Employer not paying me - need help!!

[jacketpotato]

** VERY IMPORTANT ** A claim for unpaid wages is known as a "deduction of wages" claim in Employment Tribunal lingo. You MUST bring such claims in the Employment Tribunal within THREE MONTHS of the deduction. Its very unlikely that you would get an extension, if you missed the time limit you'd need to go to court which is more expensive and difficult than going to the Employment Tribunal. As we are nearing the 3month deadline I suggest you speak to the CAB ASAP, if in doubt have a go at drafting an ET1 yourself (its on the Employment Tribunal's website) and post it on here with personal details removed and I'll take a look.

 

- What is the best way to go about this? Employment tribunal alone? (we are pretty capable people and have evidence of bank statements, emails etc at hand). Or phone a solicitor?

 

The Employment Tribunal is a neutral forum, they won't act as your advocates. You could use a solicitor to help you, alternatively you could ask the CAB who should be able to help you prepare for an Employment Tribunal claim. In London they may be able to refer you to get free representation on the day. You could also contact ACAS.

 

If you just want to claim the unpaid wages, a "statutory demand" (google it) could be used if your employer is a company, essentially this is a threat that you will apply to have the company liquidated unless the debt is paid. This is simpler than an Employment Tribunal claim but there are drawbacks and you would have to get the legal technicalities right.

 

- Is it better to claim combined as a four or claim individually?

I believe you need to claim individually. There is a space on the ET1 (the Employment Tribunal claim form) to indicate that your claim is one of a similar number of claims and you can ask the Employment Tribunal to join your claims. If you are complaining about the same thing joiner would be sensible.

 

- What can we claim for? Our contracts state that either employer or employee need to give 3 months notice on terminating contract. So in addition to our salaries can we claim for 3 months notice period salary too?

This is really two separate claims. The unpaid wages claim is simple breach of contract and I don't see how your employer could defend that claim.

 

To get the 3 months notice pay you would need to resign and claim that you were dismissed. You are considered to have been dismissed if you were forced to resign by the employer's serious breach of contract, this is called constructive dismissal. There would be scope for the employer to argue that it wasn't reasonable for you to resign, but this would seem to be a losing argument given the length of time you have been unpaid.

 

- Who is the best to make the claim against, the CEO (directly responsible for us) or our American funders who acquired us?

In all likelihood, neither. You sue your employer, not the manager or shareholder of a company except in fairly exceptional circumstances. I guess that your employer is probably a UK-based company owned by a parent company based elsewhere, your payslip should say who your employer is.

 

- How likely are we to succeed in claiming considering our CEO is in Malaysia and our funders are in America? I would imagine logistics would be a nightmare from the UK!!!

It would help your chances of success if your employer can't get its act together in the Employment Tribunal. But getting them to pay up might be more of a problem if they are in financial difficulty and do not have significant assets in the UK. See http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Pay/DG_10026695 and http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ResolvingWorkplaceDisputes/Employmenttribunals/DG_182912.

[jacketpotato]

The claim can be made within three months of the last in a series of deductions, so where the OP is still employed by the organisation and the deductions are ongoing, the clock would only start ticking were the employment to be terminated.

Indeed, although I wonder if there is a question as to whether not paying someone on three separate occasions would constitute an ongoing series of deductions. Do you think there is scope for the employer to argue that the deductions are separate or point towards different reasons for each non-payment?

Edited February 7, 2012 by jacketpotato