new business and big mess can anyone help

tattoed_bum

Sorry if this long .

My husband and his friend started up a company in feb(engineering ) all is registered with hrmc and companies house but is dormant for a min till they are set up and ready to trade they have premises ,

Now both of them have stayed in their current employment until the company was ready to start up trading .

Dh's friend/business partners boss has found out that they are starting up (friend/business partner does'nt have an employment contract ) and he is threatening to take legal action against them if they don't shut down the company he say's it's a conflict of interest as they will be in competition with him Which they won't be as it is a different kind of engineering .

He is also threatening business partner with legal action to recover all wages he has paid partner .

He has also been phoning our home looking to speak to my dh he phoned us 4 times yesterday .

The company itself will not be ready for trading for at least another month as they have been buying machinery and tooling out of there own finances so they didnt start up in debt .

Does partners boss have any legal comeback on us ,we are worried sick about this it seems a bit like blackmail to me and has put the whole thing under a huge cloud for us .

blue_monkey_2

tattoed_bum wrote: »

Sorry if this long .

My husband and his friend started up a company in feb(engineering ) all is registered with hrmc and companies house but is dormant for a min till they are set up and ready to trade they have premises ,

Now both of them have stayed in their current employment until the company was ready to start up trading .

Dh's friend/business partners boss has found out that they are starting up (friend/business partner does'nt have an employment contract ) and he is threatening to take legal action against them if they don't shut down the company he say's it's a conflict of interest as they will be in competition with him Which they won't be as it is a different kind of engineering .

He is also threatening business partner with legal action to recover all wages he has paid partner .

He has also been phoning our home looking to speak to my dh he phoned us 4 times yesterday .

The company itself will not be ready for trading for at least another month as they have been buying machinery and tooling out of there own finances so they didnt start up in debt .

Does partners boss have any legal comeback on us ,we are worried sick about this it seems a bit like blackmail to me and has put the whole thing under a huge cloud for us .

If he is his boss but he has no contract of employment, is he a self employed contractor? How did he get paid wages?

Do you have a solicitor? If not then you are going to need one, at least to get a letter sent to say to this man to say that any further contact via telephone will be deemed as harrassment and further action would be taken.

Unless there is a contract of employment there is no conflict of interest and this man needs to be told this, by letter, from a solicitor. Will probably cost £75 for them to draft and send a letter so get this done ASAP.

tattoed_bum

thank you Blue monkey this is what I thought ,Partner has been working for this guy for roughly 5 months and a contract of employment has been mentioned yet ,

blue_monkey_2

tattoed_bum wrote: »

thank you Blue monkey this is what I thought ,Partner has been working for this guy for roughly 5 months and a contract of employment has been mentioned yet ,

Hi again, sorry, is this a typo?

What I was asking was, when he was taken on was it on a PAYE or contractor basis? Did he get a wage slip or did he bill for his services? I am guessing it was PAYE. Did he ever ask for a contract of employment? Has be signed a 'secrecy' declaration? I had to sign one of this a while back (albeit a dodgy document anyhow but thats not for now) but it basically says 'if I leave I will not contact any of your customers/suppliers'.

Have he given his notice?

I still reckon that they need to go and see a solicitor as soon as possible to put a stop to this - it'll not cost a huge amount in relation to the grief this guy is giving you.

You can by all means can send a letter yourselves but it'll not have a huge amount of impact and he will probably continue - you need to do it so that if there is any comeback the solicitor can take action, all correspondance can then go through the solicitor. He can also word it correctly for you. It'll have more impact this way.

Keep a diary of the time of the calls. Just put the phone down on the guy if he calls, do not get into arguments about it, just say 'sorry x is not here, goodbye'.

Even if it costs £1000 it'll be worth it to get this guy to leave you alone surely? It'll come from the money from the business as the problem is related to the business - ie. this guy is trying to get you to close it.

Are you able to say what business it is he is working for and what business you are starting up - I understand if not.

tattoed_bum

blue_monkey wrote: »

Hi again, sorry, is this a typo?

What I was asking was, when he was taken on was it on a PAYE or contractor basis? Did he get a wage slip or did he bill for his services? I am guessing it was PAYE. Did he ever ask for a contract of employment? Has be signed a 'secrecy' declaration? I had to sign one of this a while back (albeit a dodgy document anyhow but thats not for now) but it basically says 'if I leave I will not contact any of your customers/suppliers'.
He is PAYE he did ask for a contract but his employer just kept putting it off ,he hasnt signed any secrecy documents .

Have he given his notice? he hasnt given his notice yet ,he is still working there at the min although his employer has told him that if he attempts to go near the business premises that we have he will be dismissed instantly .

I still reckon that they need to go and see a solicitor as soon as possible to put a stop to this - it'll not cost a huge amount in relation to the grief this guy is giving you.

You can by all means can send a letter yourselves but it'll not have a huge amount of impact and he will probably continue - you need to do it so that if there is any comeback the solicitor can take action, all correspondance can then go through the solicitor. He can also word it correctly for you. It'll have more impact this way.

Keep a diary of the time of the calls. Just put the phone down on the guy if he calls, do not get into arguments about it, just say 'sorry x is not here, goodbye'.

Even if it costs £1000 it'll be worth it to get this guy to leave you alone surely? It'll come from the money from the business as the problem is related to the business - ie. this guy is trying to get you to close it.

Are you able to say what business it is he is working for and what business you are starting up - I understand if not.

Both businesses are in engineering although he works with plastics we will be working with metals ,he said he is not worried about the company as it stands now but what it could become in the future ,as we have already secured a 6 figure contract from a blue chip firm .
This guy has bought out 6 smaller companies this year and then closed them ,he has said if my dh works for him he will drop all legal action but dh must take the new contract with him

paulwf

I have to agree with blue_monkey that legal advice is the way forward, especially for the contract amount you are talking about. It will serve 2 purposes: firstly it will obviously resolve the legal situation, and secondly you'll be able to tell the boss that all contact has to go through solicitors which hopefully will immediately stop him calling you at home.

blue_monkey_2

Sorry went off to get some housework done.

Absolutely go to a solicitor. You already have secured a huge contract so the money will be well spent, get it done as soon as possible If he calls again tell him you will be hearing from your solicitor and to stop harrassing you.

He has obviously heard about the contract and he is jealous. He sounds a bit like a bully and control freak to be honest, you have got to stand up to him now otherwise it can only get worse. At least once you have it all legal any future correspondance can go through the solicitor as well as paulwf stated.

Let us know how you get on.

Mahmood_Reza

Unless your husband and friend have given a written undertaking regarding restriction of trade (eg not trading within x no. of miles within area of former employment, not soliciting customers etc) then it will be more difficult for any legal action against him. In addition, courts are generally speaking reluctant to uphold what they see as an unfair restraint of trade.
The (ex)boss is no doubt panicking & making threats,some baseless (eg recovering wages). From a legal perspective he would either have to obtain an injunction/order to restrict the setting up, or wait until it is established before he can sue - this will involve time and money (not cheap).
I fully agree with all the comments regarding obtaining legal advice, keeping records etc. Some solicitors may provide an initial free consultation. Have a summary of the significant events prepared to present to the soliictior, this will help keep matters focused.

Savvy_Sue

And while you're talking to a solicitor, do your DH and his partner/friend have a good written agreement covering the 'what if' questions: what if one wants to leave, what if one wants to buy the other out and so on. The time for that is now, not when one of these 'what ifs' is staring you in the face.

However, if your friend is employed, on PAYE, then he does have a contract, because he turns up and the boss pays him. The fact that he's not been given a written statement of terms and conditions is actually in his favour, because without that, there cannot AFAIK be an exclusion clause of the kind the boss is claiming. He should have been given such a statement within 8 weeks of starting, but certain things are assumed without it. Have a look at the ACAS site for more information.