My rant for the day

[KimH]

My son and a number of other employees were notified by their employer in the middle of March that the company was retrenching - they followed due process and it was agreed that the final day of work would be the 30th April and that salaries and severance would be paid then as well.
Salaries were paid over on the 30th as promised BUT no severance and leave payouts. Each employee however received a letter addressed to All Creditors stating that the company was going into provisional liquidation. This was a generic letter from Management and not a liquidation notice from the Master of the High Court. In other words, the people that were retrenched will now have to wait for the liquidation process to be finalised to get out a couple of extra bucks. (IF there's anything left of course).
Honestly, this type of thing infuriates me beyond comprehension - I understand companies in financial difficulties and having no other option, but when the Directors of the company are still drawing their over inflated salaries I get seriously mad. Adding insult to injury the company is still trading - not being fully au fait with the liquidation process I am not even sure if they are still legally allowed to trade...
^ reminds why I opted for self employment!

Rant over...

[MGM]

Do some investigations, and nail them.

[murdock]

there are a lots of crooks out there...i had a situation where i did work for a company which went in liquidation...it was interesting how one of the auditors mike banks working for benham and ass. doing the books for powerflow exhausts...somehow scammed his way into becoming a director at primaforce exhaust.... i would have thought it was illegal for a person who is involved in doing a companies books to suddenly become a director of the company who took over powerflow and changed the name.

it was quite strange because...while trying to get my money from powerflow exhausts...i had to deal with the company who was handling powerflows finacial affairs...benham and ass....but suddenly one day when i tried to contact mike banks...i was told that he no longer worked for benham and ass...when they gave me his new number...you wont believe it...but the new number was the company which took the owner of powerflow to the cleaners...i mean boy di they clean him out...he lost everything.

what i heard was apparently that what this consortium do...they prey on companies who are in the financial dwang...then get in where they need to and boy do they clean up...if you ever in the kak...watch out for these fellas apparently its what they do to make money...buy and sell comapnies...i dont know all the details...about the take over...all i know is i didnt get as cent...when i tried to contact mike banks to find out what was going on...his receptionist would just say he was not available.

so being self employed and liquidation also dont go down well...

[Citizen X]

1. Yes, your rant is in order. This is a situation where you almost feel as if you held to ransom! Once a liquidator is appointment the distribution process will get underway;
2. The Act/Statute/Legislation applicable here is the Insolvency Act 24 of 1936(as amended). This Act has been amended many times(Be careful what you google). In an insolvent estate it’s not so much a case of treating all equally it’s more of a case in pursuing equitable distribution ,
3. There’s a queue or ranking for who gets paid first, they are in this order: secured creditors, preferent creditors and concurrent creditors
4. “If these employment contracts are suspended or terminated under section 38 of the Insolvency Act, the employees have preferent claims provided for in section 98A of the Insolvency Act. As regards these preferent claims, note the following1) The limit on the preferent claims for salary, wages, leave or other payments applies to each employee separately.(2) If an employee's claim for salary, wages, leave or other payments exceeds the limits of the preference, he or she has a concurrent claim for the excess under section 38(10) of the Insolvency Act as loss suffered because of the suspension or the termination of the contract before its expiry.”

[Dave A]

My commiserations, Kim.

Curious that the company is still trading despite issuing notices of intention to liquidate to the creditors. I'd have thought that's reckless trading territory.

It might be an idea to read Chapter 6 of the new Companies Act (Act 71 of 2008).

[KimH]

Murdock, they should be called Bedlam and Ass.....

It irks me that in this day and age people are still able to pull these stunts and just keep moving onto the next one without any remorse and recourse.
Dave - the company is rife with reckless trading and unfair practices, unfortunately the guys that have been affected by this do not have the funds nor time to take them on. Their immediate concern is trying to find a job in this current market - so again the sharks swim free while the other poor sods scramble helplessly trying to keep head above water!

Thanks for the link Dave.

[murdock]

i dont beleive that benham and ass. where the problem...in fact this company has been around for many years...however i cant say the same for the snake who worked for them.