Help with employment law..

[robwizard]

This is nothing to do with welding so if the mods want rid of it.. so be it..

Basically I am posting on here as I imagine a lot of you work freelance/are self employed/own your own companies etc and was hoping for some advice.

One of my friends works for a company that is run as a youth club/non profit organisation situated not too far from where I live and I have found myself very involved in the running of it and also some pretty serious, by my reckoning, problems. Their was a guy working there who had given himself the title of manager, being that nobody really owns the business because of it's nature, and had been up to no good. He didn't pay the rent on the building, nor any of the rates (bills OR inland revenue..) and had driven away all the other staff due to foul behaviour, drug abuse, aggression and just general attitude. Anyhow he took ill not long ago, self inflicted, and signed himself off on the sick and was taking full wages, Straight out of the till I might add , and causing the other employee, my friend, to work solo for about a month straight!

In this time another acquaintance of mine who was a previous manager seen the place turning to a wreck and decided to step in and take over, seizing the opportunity to get the place up and running again, which in the last four weeks or so he has. But now the guy who was bringing it to ruin is threatening all sorts of legal stuff and demanding thousands of pounds of wages.

I don't know what to say and I'm pretty sure they will be seeking legal advice.. but just thought I would see if anyone here had any advice

Also none of them contracts or set hours, conditions etc either..

Cheers

 

[Pete.]

He/you needs to take professional advice - and quick!

I see two possible scenarios, neither ar every good - either the guy on the take has been breaking the law by drawing a wage illegally - or the guy now running the show owes him back-pay. If the former, then it needs reporting to the police as a fraud before your friend is implicated.

Another idea is to take a trip down to the local benefits office and have a word with an investigator, tell them you were tipped off that this guy has been drawing a wage whilst on benefits - you never know!

 

[Pete.]

Anyway - how does a serious druggie get past a CRB check to be in charge of a youth club?

 

[robwizard]

It's not a youth club as such.. I don't want to give too much information so as not to cause any more beef.. I thought the same as you and concluded that neither good

Also the guy that has sort of replaced him at the moment is fully CRB checked

Cheers

 

[mike os]

First think to do is get a quorum of those responsible and lock up all the money....cash/banks

then get some legal advice, like right now, you are almost certainly breaking PAYE/NI laws if a wage is being taken & no record or returns are being done. You need to clarify your responsibilities and liabilities too.

 

[rtbcomp]

All the above, get in touch with the authorities now before you're inplicated in any wrong-doing. This sounds too serious for armchair lawyers!

 

[the snooper]

first of all how is the company set up

if its non profit is it a
charity ,friendly society, industrial provident soiety and is it a limited company.
is this guy on the board of trustees / directors
and if the organisation is one of the above it should have a constitution a set of governing rules and a management committee .
if there is a management committee they they should have been responcible for setting his wages and any sick pay due, he should also by law have had a contract of employment stating all the terms ie sick pay, holidays due and so on.
the best thing is for your mate to go through the accounts to find any false accounting or fraud then you have him by the short and curlys, also if you can prove mis-management ie not paying bills and generally running the place down tell him that he will be taken to court

 

[robwizard]

Snooper that is a fantastic plan of attack! I was thinking myself earlier.. that the place probably make about seven or eight hundred pounds a week.. all of which is supposed to go back into the business to pay for constant rebuilding and maintenance/paying rent etc.. but nothing has been repaired or built in the past year.. and none of the bills had been paid.. so that is certainly something to look into! They have made an appointment with a solicitor to seek further advice, I will update with news in case anyone has an interest in this sort of thing..

Cheers guys

 

[Pete.]

rob you might do well to pose your questions on a legal help/financial afairs forum. You'd likely get some very solid answers.