Small Claims Court

Orange_King

Has anyone been through this process before?

My son worked last summer and wasn't paid his final wages by the proprietor of a Youth Club and she is still not forthcoming with the payment despite numerous requests and a final written communication. The club is supposedly no longer functioning but I know that she continues to run activities out of another location still using the same name.

Is it appropriate to take this to the small claims court on his behalf and is there any other action I could take?

Her "company" doesn't appear to be properly registered.

saverbuyer

What name was on his pay slips?


What it the name of the payer on his bank statements?

warmhands.coldheart

saverbuyer wrote: »

What name was on his pay slips?


What it the name of the payer on his bank statements?

By the sounds of it I doubt there was one!!! though I could be wrong....

Tansy_1980

If you do go to Small Claims court the judge will want to see evidence that you've attempted to settle this outside of the courts first. I'd suggest writing a final letter to the employer and explaining that Small Claims action will be your next step. The NI Courts Service has a guide to small claims process on its website and you can file the claim online.



Some claims are outside of the court's purview though (claims for compensation, personal accidents etc) so you might just want to check with the court clerk at your local SCC before lodging the paperwork - you'll probably lose your application fee if you file the papers in error.

Tansy_1980

Also - the court can't physically make her pay the money. It will just issue a judgment against her. If she doesn't pay, you'll have to go through another court process to get her to cough up. If you suspect that the business may be bankrupt, it may be worth doing a search with the Enforcement of Judgments Office to check if the person already has judgments against them which haven't been honoured - that should give you an idea of whether or not its worth your while lodging the court papers. There is a fee for this service, not sure how much.

Orange_King

Thanks for the responses.

Funnily enough no payslips were produced. I did hand over a final written demand 2 weeks ago giving a deadline to respond. This having passed, I took to the internet with some negative publicity which she clearly saw as she was in touch within 60 seconds asking for it to be removed and that she would pay up tomorrow.....

Watch this space! 6 months of fannying around to get this sorted so another day won't hurt.