they have never come across anything like this before..which doesn't help me a lot.

I have been intouch with the redundancy payments helpline who advise that i could have to go to tribunal but it was them who made a decision based on the facts.

So i have emailed the insolvency and told them this - and that i would be expecting them to submit my claim with the rest of the staff along with my support documentation which i have provided.

I hope common sense prevails somewhere along the line but after all i have been through this last couple of months i am not holding out much hope.

[suziebear67]

Hi if you just type industrial injuries in the search box it will come up its the directgov site and i have filled it in for work related anxiety its for accidents illness or an incident

[gartin]

hi just an update. Phoned adminstrators today (who were appointed yesterday) they say that my ex boss has submitted a report to him regarding the matter - am unsure what he is going to have submitted but its bound to be lies and nasty - but lacking a resignation letter...!! He said that this will be submitted with what i have sent in (which i am presuming should include my sick certificate and grievance letter) and my RP1 form to the redundancy payments office and let them adjudicate and make a decision.

I phoned redundancy payments office who were no help as to what would happen - they said that i should try to get the administrators to get his story straight...its just continual going round in circles for me.

I have written a letter to the redundancy payments off attaching the sick cert and grievance letter as have no faith that the administrator will put a fair case across for me.

I am beyond frustrated.

I can get no help with regard legal advice and, with two months of no pay, have no money to fund this myself.

I am willing to take to tribunal but this scares me and i dont think i am strong enough to be able to stand up infront of a court and represent myself - if this is what it would entail.

At the point of giving up but the only thing thats keeping me going is knowing that doing that would mean he has won...