Ex Employer owes me money.

Martin_Hickford

Apologies for rambling on with the back story - I figured giving as much detail as possible would help getting more accurate advice.

A couple of years ago I was touted by some colleagues of mine who decided to start their own company. They insisted that my particular skill-set as a web designer and video editor, while still novice at the that time, was vital to their business plan and practically begged me to join them boasting wild claims of a sizable three year investment plan from a wealthy family member.

The offer seemed too good to be true so (idiotically) I took them up and joined them.

As the months went on my salary started being paid later and later and in smaller and smaller chunks. At one point, come pay-day I was still owed a few hundred pounds from two months previously. At one point these late payments were so much of a problem that I physically couldn't afford to travel to work and the !!!!!!!s actually tried to dock a days pay for unauthorized absence.

Throughout all this I kept being told 'the investment is coming there's just hiccups *blah blah blah*'. They started trying to unofficially change my job role to include me being a sales-man (which I neither wanted, nor was a capable of).

After a year of this, on Feb 6th (friday) 2011 I emailed them saying that if they weren't going to start paying me on time that I was going to hand in my notice and seek employment elsewhere. On the 9th (following monday) When I arrived at work I was confronted by the MD of the company and the investor/'wealthy' family member who told me that they could no longer afford to employ me. That they would pay me everything they owed me to date (the previous months salary, which obviously they were late with and the week prior to this 'meeting') and that they'd pay me my four weeks notice period, but that they didn't want me back in the office again. (I have all this confirmed in writing and signed by the company.)

It took 6 months but they eventually paid half the total amount, but almost a year on and I'm still waiting for just over £1000. I've contacting them on multiple occasions to be met with a stern "We don't have any money, we'll contact you when we do" which I read between the lines as "Stop bugging us".

I'm assuming I can't state the company name on here but I can tell you that they're a digital creative media agency. Approx 75% of their portfolio is my work (including websites, videos and even the company logo).

Now, they're obviously in breach of contract here. As well as suing them for what they owe me (plus legal expenses) could I also be suing them for IP (Intellectual Property) theft? As they're marketing themselves on the back of my work, which they haven't paid for.

I don't know how to go about forcing them to pay me, especially if they're claiming they don't have any money. Although I know from my own personal investigations that they're actually doing quite a lot of work...

Because of the financial mess this left me in (I lost my home because of those !!!!!!!s) It's taken me a year to get stable again but I'm still not in a financial position to be hiring a lawyer to sue them.

What shall i do?

Thanks in advance for your help.

hcb42

were you employed by them? Generally if you are an employee and you create something as part of your job it normally belongs to the employer?

SarEl

hcb42 wrote: »

were you employed by them? Generally if you are an employee and you create something as part of your job it normally belongs to the employer?

Yes I agree - the copyright is an entirely separate issue and one that is weak. If you were employed or contracted to do this work for them then the issue is non-payment - unless you obtained the copyright for yourself it isn't your property.

As for the money owed, you need to send a letter before action stating the amount owed (with details) and a demand for payment within 28 days or you will begin legal action without futher notice. If they do not pay then you will have to take this to civil court (even if you were an employee you are out of time to make a tribunal claim).

Of course the issue may be that if they genuinely don't have the money they may simply declare the company bankrupt - if it is a limited company then the company owes the debt, not the individuals - and if there are other criditors you may only see a fraction of the money owed, if that. But that may be a risk that you have to take if you want to stand any chance of seeing the money.

Uncertain

SarEl wrote: »

Yes I agree - the copyright is an entirely separate issue and one that is weak. If you were employed or contracted to do this work for them then the issue is non-payment - unless you obtained the copyright for yourself it isn't your property.

To clarify the copyright would, by default, belong to the company if the OP was employed under a contract of employment.

However, if he were self employed and working under some contract for services then, by default, the copyright would belong to the OP (obviously unless a WRITTEN contract said differently).

Copyright is one of the few things that can only be assigned in writing, a verbal contract won't do.

I'm not aware of any precedent that suggests that failing to pay an employee's wages means that they retain the copyright of their work. However I imagine this would happen from whatever point the contract was held to be broken? Obviously more SarEl's subject than mine......

Martin_Hickford

Thanks so much for you responses.

I can confirm that I was one of two employees of the company. the other employee was the directors wife.

I was the only employee at the company doing creative work and a year on, that work still features heavily in the company portfolio. I also created the company logo and a bespoke motion graphics marketing video for the company.

I had to do all the design and creative work using my own personal software on the companys computer because the company was unwilling to purchase the software themselves.

This, plus the excessive breaches of contract that I suffered throughout the year make me feel as though I've been conned into producing all this work.

Martin_Hickford

Oh and to follow up - one of the website I created for the company is hosted on my own personal web server because at the time of creation - the company didn't have the capabilities to host the site themselves. I've addressed the issue of transferring the site to one of their servers but, along with all my requests for updates about payment. They haven't replied

real1314

1. Do what SarEl says about the money.

2. When you get the money (or get them to court) pull the plug on the server use.

3. Forget the copyright, you don't own it.

Maybe if they do threaten to go bankrupt you might be able to negotiate the copyright back to you, if it would be worth anything to you?

:cool: