Owed Wages/Holiday pay and liquidation

Hi there – I worked for a company that recently went into liquidation. I have applied (via the liquidators) to the Department of Enterprise and Employment for back pay including holiday pay due to me. However, this only covers up to about 60% of what I am owed. The company has since being sold on. I believe I can apply as a creditor to have the remaining 40% paid to me out of the proceeds of the monies from the sale of the company. Can anyone please advise if this is true and how I could go about doing this. I have been unable to get any satisfactory answers from the liquidators other than they will contact me in regard to any monies due.

Thanks.

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=113756

Above thread should be of some help.

You are entitled to 100% of the redundancy monies not 60%. The Liquidator is incorrect. However, any amount above your statutory entitlement would rank as a creditor in the Liquidator.

Regardless if the liquidator sold the Company or not, your payment is paid out of the Insolvency fund first and they make a claim to the liquidator on your behalf for the amount they paid you. In addition you make your claim for any amounts above the statutory amount received.

Thanks for the reply JQ. Just to clarify, my query relates to unpaid wages and holiday pay I am owed and not statutory redundancy.

I have made an application to the Insolvency fund for my statutory payment, which probably won't come through for another few months. Do you think it is best to wait for that to come first and then apply to the liquidators for any monies due above the statutory amount received? or should I apply to the liquidators now?

Thanks

Singinvestor,

We need to understand why the liquidator only paid you 60% of what you are due? Perhaps it is because you were earning overy €600 per week. Or has the liquidator deducted tax at 40%?

In general yes you are correct you can rank as a creditor the company and entitled to funds from the proceeds of the sale of the company. However, from previous experience this payment will take a considerable amount of time. Also, there may be no funds to pay this 40% balance (if it is due).

The full amount of your claim including statutory should have already been brought to the liquidator so dont wait for payments from the DETE.

I look forward to receiving further details.

Regards.

Hi Jack,

Yes you are correct, I was earning about €1000 per week. Given the DETE only offer up to €600 per week under the Insolvency Fund, I would be due another 40%, which is where the 60%/40% split is coming from. The liquidators have details of the full amount of wages/holiday pay I am owed but to date have only made reference that they have applied to the DETE for my statutory redundancy in addition to unpaid wages etc under the Insolvency Fund. My query really rests on the weekly €400 balance I will be still owed (assuming I get a weekly €600 payment from the DETE) and how I track this with the liquidators – will they automatically consider this as part of the liquidation process or do I need to make an official application as a creditor? While I agree it will take some time for this all to be dealt with, I want to verify that my full claim for all monies due is adequately dealt with by the liquidators.

Thanks for the help.

The Liquidatior applied to the DETE for your arrears of wages, holiday pay, min notice etc. He would have applied based on what you are owed. The DETE would have capped the payment and the Liquidator would have passed on to you the capped amount (less taxes etc).

The claim for your balance will rank as preferential creditor in the liquidation. Should there be a dividend payable you maybe entitled to a portion. However, dividends resulting out of a liquidation are few and far between but it really depends on how the Liquidatior gets on with the asset realisation.

I would suggest that you write to the Liquidtior and ask him to confirm balance they have registered against you in respect of your pref claim (i.e. amounts owed above your statutory). The Liquidator will have these details and should be able to confirm same.

Also, as a creditor the Company you are entitled to receive notice of the Liquidation's AGM, i.e. where the Liquidatior will report to the creditors regarding the events of the previous 12 months. You can however seek interim updates, however it will take some time until the Liquidatior is in a postition to say that there will be a dividend payable to the creditors of the Company.

I hope this helps.

Thanks JQ - much appreciated.