Recourse for salary not paid by employer?

[BusFact]

The director's personal property? An employee could do that?

Yeesh, I hope not. If it is the case I'm getting rid of 20 staff ASAP. No way I want my kids starving because I have an argument with a staff member or the company finds itself in financial difficulty.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Eish!!! Lets clear up some misconceptions before Dave and Busfact have heart attacks.

Claiming the debit order costs and such does not fall under CCMA and is a civil matter and actual costs need to be shown. You can claim damages by virtue of credit record harm etc, but I doubt you will win. There must be actual damage and you need to quantify it. You will of course be able to claim the actual costs incurred.
A lien is normally used by accountants and lawyers. The person is in possesion of YOUR property and witholds until you pay them and not vice a versa.
To get any property attached you will need to follow the normal routes and get a writ or attachment order. You can only get an attachment against a person who owes you something or in terms of specific performance. The company owes the money and not indivual directors, this of course would be subject to the type of entity. AN exception is rent owed the landlord has a tacit hypothec by virtue of which the landlord, to all intents and purposes, "owns" anything on premises that is not specifically excluded. When issuing summons for rent there is an automatic interdict to stop anyone removing goods from property and the issuing of an attachment order is included in summons.

With all due respect to jinkster's post that is factually incorrect. At this stage the money owed is of a statutory nature and not an award, even if an award it is not as simple as 7 days and thats that. By the same token checking solvency is somewhat more complicated than looking on a computer.

Now as to a course of action -
As per my previous post it seems as if an unfair retrenchment procedure occurred and you could institute a CCMA matter. This may prompt them to pay but more importantly it will bring the statutory money owed under the jurisdiction of the CCMA. You are however late and will need to apply for condonation, which may be difficult. Also if there was more than 1 person retrenched the issue will revert to labour court if conciliation fails.
Another option is the small claims court but you will be limited to a claim of R7000-00. You will be able to claim the money owed(evidence of debt needed, plus your bounced orders bank charges) and no you can not make seperate claims for each thing becuase they all stem from teh same cause of action. You may of course use teh small claims court even if teh amount exceeds the R7000 but you will have the abandon the excess.
You could make a claim for the money owed, costs plus damages in the magistrates court with relevant jurisdiction, provided that the cliam is less than R100 000-00

I would believe taht the amount of money owed to you will be a deciding factor in deciding how to continue. If it is substantial, CCMA, provided you get condonation, or magistartes court. If the amount is small give the small claims court a go, it will cost about R20 and you are dealing with an issue where teh evidentiary burden is not to large.

[Ann Williams]

BusFact, if you are a Sole Prop or a Partner, this could happen anyway....

[BusFact]

You're correct I agree. This thread though was about someone working for a company. I would be very reluctant to employ someone in my personal capacity.

[fbwhitley]

Yes the sherriff of the court could write up the value of the employer's property and it can get sold