atw: Re: Advice wanted for a newly unemployed technical writer
- From: "Erisa Linsky" <slinka@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 15:52:52 +1100
Elizabeth, my sympathies go to you. I watch what you write and I admire you
enormously, as an intelligent articulate woman.
I would like the ASTC to keep a register of these truant companies and their
directors and principals, because if they are trading again, or their
principals are still operating in the market, we would want to take a look
at what they are about, keeping an open mind, naturally.
Were they caught short and struggling through no fault of their own,
(perhaps ripped off by a multi-national)? Or are they an ongoing repeat
performance of greedy or incompetent doings that will cheat more of our
members later?
And, yes it happened to me once, many years ago, as a contractor, but, via
friendly negotiation with the directors, I got a deal before the liquidators
moved in. I was satisfied with the outcome, considering the difficult
circumstances we all faced.
Actually, if I had 14 years of continuous work, I would regard myself as a
very lucky little vegemite, and not cry too hard if I didn't get absolutely
everything I was owed at the end.
I will, however, run these things past some legal eagle friends in
Melbourne.
A good lawyer is always worth it, .....the hard part is finding the right
one.
Erisa
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fullerton, Elizabeth" <Elizabeth.Fullerton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2004 12:10 PM
Subject: atw: Re: Advice wanted for a newly unemployed technical writer
*sigh*
last week i received the second and final payment of a total of 42% of =
my entitlements. i will not receive any more. it took 18 months.
this won't be solved quickly. so the first thing our fellow tech writer =
should do is go straight onto the dole. do not pass go, but do collect =
$200...=20
if the company has gone into liquidation, then they should make a claim =
through GEERS (government employee entitlements scheme). it's run by =
dewr, and there are no strict rules, which is why we were ineligible for =
payment through them - our company went into a deed of company =
arrangement, which stripped our legal rights as employees and allowed =
the once-again-trading company to pull themselves out of debt by =
climbing over our backs. (bitter? me?)
in a liquidation scenario, you have a better chance of getting 100% of =
your entitlements paid by the govt, up to a salary cap of around $80,000 =
(ie, if you earn over $80,000, you will only receive entitlements as if =
you earned $80,000).
in a deed of company arrangement scenario, you may not receive anything. =
or you might. depends on how crafty your administrators are, and who =
happens to be your case manager at DEWR.
you may have to wait for formal notice of entitlements owing, from the =
liquidator/administrator, before you can make the claim, but you might =
as well contact DEWR about it now.
we did as much as we could with this (though we didn't get a lawyer, =
being unemployed!) - a number of complaints were made to ASIC about the =
way the whole situation was handled, people contacted MPs and spoke to =
the media. two of us made submissions to, and appeared as a witness at, =
a parliamentary joint committee investigation into insolvency laws. we =
still only received 42%.
but i digress... (bitter? me?)
contact DHS. contact DEWR. set up a support email group (or join the one =
listed below). be prepared for a lot of frustration. don't count on =
getting anything anytime soon. be prepared to write a heap of letters to =
as many people as you can think of, including Senator Penny Wong, who =
was on the joint committee panel and was very interested in our case.
join openmushrooms (http://yahoogroups.com.au/group/otmushrooms) - our =
public support list. follow our pain, so you know what you could be up =
against. (there was also a private list, as we didn't want some of our =
strategies to go public.)
contact me directly if you want to know some of the more gory (intense =
and complicated) details.
btw, we're planning on following this through, though it won't affect =
the outcome of our case. People shouldn't have to go through what we =
went through, and we want to change that.
-----Original Message-----
From: Janet Taylor [mailto:jtaylor@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 5 February 2004 11:17 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Advice wanted for a newly unemployed technical writer
The company in which one of our fellow Technical Writers worked has just
been closed.
She has received no termination payment, final pay, holiday pay and =
recent
superannuation and tax weren't paid. She was a full time permanent =
employee
for the past 14 years.
Does anyone have any useful advice or sources of assistance that she can =
use
to help get any money from the wash-up of this company?=20
I'm sorry to say that the ASTC(NSW) isn't able to help in this instance.
Thanks in advance.....
(I shall print and hand over any replies to her.)
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