sacked for gross misconduct by his business partner

sunderland47 | 21:35 Tue 03rd Feb 2009 | Civil

12 Answers

My husband owns 50% shares in company, however his business partner, has sacked him for viewing porn and being on chat lines during compay time Can he do this. ?

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Richard1966

Depends. Is your husband an employee?

If he is not because he is a part owner of the business that he cannot be sacked. The other partner could look for a legal dissolution of the business but it would take time and money.

Hubby needs to see a solicitor.

sunderland47

Question Author

I dont know if he is classed an employee, if he owns 50% of the company. Business partner has know for a long time my husband has a problem and seems now to be using it as a means to have full control of company, now the company isnt doing as well, due to it being a scaffolding company. How would we know id he was classed as a employee ?

dot.hawkes

if he was an emplotee he would be getting paid every week or month by the comapany with tax and NI deducted class i contributions NI and PAYE tax, if he is part owner he will likely be taking a wage as a self employed person using NI code 4 and possibly SC60 certs for tax paid at source. (I guess) plus his name would be on the joint bank account and he would have his name on the side of the works van

CheekyChops

Don't be ridiculous - if they are partners and own half the company each, neither can 'sack' the other - no matter what they look at online.

I can't belive that your husband would 'accept' the sacking and stop going to work!!!

Sammy Snake

They are obviously a right pair of numpties who have absolutely no idea whatsoever about running a business.

One cannot sack the other - they are in a partnership which would need to be dissolved. One person does not employ the other and therefore cannot sack them.

Gormless

A simplistic view - if he owns 50%, take it out and clear off, do something else with it.

-- answer removed --

buildersmate

It sure does.
You use the term '50% shares'. This could mean one of two things - it is a partnership where (as others above have pointed out) each partner is self-employed with an equal stake in the profits or losses of the partnership.
Or it could be set up a limited company with true shares.
If its the first case, the other partner cannot dismiss him as he is self-employed - the partnership must be dissolved.
If it is the second case, it is just possible that he is a shareholder (and owns a financial stake in the company) but he is not a Director - merely an employee. But that would be pretty unusual.

Skyline D

Buildersmate's answer is spot on.

If it's a partnership it needs leagally dissolved and there will be issues over who can continue to use the business trading name and such-like. It needs legal and professional advice.

If it's a company, and your husband is a director (which he would normally be with 50% of the shares but doesn't actually have to be) then he can't just be "sacked". It would require a vote at a board meeting. If there are only the two directors then unless he votes to sack himself he can't be sacked. If there are other directors then in theory he could be sacked if the right hoops are jumped through. Likewise, if he isn't actually a director then he could be sacked.

However, he's still a 50% shareholder so he could apply to have the company wound up and the same issues would arise as with partnership. Again, detailed legal advice required.

Certainly the other guy can't just tell him "you aren't coming back" and forget about it. Nor can he pay himself a dividend on shares without paying it to ALL shareholders (although he could get round that by paying out profits to himself as salary rather than dividend).