Threatened with debt collectors by employer

harpoonlouis

A family memeber has just left an employer to get away from bullying behaviour and has just receieved a letter claiming they owe nearly £10,000 in over paid wages. The letter arrived Friday with a threat that the "debt" will be handeded over to a debt collocter unles they respond by this Tuesday and agree a repayment plan.

The figures are nonsense but is the threat to hand it to some third party valid?

I was lead to believe that an agency could only recover a debt once it's vailidity had been established by a court. Is this correct?

Our fist priority is not to get a blot on this persons credit rating especailly when the whole accusation is spurious.

Anyone who can clarify would be greatly appreciated.

DVardysShadow

Any creditor is free to hand an alleged debt over to a debt collector without the involvement of a court. The debt collector can buy the debt - ie they pay the creditor and receive the right to keep any repayments in full - or the debt collector an just act as agent - being paid a fee on successful collection of the money.

A debt collector can visit your home - this is uncommon these days - but they have no specific right to do so [when I say they have no rights, you can tell them to clear off and you have the right to make them go away and stay away - but they are in no way in the wrong to turn up unless you have told them not to].

Bailiffs do have a specific right to visit your home and seize goods - but this only happens after the matter has gone to court and you lose. And they can only seize goods which belong to the debtor and some categories of goods are immune.

The correct response to the letter is a variant of the 'prove it' letter recommended by the Debt Free Wannabe forum. Essentially, you write and state that you do not believe that there is a debt and request a full justification of the alleged debt in writing. Keep a copy of this letter and all responses - they could be important if the employer takes the matter to court.

Given that the amount is so substantial and arises after harassment, it looks to be a complete try on, The specific tactics your family member might need will depend heavily on the circumstances - if you are free to give more of an outline without identifying the employer or the family member, you will probably get more tailored advice. In particular, it would be useful to know the size of the employer and whether the boss is the proprietor.

Constructive dismissal cases at employment tribunal generally go against the employee. But if there is a case that this has happened, it may be worth considering a claim [3 months time limit from leaving] as part of an overall strategy to force the employer to come to some form of overall settlement, while accepting that the constructive dismissal claim may not produce a result of itself.

skivenov

Dispute the amount with the ex-employer with them in writing (if you think it's fair to).

Debt collectors are not the same as Court Baliffs, even if their letters make them sound like they are.

If you receive any communication from a debt collector, tell them it's "in dispute" (use that phrase specifically) and send them any evidence of this dispute that they reasonably ask for. They cannot pursue a debt that is in dispute, if they do, this is unlawful harrassment, which is a criminal offence.

They also cannot harrass anyone else over the debt, even people who live at the same address, are related, or share a workplace. Again, this is unlawful harrassment.

If you ask someone to leave your property, and they do not. This is trespass, a commonlaw offence, and grounds to call the Police.

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, but have sent more than one debt collector on their way with a flea in their ear.

DVardysShadow

skivenov wrote: »

Dispute the amount with the ex-employer with them in writing (if you think it's fair to).

Don't just dispute the amount, dispute the debt in its entirety unless you agree something may be owing. By disputing just the amount, you are to some extent conceding that some lesser amount may be owed.

harpoonlouis

Thank you for those contributions, some useful food for thought amongst them. The case is very complicated as the employer appaers to be using one member of my family to get at another who is employed at a much higher level in the same organisation.

I will be discussing the whole thing with an employment law specialist very soon.

DVardysShadow

harpoonlouis wrote: »

Thank you for those contributions, some useful food for thought amongst them. The case is very complicated as the employer appaers to be using one member of my family to get at another who is employed at a much higher level in the same organisation.

I will be discussing the whole thing with an employment law specialist very soon.

OK, there is a lot more to this and I imagine given the circumstances you could make yourselves easily identifiable if you give much more information.

With what you have told us, I believe that you should still carry on and deal with the alleged debt with a letter ASAP and not wait for advice from the employment law specialist. This person cannot be expected to have expert knowledge on dealing with civil debt issues. If you delay writing about the demand for £10000, you may lose the initial benefit of putting the matter 'in dispute' before it is passed to a debt collector.

Don't underestimate the value of having it in dispute from the outset. A debt collector will be far less likely to buy a disputed debt - and if they are not told about the dispute, a copy of the dispute letter will show that the employer has been duplicitous in selling them the debt so they most probably will return the debt and cease all involvement.

If a debt collector acts as agent, again they should not pursue while the alleged debt is disputed. Get your ducks in a line over the evidence - payslips, correspondence including the letter we are suggesting you send - whatever you have which is relevant.

Probably the best place for this to go is to court. In which case if the employer is minded to take it there, their lawyer will probably advise against. In which case, as well as denying the debt, the letter could include a sentence 'I believe this alleged debt is a fabrication intended to apply pressure to <other family member> who remains employed by you'. This will alert lawyers and debt collectors alike that this case may be rather hot to handle.

Obviously, the family member who remains employed must keep strictly out of the matter, resisting all temptation to become involved outside private family discussions and refusing to discuss if asked by the employer. Seeing an employment law specialist can be regarded as a private family discussion, of course.