PLZ HELP :(

aka99

I am a student and am working in a restaurant. As was the situation due to recession that i had to work without the employment contract being signed. So the owner didn't pay tax and never asked for my PPS No. But what could i do? I had no job and I had to work without a contract in order to survive. At first he used to pay regularly but last few months he did not and I have 900 euros of due wages that I worked hard for. And just a month back, the bank took over the restaurant and it is currently under receivership. And the question is who's gonna pay my due wages?????? The only proof I have that I worked there is the roster book and the software in the restaurant till which has my name everytime i log in and also the regular customers know I am working there. What should I do?? 900 is a big money for a student like me....Worked so hard for that money...If I don't get that money I will not be able to pay my fees which are due this Feb. these ****ing people are playing with mu future...:mad:

Plz help me in this case?? What can I do????

caroiline

I'm sorry about your situation.

1. All the suppliers etc will get their money first you are owed a small amount compared to everyone else.
2. The likely hood is your never going to get that money back or else not for years.
3. And because you are not on the books or have a contract your not entitled to anything legally.

Newaglish

caroiline wrote: »

I'm sorry about your situation.

1. All the suppliers etc will get their money first you are owed a small amount compared to everyone else.
2. The likely hood is your never going to get that money back or else not for years.
3. And because you are not on the books or have a contract your not entitled to anything legally.

If you don't know the answer, posting the above is incredibly unhelpful and possibly quite distressing for the OP.

Below is a post I made in a similar thread recently (you can substitute liquidation and liquidator for receivership and receiver):

Just to be clear on what will actually happen:

In a liquidation, the pecking order is as follows:

1. Costs of Liquidation
2. Fixed Charge Creditors (essentially the bank who owns the property)
3. Preferential Creditors (revenue, employees, council rates - these all rank equally)
4. Floating Charge Creditors (where the bank has a charge over the business itself - this is slightly complicated)
5. Unsecured Creditors (everyone else)

Often, there won't be any money left after 1) and 2) above are paid. Therefore, the Insolvency Payments Scheme was set up to refund employees in this scenario.

If you are owed wages at the date of liquidation, you are entitled to claim for these wages from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation ("DETI") under the Insolvency Payments Scheme. Provided that you have been paying Class A PRSI, you are entitled to be paid for your outstanding wages from the Social Insurance Fund (pot of money made up of PRSI contributed by everyone).

The liquidator should issue you with an EIP1 form, which he will have completed, and you are to sign this and return it to the liquidator. The liquidator then submits the completed form to the DETI who will issue you with a payment in about 6-8 weeks.

There are limits on what you can claim, as follows:

• Wages

Maximum of 8 weeks' wages
Maximum of €600 per week

• Holiday Pay

Maximum of 8 weeks' holidays
Maximum of €600 per week
Holidays accrued only for the 18 month period prior to redundancy are included

• Minimum Notice

Statutory minimum notice
Maximum of €600 per week
(Given that you started in August you are likely to have less than 13 weeks' service and therefore will not be entitled to pay in lieu of notice)

If you haven't heard from the liquidator, feel free to PM me your details and I can find out who it is and possibly get some contact details for you.

The fact that you don't have a written contract is a breach of employment law but it's mostly the problem for your employer than you. I haven't come across an instance before where a person was refused an arrears of wages claim because they didn't have a contract.

The one thing that might be an issue is that you say the employer didn't pay any tax. Did he deduct tax from your wages? Your eligibility for the above scheme depends on your PRSI contributions; but I'd need a little more info to be able to tell! Feel free to send a PM

caroiline

Excuse you i do know what i am talking about.

Seen as the op has no proof of employment she wont get money for a long time if any at all.

She should of made sure there was a contract in place in case things like this happened.

Newaglish

caroiline wrote: »

Excuse you i do know what i am talking about.

Seen as the op has no proof of employment she wont get money for a long time if any at all.

She should of made sure there was a contract in place in case things like this happened.

Would you like to show backup for the three points you made? I can show for example in S.285 of the Companies Act, 1963 (a fairly reliable source, I would say) that your first point is completely incorrect. Even if there were no insolvency payments scheme, an employee's wages would still rank ahead of suppliers.

aka99

Newaglish wrote: »

The one thing that might be an issue is that you say the employer didn't pay any tax. Did he deduct tax from your wages? Your eligibility for the above scheme depends on your PRSI contributions; but I'd need a little more info to be able to tell! Feel free to send a PM

I am not sure if he deducted any tax from the wages. Even if he did, i am certain that he pocketed it...

dudara

caroiline wrote: »

Seen as the op has no proof of employment she wont get money for a long time if any at all.

She should of made sure there was a contract in place in case things like this happened.

The lack of a paper contract does not mean there was no contract of employment. If the OP can prove that they work regularly, that will suffice as a contract of employment. The law is specifically written to protect employees who work regularly but never receive a contract.

jor el

You should also consider Revenue before taking any action. Everyone is responsible for their own tax liabilities, so if you knowingly work without paying tax (which seems to be the case) you are the one committing tax fraud. Now, the employer definitely has responsibility here too, but so do you. I would say you should look into your tax affairs first, and get it sorted.

Mrs OBumble

While Jor_el is right, I'd image that a student who's worried about E900 is unlikely to have earned more than E18,000 in a year. So the OP is very unlikely to owe any tax.

jor el

JustMary wrote: »

While Jor_el is right, I'd image that a student who's worried about E900 is unlikely to have earned more than E18,000 in a year. So the OP is very unlikely to owe any tax.

PRSI would be the main concern, as you pay that on a weekly basis, and not based on your annual salary. It is still possible that there could be income tax due too, though less likely if this is a part-time job.

Either way, I'd be first worried about making sure the tax man isn't going to come after me for penalties and interest, and 2nd worried about that outstanding wage.