Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

[andrew2332]

So I worked for a company last year called AXIAS, and the contract of employment we had, since breached, led to losses of £500, which this company certainly owes me in sick pay, etc.

So the contract itself states that it is between myself and AXIAS.COM.

Looking on companies house, AXIAS.COM went into voluntary liquidation late last year, whilst another company, both owned by the same people and under the same roof - AXIAS.CO.UK, is now running and has been for a very long time.

Can I take AXIAS.CO.UK to Court, or should I pursue AXIAS.COM and point out that the same company, under a slightly different name, is running and is the same business and has never changed locale, or ever BEEN shut?

[wales01man]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Is it a LTD company?
Were you made redundant and how many years did you work for them?
The more info you give the quicker others will give you an answer.

[andrew2332]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

LTD company yes.

No offence I have exhaustingly looked into the questions you asked and I definitely have a winnable case, it's just a question now of the above issues...

Unless your questions help to answer those above?

[wales01man]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Those on here who know about employment law would ask the questions to be able to give the answers What was the name of the company ? Cannot find the ones you stated on CH webcheck or am I missing something

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

So I worked for a company last year called AXIAS, and the contract of employment we had, since breached, led to losses of £500, which this company certainly owes me in sick pay, etc.

So the contract itself states that it is between myself and AXIAS.COM.

Looking on companies house, AXIAS.COM went into voluntary liquidation late last year,

When an employer goes into liquidation, employees have to claim any moneys owed for unpaid wages, redundancy, notice periods, etc. from the Insolvency Service. This is done via the appointed liquidators, who have a duty to ensure there is no money available in the company's assets to make these payments before forwarding the forms to the IS as well as verifying that the money is actually owed. The IS will then make payments directly to the employees.

Statutory Sick Pay will be paid by HMRC. You can find more info here: https://www.gov.uk/your-rights-if-yo...ey-owed-to-you

whilst another company, both owned by the same people and under the same roof - AXIAS.CO.UK, is now running and has been for a very long time.

Sadly, this is a common practice, since limited companies are legally a separate entity from their director and shareholders (owners), it is possible to liquidate a company and set up another one. :mmph:

Can I take AXIAS.CO.UK to Court, or should I pursue AXIAS.COM and point out that the same company, under a slightly different name, is running and is the same business and has never changed locale, or ever BEEN shut?

Once a company is liquidated, it ceases to trade and you cannot take the company to court. If your contract was with the liquidated company, you can't take another company to court for debts incurred by the liquidated company, but you could try and get your money from the relevant government body as noted above. :thumb:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Looking on companies house, AXIAS.COM went into voluntary liquidation late last year, whilst another company, both owned by the same people and under the same roof - AXIAS.CO.UK, is now running and has been for a very long time.

Those on here who know about employment law would ask the questions to be able to give the answers What was the name of the company ? Cannot find the ones you stated on CH webcheck or am I missing something

Nor can I... :noidea: :confused2:

There's no company called 'Axias' at all on the CH webcheck database or on the http://companycheck.co.uk website.

Axias.com and axias.co.uk sound like domain names rather than company names. axias.com redirects to this site: http://gb2.hsicell.com/router.php. The domain is for sale: http://whois.domaintools.com/axias.com

There's no server associated with axias.co.uk and the domain is also listed as being for sale: http://whois.domaintools.com/axias.co.uk

Would you care to tell us where you've been looking?

[wales01man]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

FP something funny about this ?

[andrew2332]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Nothing funny I merely changed the name of the company for my own peace of mind. Everything apart from the name of the company is legit.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Nothing funny I merely changed the name of the company for my own peace of mind. Everything apart from the name of the company is legit.

You could have told us, to save us barking up the wrong tree. :ohwell:

Regardless of what name they may be using, the above still applies. I am familiar with the process you describe, liquidating a company and the same people carrying on business as usual with another company in the same place, and even with some of the same people. It's not that uncommon.

[andrew2332]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Do you think that as the umbrella company has not changed I can take them directly to Court?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Do you think that as the umbrella company has not changed I can take them directly to Court?

Were you working through an umbrella company as opposed to being employed directly by the company that got liquidated?

[andrew2332]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

No company that liquidated.

So...any other advice? Anyone willing to advise?

[ostell]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

So...any other advice? Anyone willing to advise?

I think all the relevant advice has already been given, if you care to read the posts above. Not giving the name og the company didn't help.

[enquirer]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

As FlamingParrot points out, this is a common scam - the one company trades and runs up debts, whilst another sits in the shadows waiting. When the time to do a runner arrives, the assets of the one quietly move to the other.

If it can be shown that the assets were fraudulently transferred in this manner, then the court can make those assets fair game. This is not easy, and is unlikely to be a viable option for £500.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Company in liquidation - can I take their new company to Court?

Things like that tend to be well planned. A company that was liquidated owned property, however, the property was in the name of a partnership by the two co-owners which in itself, has always been a separate entity. The liquidated company paid rent to the partnership and so does the trading company under the same ownership. That meant the property was not considered an asset of the liquidated company and didn't have to be sold.

The government offers employees special protection that other creditors don't enjoy, however, it's all subject to official maximum amounts rather than contractual terms. :ohwell: For example, if your contract states four weeks notice but you've only been there two years, you only get paid for two weeks notice period. Some companies have more generous sickness or redundancy policies, however, the government will only pay the legal minimum, so if your employer would have paid you in full for, say, up to three months sick leave, you'd only get Statutory Sick Pay from the government. :mmph:

You can't enforce contractual terms against a company that no longer exists but you can try to claim what's due to you from the official bodies, however, there may be a time limit to claim.