Sale of company shares

skyzr_matt

Hi. This is my first post here, I would greatly appreciate any help if there are people out there with the expertise (that I am severely lacking).
I resigned from my previous job in December, leaving them in early March of this year (just before all this really kicked off). 5% of the company's shares are offered out to be held by the employees themselves. I held a number of shares, which I sold in early February, before leaving the company. I was expecting to receive the pay out from the sale of the shares with the next pay check, which also happened to be my final pay check. I believe this is the normal practice for leavers selling their shares.
So, along comes my final payday. Whilst I received my pay, I did not (and still haven't) receive a payslip nor a P45. The amount of pay was a little lower than expected, considering I assumed the money from the sale of shares was to be included. However, I thought I would wait to receive the payslip before enquiring with my former employer about the amount.
On Friday last week I ended up emailing the payroll department to enquire about why I hadn't received the payslip/P45, and they explained that due to the situation (working from home etc.) they are unable to process the sending out of payslips/P45s, which is fine. I also enquired about the shares, and they gave me the following information...

No new share awards by the company or share sales by employees (including leavers) are permissible until a new share valuation is approved by HMRC. As a result any requests to sell shares made since 17 February (the February payroll process date) will not be processed.

For March leavers, an amount will be settled at a future date following agreement with HMRC on a new valuation.

For others with shares in the scheme, your volume of shares is unaffected.

The same action was taken following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A notice will be issued once the new valuation is available and the scheme is re-opened, but this is not likely until after the coronavirus crisis has passed.

Naturally I was quite annoyed that this information wasn't more forthcoming, but also annoyed that I will not be receiving the return of the money I invested in the company (plus the capital gains from selling the shares, in mid Feb, when the shares were valued above what I bought them at).
Should I feel a bit hard done-by here? Or is this something I just need to suck up and accept? Like I said, these shares were sold (cant remember the exact date) at a point before all this kicked off.

Again, appreciate any help. Cheers, Matt

Hermann

I think the date of sale of the shares is key here. Was it before the 17th Feb?

And if it was after the 17th Feb how is that possible if the company was not processing requests after that date.

So have the shares actually been sold and what dates are involved?

skyzr_matt

Thanks, Hermann. I am currently engaging in an email exchange with them now. Problem is I do not know the exact date that I submitted the electronic form requesting the sale of shares (I'm sure I saved it somewhere, but cannot find at the mo), but I am pretty certain it was before the 17th Feb.
The response I have had regarding dates is that "it applies to the date that the share sale would have been included in the final pay". I am disputing this as being different to what the information they provided me (in italics in first post) states.

Hermann

So it sounds like the employer considers the shares haven't been sold yet..... 

I'd think this comes down to what your contract states in relation to the share scheme and whether the request was before the 17 Feb, and if it was on then on what date should the sale take place having received that request. 

In general shares go up and down in value and sales can be suspended, so understanding when the request was made and when it should have been actioned is important.

Thrugelmir

What do the terms of the share scheme say regarding leavers?