What can i claim for

[hammerman]

It looks like i'm going to be taking my wife's ex employer to court for non payment of wages. We've written to them twice giving deadlines each time to pay up and the latest deadline passes on monday.

So if we have to take them to court, what do we claim for....obviously the �850 wages but can we also claim interest and court fees (probably around �70)

Also, how long can things be expected to take from filling the forms out and paying the cash to getting the award and getting the money.

Thanks in advance

[thugulike]

Are you going to County Court or making a claim to tribunal? If you go to ET there is no cost involved, you just make the claim and turn up on the day. Claims under the Wages Act are relatively simple and you could manage it yourself. The tribunal, if you were successful, would make an order for payment. That doesn't mean the company WILL pay though. Is there a reason why they havn't paid?

[Twenty20]

I can only advise on the Small Claims Court procedure. This would cost you �60 to make the claim if you do it online (http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/). I believe you can add the fee to the claim plus an amount for interest. You can work out an amount to charge for interest by going to this site http://www.payontime.co.uk/calculator/statutor y.html
This will give you the statutory interest rate that companies use for late payment of invoices, which I would think would probably be suitable for your case.

A trick for getting payment without actually making a claim would be to get the paper copy of the Court papers, fill them out and send a copy to the company owing you the money. This usually tells them that you are serious and it saves going to Court etc if they pay up. If they dont pay you can still just send the papers off to Court to make the claim.

Good luck.

[hammerman]

Thugulike...thanks for your help. I was going to the small claims court to recover the wages.

How do i go about going to the employment tribunal ?

The ex employer is a woman who owns a care home...sole trader, and she won't pay up because she really wants my wife to pick the cheque up in person so she can shout at her....in other words, the woman is an absolute cow and is witholding the wages for no reason at all except for a bit of fun.

Thanks for the links Twenty20....they're most useful.

Keep the advice coming guys

Andy

[bednobs]

maybe your wife should arrange with the employer to pick up the cheque, and then go with someone to pick it up

[hammerman]

My wife doesn't want to go anywhere near the place as the woman will only shout at her and my wife isn't the strongest willed person.

The woman will not allow anyone else on the premises....otherwise i would've gone up there and beaten it out of her !!!