Owed Wages/Jobseekers Allowance

A friend is not being paid wages due on a pretty regular basis and it has reached the stage that he is owed a 3-figure sum.

He is trying to decide if it is worth staying in the hope of receiving money due or just call it a day and leave. He is pretty stressed by the whole thing.

What are the implications for claiming the dole if he walks out on the basis of not being paid and unwilling/unable to work for little or nothing.

How to approach the folks in Social Welfare?

He should ring welfare and find if his PRSI record is up to date. He may be entitled to Jobseekers benefit automatically for 12 months. If the record is in arrears he should contact welfare to see if the employer is in arrears with revenue/welfare.

What are the implications for claiming the dole if he walks out on the basis of not being paid and unwilling/unable to work for little or nothing.

How to approach the folks in Social Welfare?

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He may be disqualified from JB for 9 weeks

See http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/JobseekerSupports/JobseekersBenefit/Pages/jb.aspx (here) for details of JB

If he does decide to leave he should consider the following
get a letter from the employer stating how much he is owed - gross including holidays Ask for redundancy - statutary
If and when the employer is liquidated etc he should lodge a claim with the liquidator. He may be treated as a preferential creditor as a former employee