The company’s assets are insolvent, the boss “runs away” and loses contact, and 12 employees are in trouble when asking for salaries.
View how aid lawyers get back hard-earned money from employees
Our reporter Wang Wei Our correspondent Liu Weiwei
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At the end of the year, what employees are most concerned about is that they can get a year's "hard money" and go home happily for the New Year.
However, the difficulty in getting salaries for employees often becomes a hot spot at this time.
When an enterprise is owed wages, the boss "runs away", and there is no hope of asking for a salary, how can employees get back their hard-earned money?
A few days ago, Jiangsu released a case in which a labor union legal aid lawyer ingeniously solved the problem of employees' salary collection in response to a situation in which a company that owed salaries was insolvent but did not enter the bankruptcy process.
At the end of the year, the issue of wage arrears often becomes a hot topic.
In the "Top Ten Typical Cases of Legal Aid for Labor Unions in Jiangsu Province" announced a few days ago, the legal aid lawyer of the Tianning District Federation of Trade Unions in Changzhou City has attracted attention for helping employees of a logistics company.
In response to the situation that the salaries of the enterprises that are insolvent but have not entered the bankruptcy process, the legal aid lawyers have tried every means to subtly solve the problem of employees' salary collection.
Looking for a "running" boss
At the beginning of September 2019, a logistics company in Tianning District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province ceased production and business due to mismanagement and fell into bankruptcy. The wages of 12 employees such as Wu have been delayed for a long time.
The workers came to ask for salary, only to find that the company boss had already "run away."
In desperation, the 12 employees who had nowhere to ask for a salary approached the Tianning District Federation of Trade Unions in Changzhou for help.
After understanding the basic situation of the case, the district federation of trade unions promptly assigned lawyer Zhang Lingzhi, the legal aid lawyers group of the trade union, to handle the case.
Since Fu Moumou, the legal representative of the logistics company, never showed up or answered the phone, the mediation work could not be carried out, and the case fell into a deadlock for a while.
The lawyer tried every means to contact Fu XX, spread the law to him through WeChat, SMS, and persuade him to come to resolve the dispute as soon as possible from the perspectives of emotion, reason, and law.
In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Fu took the initiative to contact lawyer Zhang to acknowledge the fact that Wu and other 12 people were in arrears of 120,000 yuan in wages, but also said that the current corporate debt is high, and the freight owed to a transportation group in Anhui alone is as high as more than 8 million yuan, which is no longer sufficient. To pay wages in arrears, it is recommended to resolve disputes through litigation procedures.
Guide employees to defend their rights rationally
After many visits and investigations, the lawyer confirmed that Fu XX's statement is basically true.
When the employees learned that there was no hope of asking for a salary, they were emotional.
Lawyer Zhang comforted the employees while guiding them to defend their rights rationally.
In order to allow the employees to get a year's "hard money" and go home happily for the New Year, Zhang Lingzhi immediately put aside other tasks at hand and went all out to prepare relevant materials for judicial procedures.
Through in-depth understanding, the lawyer found that there were slight differences in the wage arrears of 12 employees such as Wu.
After many discussions, corresponding solutions were worked out according to the different situations of the employees.
The facts are clear, the evidence is solid, and the amount of wages can be confirmed for the wages of 50,000 yuan owed to 8 employees such as Yuan.
The trade union of Zhenglu Street, Tianning District, contacted relevant government departments and, through administrative supervision, ordered the logistics company to pay the wages of eight employees including Yuan, in the form of a notice of "ordering rectification".
However, because Wu Moumou and other four people belong to the middle management of the company, their working hours and locations are not fixed, and the amount of wages in arrears is difficult to determine. For this reason, the lawyer helped them apply for labor dispute arbitration.
The District Federation of Trade Unions coordinated with the District Labor and Personnel Arbitration Commission and the District People’s Court to initiate a rapid case handling mechanism.
On January 6, 2020, the Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Committee of Tianning District made a decision not to accept it.
On January 8, 2020, accompanied by lawyers, Wu Moumou and other 4 people went to the Tianning District People’s Court of Changzhou City to file a lawsuit and learned from the court staff that the company was involved in multiple cases of loan, mortgage and contract disputes. There is indeed a situation of insolvency.
Under this status quo, there is little hope of retrieving wages.
After learning of this situation, Zhang Lingzhi once again went to the company and its related parties, acquirers, etc., to learn more about the company's specific economic conditions and capital transactions.
Finally, I learned that Fu, the legal representative of the logistics company, still has a set of real estate under the name of someone.
In order to urge Fu to come forward to resolve the dispute as soon as possible, the lawyer added Fu, the legal representative of the company, as the co-defendant, and applied to the court to seal up the house under the name of a certain Fu.
After Fu Moumou learned that the house under his name was sealed up, he took the initiative to contact a lawyer.
Zhang Lingzhi seized the opportunity to explain the legal principles and suggested that he actively cooperate in handling the case.
Finally, Fu Moumou accepted Lawyer Zhang’s suggestion, not only to take the initiative to resolve the dispute, but also voluntarily assume joint and several liability for the wages in arrears.
On April 28, 2020, Wu and the company and Fu reached an agreement through mediation. The People's Court of Tianning District issued a "Civil Mediation Document" in accordance with the law. After the mediation document became effective, the enforcement process would begin immediately.
How to get employees to get money as soon as possible
In October 2020, the real estate under Fu's name was auctioned off judicially, but the court held that the logistics company did not enter the bankruptcy process, so the employee wages are not a priority payment item and should be distributed proportionally like other ordinary claims.
To this end, the labor union legal aid lawyers came forward to coordinate with other creditors, seeking their maximum concessions, as far as possible to increase the proportion of the implementation of the distribution of employees' wages, so that employees' wages should be paid first.
In the end, other creditors were successfully persuaded to get Wu Moumou and other four people to get the 70,000 yuan salary that was owed, and the case was successfully resolved.
The person in charge of the legal work department of the Jiangsu Federation of Trade Unions believes that the plot of this salary-seeking case is tortuous. When the company is insolvent and fails to enter the bankruptcy process, the legal aid lawyers of the labor union changed their minds in time, added the legal representative of the company as the defendant, and explained to him The legal principle is clear, the case is made to cooperate voluntarily, agree to assume joint and several responsibility for the wages of the employees, auction the real estate under the name, and coordinate with the relevant creditors, thereby giving priority to protecting the rights and interests of the workers. Therefore, the case has a certain representativeness and reference significance.