Can brothers force me to retire?

robpeterson

In a couple of years I'll be reaching 65 I work in a family business with two brothers(10&15years junior) whom unfortunatly I no longer see eye to eye with.I own 49% of the company and they own the other 51% combined.I recently overheard something which led me to believe they may be able to force me to retire at 65.If anybody can tell me if there is any truth in this it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Andy_L

Unfortunatly yes. there are attempts to amend the law but, AFAIK, its still a work in progress.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10364525.stm

FakeIrish

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Pensionsandretirementplanning/Working/DG_184309

Ewarwoowar2

robpeterson wrote: »

In a couple of years I'll be reaching 65 I work in a family business with two brothers(10&15years junior) whom unfortunatly I no longer see eye to eye with.I own 49% of the company and they own the other 51% combined.I recently overheard something which led me to believe they may be able to force me to retire at 65.If anybody can tell me if there is any truth in this it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

On or after your 65 birthday your employer can dismiss you without any justification, as long as this is the company's normal retirement date or it doesn't have one.

The interesting point about your employment is that you are also a lareg shareholder in the company. Dismissing you will not effect your shares. Ownership and employment are two different things.

I would also imagine that you are a proper director of the company. This would mean that you could be a shareholder, director and employee.

I have dealt with many of these situations. It's always complicated. For example, your bothers may have difficultly removing you as a director (as the company's memo may say it need 75% of shareholder support). In response they may issue new shares to themselves. It can get messy.

My advice would be to take proper legal advice. An hour or two's legal advice would cost a couple of hundred of pounds and save you thousands. When you know where you stand legally, I would advise that you sit down with your brothers and map out your future at the company. There are many options for you: stay on part-time, full time, as a consultant as and when needed, as a director only, etc..

Getting into a dispute with your brothers could cost thousands of pounds in legal wrangling and could ultimately wreck the business you have worked hard to create. My advice is do not get entrenched in a dispute with your brothers and be very careful about selling your shares to someone outside of the family (there are a lot of sharks out there).

jimbms

You could always do what a friend of mine did in the same situation and sold his shares to the companys biggest rival after they forced him to retire.