Complicated Redundancy, all advice and help welcome

LegacyUser

Hi everyone, I'm posting this as a guest because I don't want to be identified in any way.
This is a bit of a long and winding story, but if you please stick with me on this and offer any kind of information I would greatly appreciate it.

I was informed on Monday when I walked into work that I was going to be made redundant as of Wednesday, as our business was closing down on Thursday. When I asked why, I was simply told "Well there's no more money...". When I asked what I would get on Wednesday, I was told that my employer was sorry, but couldn't afford to give me anything more than a double weeks pay. I've spent the past few days researching workers rights and whatnot, and I know that what my employer has done to me is unfair (and possibly illegal). I have been told by a redundancy advisor that I can claim the other weeks wages along with my redundancy from the state (I have worker here over 10 years, so am entitled to 6 weeks notice/pay) does anyone if this is correct and if so, how long will should it take for that to come through?

My problem however is that, aside from giving me no notice, my employer has also had no documentation ready or available for me. I had to ring her and chase her up in order to make sure I would get my P45 on Wednesday, which I did, but she made it extremely difficult. I spent 4 hours on the premises of her business today with her and a family member of hers after the place had closed down - we were waiting for a courier to arrive with my RP50 form (parts A and . She claimed an accountant had sent it earlier that day, but when things started to feel dodgey, I politely asked her to give me the details of the accountant who was dealing with the insolvency. She got extremely cagey, and even after I showed her a printed copy of the online RP50 form which the employee needs to fill out (which requires the contact information of liquidator/receiver/examiner), she still refused to give me any details. She eventually gave in and signed an RP50 form for me, but it was a copy that I had printed off from the net and she had been refusing to sign it all day today and yesterday, maintaining that her 'accountant' would provide anything like that.
She has also not provided me with a documentary evidence (recent statement of affairs, letter from solicitor/accountant) to support the claim that she cannot afford to pay my redundancy.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this "insolvency" claim is completely fabricated. I don't think she has any accountant dealing with this at all, and I believe she is just trying to get out of paying me my redundancy by closing down the shop and running away. I am afraid that she is going to leave me high and dry (considering she's already left me jobless and with only two weeks pay) and do a runner, in which case I will end up left completely at a loss.

I also have a question regarding whether or not it would be possible to bring her to the attention of somebody like the taxman. (This is all hypothetical, for fear that it would be chased back to me and me 'accusing her' or something like that) If she has been siphoning money from the business since early last year, and I have receipt numbers which would show her handwriting if the number was pulled up in our computers, would that be enough to get her investigated? I have no actual proof other than the fact that the receipts are all the same and could not be from a customer (difficult to explain on here without given proper details, but it's clear that there is something extremely wrong with all of these receipts). I know what I'm trying to do sounds petty, but its not that I'm trying to stitch her up for the craic or anything, I just figure it would be easier to make sure I don't get stiffed and left with no job and no redundancy if she's being chased up for tax evasion as well...

I know this is a pretty monotonous post, but this really is going to affect my whole life, so any help is really welcome.
Thanks again.

LegacyUser

Edit - Regards the fact that she hasn't given ME any supporting documentary evidence, the online RP50 that you can fill out as an employee on www.welfare.ie says that you must include that with the signed hard copy of the form when you post it.

cordni

I would strongly advise you to get in contact with your local citizens advice bureau. They will be able to help you with all your queries. This is a terrible position to be put in. Under redundancy legislation you should have been given notice plus you would be entitled to 2 weeks per year of service plus one additional week as a statutory redundancy payment. I do also know that there are provisions made for people whose employers claim to not have the funds to pay redundancy that the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment make the payment. I don't know how this works or indeed how long it takes. Definitely get straight on to the citizens advice office and get to social welfare to get signed on asap. They will need additional info re the redundancy but your claim will go ito the system now and will be effective from the finish date stated on your P45.

I wish you the very best of luck and hope you get some joy financially.

Tipp man running

Something similar happened to me but in my case the employer played ball and filled in the forms I needed...if I remember correctly I needed a statement from the company accountant as well stating the company could not pay redundancy
and a statement of affairs. Its sent off and then you join the queue to get your payment, 2weeks for every year and one week on top of it. If you don't have everything you need they'll send it back to the employer which delays the process..so check what you need and get all the forms from your employer before they disappear..

At the time which was a year ago the waiting list was 6 months to get the payment but I believe it was growing..once you have the form sent in you can ring a number to check the waiting time.

Best of luck......Tipp man

gerrycollins

Your priority is you getting your money or as much as you can.

the steps you need to take (some which you already have) for redudnancy first

your employer can sign a PR50 form there is no need for anybody to be appointed to look after this ie liquidator/accountant etc. and provide a letter from her accountant that she is incapable of paying your redundancy, a bank statement will not suffice. Your claim is made agaisnt a PRSI fund designated for redundacy payments. You will get statutory entitlement but it can take a min 6 months to a year as Tipp man said.

There are no tax implication for you personally here and the amount you recieve is tax free.

the only issue here is that your employer now has to payback 40% of the amount of your claim to the revenue. This bill for the employer is between the revenue and her.

for back pay/notice pay etc

again this can be claimed from a PRSI based fund however it has to be processed by an appointed liquidator as there are tax implications here where the liquidator has to pay you the net salary and deduct PAYE etc for the revenue as part of the liquidation process.

The only issue here is that a liquidator is appointed by the creditors but the process is expensive on the creditors. Your boss may well try and just run but it will catch up with her eventually.

If no liquidator is appointed and you still have no sucess you can apply for a tribunal to the rights commissioner against the company/owner for monies owed in pay/notice/back pay however the process can be a min 2 years and there is still no promise you will get your money even if the commissioner makes an order to pay.

your best approach here is to apply to the commissioner if no liquidator is appointed as your boss will get a letter stating that you have made a claim and it might spark her into paying you something to keep you happy however you might have to accecpt a less amount that you are entitled to.

Nothingbetter2d

the minimum redundancy notice period is 30 days... and your are entitled to redundancy pay which is based on the length of time you worked there provided you've worked there for 6 months or more.

Consult your local citizen's advice bureau