Administrators asking men to work and not paying

[l.b]

My company is in Administration and being handled by an IP. The men who worked for me were self employed sub contractors. After the Administration was in place they was asked to continue working by the Administrators and were paid fortnightly by the Administrators. Now the Administrators have decided to pull the plug and not pay the men with all of them being owed 4 weeks wages. They have all asked why this has happened and is it legal for them to be asked to work and then not paid. Each man is owed around £1k-2k. They ask me how I let this happen, I tried to explain as a Director its out of my hands. But I cant understand how they can make people work then knowingly not pay them. Is this correct ?

[Viki.W]

It doesnt' sound right to me. You could try giving ACAS a call, they should be able to advise you. Maybe a solicitor should be dealing with this or the IP. Please wait for an expert to help you. X

[Steve Austin]

The Administrator is the IP.

Before administration the men become creditors. But they were asked to work after the administration and were paid for the first month. The second month they have not been paid and have been told basically tough they are getting nothing. This cannot be right. The client has paid the IP more than enough to cover wages.

[Viki.W]

Hey Steve, maybe you should take independent advice as cybus has suggested in your other post. Please hang in there and an expert may be able to help you further. X

[MelanieGiles]

I imagine that this has happened because the Administrator was only obliged to pay for work done after the date of Administration and not before - so if the men had to work in hand prior to the Administration the Administrator would not have been responsible for those sums.

If this is not the case, and the Administrator has not paid for work that he personally commissioned, then he is liable and should pay.

[chris.g]

Were the subbies paid upto the date of administration? What time period did they work in advance? If they were paid upto admin surely these payments are owed? In my opinion as the work was done AFTER administration then they aren't dependant on funds being there, they are owed the money and the ip should pay them from the cash raised from the job they were working on.....
What has your ip said about this? You should contact them and ask why they have continued the contracts knowing that the funds might not be available to pay.....

[Steve Austin]

The men have worked for 8 weeks since administration. They were paid for the first 4 weeks. They have not been paid for the last 4 weeks work. They were asked to work and the administration has told the men that the creditors will get paid first. Funds have been available.

Who do they contact, the IP sent them packing, they dont know who to turn too.

[chris.g]

I would suggest the union, my hubby was a self-employed brickie and he used to pay union fees along with his other out-takes. Hopefully one of the experts will be able to point you in the right direction.