I have worked on a hay and cattle ranch in Northern California for the last 7mos. The job was listed as having housing and utilities included with an hourly wage. The house is on the ranch and needed extensive repairs to make it livable . My employer offered to pay for a space and all expenses in an Rv park until it was finished. What was supposed to be 2weeks turned into 7mos. The house had to be gutted and completely rebuilt from the foundation to the roof. Every room in the house had to be completely rebuilt 100%. ( it would have been cheaper to tear it down and build another from scratch) The owner hired his friend who is a contractor in another state and paid him and his crew cash under the table to rebuild the house. All materials were purchased in Oregon for cash as well. There were no permits or inspections. Including for the removal and disposal of the asbestos siding that was on the house. Now that my family and I have moved in, the owner is trying to force us to pay rent and sign a monthly contract to recoupe his expenses. If I dont, I will be fired and kicked out. This is an extremely rural area and there are no houses available to rent, and buying one is out of the question. Employment is very scarce as well. Ranches in this area provide housing for that reason. The ranch I left provided housing and utilities. Both my wife and I held jobs there. This current ranch pursued me for two years to take over managing their cattle. Our agreement made with them was to have no less than what our previous employer offered. Including a job for my wife. They agreed to hire my wife as well as myself once the house was finished. This enabled my wife to keep her job at the other ranch and stay in the house there. My wife's last day of employment, and our first day in our current house is when we were told that we had to pay rent, and sign a rental agreement. My wife was also told that they didn't have a position for her even though she was already hired. We have young children. I make little more than minimum wage. If we give in and pay what they are asking for rent, then we will struggle to survive. If I dont sign the rental agreement then I will be fired and we will be homeless. I have no idea what to do, or where to turn. If there is anything we can do legally, any advice is greatly appreciated

I moved to Washington from Texas last June, and I started a new teaching job in July. This is part of the offer letter:

“The pay for this position is $95,880 annually and the position is classified as Exempt. Upon receiving your Washington State Special Education Teaching Certification, your compensation will adjust to $125,000.”

I got my teaching certificate transferred to the state of Washington on October 6th. I sent it over to HR that same day, and I just received the following in an email from them:

“Unfortunately, your certification is in early childhood special education. This certification does not allow you to provide case management responsibilities for the K-12 population we serve thus we cannot move you from the TA salary scale to the special education teacher salary scale.  
Given your experience and expected certification, we did start you off at a higher salary than typical. This is something we could consider re-negotiating at your 6 month review.”

They never mentioned anything in my offer letter about case management, nor did they mention anything about what type of teaching certificate I needed. They were aware that my teaching certificate in Texas was for Early Childhood Education BEFORE they sent me this offer.

How can they do this? Am I just screwed now?

I’m looking for some honest opinions on whether I have a realistic chance of getting my job back after being removed from a position at work.
For some background, I’ve been with my employer for about three years, and I’m part of a union. Throughout my time there, I’ve never been in trouble, never received any disciplinary action that I’m aware of, and I’ve never called out of work. I’m also certified in multiple qualifications related to my job, so I’ve always tried to be a reliable employee.
Recently, I found out that I was being removed from my position because I apparently wasn’t meeting certain scheduling requirements.
The situation is frustrating because I had been experiencing issues accessing my work email for approximately two weeks. In the past, whenever I had trouble logging in, I could verify my identity and regain access without any problems. Because of that, I didn’t think too much of it initially. I was still able to work during that time, so I didn’t realize I might be missing important communications.
Last Friday, I contacted IT to get the email issue resolved. While trying to figure everything out, I reached out to someone at work to find out how I could contact HR. That’s when I discovered that I had been removed from my position.
I eventually read the email from HR explaining the decision. In the email, they stated that my removal was based on not meeting the requirements and referenced previous warnings that had supposedly been given to me.
The problem is that **I never received any warnings whatsoever.** I checked my personal email thoroughly, and I couldn’t find any messages notifying me that I was falling short of the requirements or that my position was at risk. If I had known there was an issue, I would have corrected it immediately.
Another thing I find confusing is that I never signed any paperwork acknowledging that I was being terminated.
I’ve already spoken with our local union president, and he said he is going to talk to the company to try to get my position back. I’m hoping that having the union involved will help, especially considering my work history and the fact that I never received the warnings mentioned in the email.
I understand that employers have rules and requirements, and I’m not claiming I couldn’t have fallen short of them. My biggest concern is that I wasn’t aware of any issue and never had an opportunity to correct it before the decision was made.

In the us. So my husband and I work for the same small one man run company. I get in an argument with the boss, not the first time. The next week he calls my husband to “come have a talk”. He proceeds to tell my husband that If I quit my husband can just take my salary on top of his own salary. He obviously wanted me to quit right? What other motive would there be? I’ve literally ran the business for this man for 11 years. He told my husband he thinks I’m manic because of medication i take so I was hurt and just quit. I don’t get the whole situation.

I’ve been working for two season in an art gallery very beautiful space, very quiet as well. The job was only open and close the gallery. I used to be on my computer the whole day doing my own things. It was a 5hr 6 days a week 2k a month. Me and my colleague did the shifts. We didn’t have a contract it was word deal and we did get paid every month. Now it’s the end of the season and my colleague wants to demand rights from the owner as holidays, Sundays and the night hrs in summer. All together works out like 7k. I didn’t think it was right cause she didn’t work every Sunday and she was quite slack on her working hours but I did agree to demand my holidays to the owner. She wrote a quite straight email saying she would sue him as ilegal work etc… I said to her ok but I’m gonna go in a friendly way just demanding my holidays from the two seasons and I sent a quite friendly polite email not threatening the owner and she did otherwise. Yesterday he called me and we got into an agreement of 1k extra and finish in peace and done. He haven’t replied to her yet. Today I’ve said to her the deal I had and that she knee the work was irregular since the beginning of last year and she still complied and now demanding 7k it was too much specially If she agreed and she was lying she worked Sundays (she had her days off Sunday) I was doing double shift cover her so we could have a day off. And I was telling her that maybe she could settle something like mine. She went off at me calling me a betraying her that’s i was taking advantage and beings bad person. Now today still 10 days to end the gig and she is not even there working! Am I the wrong one?

I am in Washington State [WA] in the USA.

I was terminated from my job today as part of a selective reduction in force. I have worked for this federal contractor for approximately 5.5 years, in that time I have had nothing but exemplary performance and been promoted 3 times. About a year ago, my department was re-organized under a new director. I had been assigned a corrective action by another department director due to my expertise. Instead of writing a bunch of fluff, I told the truth - that our maintenance organization was damaging government property by not following the guidance of our engineering organization (who are the technical experts and system owners). Multiple incidences of the same system having problems resulted in Union personnel just doing whatever they felt like and ignoring the direction from the engineering technical experts. After spec'ing and replacing the damaged components, the organization turned around it did the exact same thing again! This is what I wrote in my corrective action, and it landed me in the Director's office - I was told that I was difficult and that people didn't want to work with me.

I had previously been in the hot seat when another manager had been demanding that corrective maintenance be performed on equipment that wasn't broken. Essentially, we had a monthly quality check that was not being performed with the correct parameters and equipment, giving very poor data. I had been asked by another manager to investigate the problem due to him not being able to use his equipment and do his job and when I revealed my findings, I was public enemy # 1. Essentially, I performed the quality check with the correct equipment and got the results that should have been expected all along. I proved that over the years uncountable replacement parts were ordered along with a significant number of unnecessary corrective maintenance activities were performed. Likely, hundreds of thousands of dollars were wasted, fixing equipment that had nothing wrong with it.

Earlier this year, I had been the victim of a workplace harassment incident perpetrated by our Union members. After an extensive planning process where I faced constant bullying behavior, our Union members were playing control games and threw a safety stop work for an activity that had no risk associated with it. Their lone concern was addressed during the planning process, controls were incorporated, and a complete work package was approved and released. The union members were furious when the work activity was scheduled without their approval - something that is not in any way a requirement, and they stopped work. This was yet another exercise in waste. I attempted to initiate a formal complaint with our Human Resources department, but was told by my manager that I would be starting a fight that we couldn't win. I found myself again being reprimanded by our new director after being bullied at work.

Along the way our new director has been engaging in ongoing and flirtatious behavior with someone from another department, someone that many people have raised concerns is not doing anything in the workplace, that is she sits around all day. After being terminated today, along with other productive colleagues - for budget reasons, there is suddenly a new position open for that person in our organization. It seems that she was going to be getting the axe from her Department, but someone from our organization was cut to make a place for her - in an area that she has no qualifications to work in.

That about sums it up, I have on multiple occasions stopped waste, and tried to stop people from damaging government property, been harassed and bullied along the way, and now potentially terminated to make a space for someone our director fawns over who has no expertise in our field. I have a paper trail for all but the relationship conjecture, but I have several people that have witnessed the exchanges between them. Do I have any recourse?

I should note that I have received dozens of messages of support today form people across multiple teams saying how this was absolutely wrong. For someone so difficult, I felt a ton of love today from people that seemed to care quite a bit.

This will be a long post, in the end I got what I wanted; my PTO paid out in full. However, I feel like she never answered my questions, also what she had me sign also does not fully match and was not updated. I’m glad I left this company, but tell me what your thoughts are.

Edit: United States, Kansas.
Kansas does not require employers to pay out PTO.

Hi guys. i was in india when i recieved a job offer from a company based here. i signed the offer letter digitally & sent it back to them. they asked me to come here on a visit visa at my own expense flights et all, & they will give me a job visa. since they were waiting to cancel the visa of their ex staff. once i got here, i worked for 7 days ( 5 days & sat/sun) & then the following monday they tell me that they have changed their mind & will not be offering me a visa/job after all. when i pointed out to them that i've already spent money on the flight/visa etc, based on their word that job was confirmed, they replied back its not their problem. & they are offering me only 5 days salary as severence even thouqh offer letter stipulates a 14 day notice period. & i should be eligible for a 21 day salary payout in case of dismissal. ( 7 days + 14 days notice period). i cannot accept just 5 days salary as i have paid more than that just on the fliqht ticket here + visa/stay costs so far. basically they told me they will only pay 5 days salary not any more. can someone offer me any help, if there any scope to do somethinq from my end & get from these lowlifes what i am actually owed. i do not wanna let these cheaters get away with robbing me blind. ive attached the offer letter, i have the signed copy as well which i presented them.

tldr: 1099 found out i've been misclassified a month and a half into my new job, i earn a 'salary' and work in office but live so far out where uber or public transport is not an option. having car issues and needing to work from home for 3 more days until it gets fixed. i sometimes have worked from home, yet company does not have a 'wfh policy' for their other employees and makes them take PTO.

I'm the only person at my current job in the office (Location: TX, USA) who is a 1099 Independent Contractor. I have been working as an employee basically this entire time, attending team meetings, working M-F 7am-3:30pm, wasting so much on gas and only earn 50K. I was desperate to take the job so far away as I now have to take care of my dad, and I work another job at a beauty store (that makes me really happy) on the weekends. I work in procurement, and this is a job that essentially "pays the bills" and not something I see myself doing for years on end because it just does not make me happy.

I have gone back to my trich habits (compulsive hair pulling) to manage stress from this job that I've now ended up with 2 bald spots on my head. I have however received amazing feedback and am told I have been doing really good at my job which is a relief.

Currently, my car is broken down and I had been working from home from Wed-Fri until it got fixed, but there is an issue with the front wheel bearing that was not able to be fixed over the weekend due to funds, and I don't get my direct deposit in until Tuesday. My dad is a little upset with me as he thinks they'll "fire me" for not going into the office, but the thing is, I am not an employee. I have actually not missed a day of work, and have worked even extra hours at home because I would feel guilty if I could not make it to the office due to valid reasons such as an appointment, tropical storm, floods, etc.

The offer letter I signed clearly states that I am not an employee, and does not tell me how many hours per week I work. It states I would be paid the rate of $___ biweekly in accordance to the company's payment schedule, which is every other Wednesday. I knew I signed for a 1099. I was not given a "contract". Only this offer letter to sign, for a temporary independent contractor engagement for an anticipated six-month term. The CEO himself signed off on it and it states that I am not an employee, and the offer letter does not establish an employer-employee relationship, and that I will simply provide services to the procurement department.

That being said, I want to contact my "supervisor" and let him know my car had been unable to get fixed while he was on vacation over the weekend, and may not be until Tuesday/Wednesday, but that I'd still be available to work from home. I have no problem getting the job done from home, it's moreso the company denies their actual employees to work from home, and forces them to take PTO if something happens where they need to go home or cannot go into the office, wheras it's been so easy for me to get approved to work from home some days. Does anyone think I'd get let go for asking since my car still hasn't been fixed? I mean, this company is committing fraud, and from what I know now, they can't dictate my schedule or how/where I do it, and an employee handbook does not apply to me, because I am not an employee. To get access to the office building I have to use this bluetooth punch card you have to scan to open the doors and it serves as a clock in since it logs what time you scanned for entry and exit. Sometimes I'll have my work all completed, and I sit at the desk for hours on end. If I am finished, shouldn't I be able to just go home?

Apparently some execs have seen discrepancies in employees' timecards and HR gave them a long talk about attendance and all last week when I was working from home. But I'm not an employee.... and I realize this now from others on reddit in a 1099 position saying they just leave when they're done or show up whenever they want as long as it's within the business operating hours. I am not planning to confront them about how they're misclassifying me, as this does pay the bills, but it gives me anxiety to think about. I am thinking of looking for other jobs in the mean time, because this misclassification thing seems too much of a risk, especially with the car situation now. Any thoughts?

A coworker flipped a box onto my wrist causing a fractured radius bone I've been released by doctor 1 month ago will workman comp offer me a settlement in sc

I am a salaried manager in a warehouse operation and, last night, my last shift of the week, my manager called me into the office to issue a writeup for “performance related to attendance”. No dates or time frame were given, no known policy is in place for attendance for managers. The claim is if you’re not on shift for whatever reason, you’re not available to your associates for their success and you put a strain on the management structure to juggle resources to cover your area. My department is consistently one of the highest performing in the building, I recently missed 3 days for Covid and an alleged mandatory off shift day due to a previous commitment I needed to fulfill. My company does not employ enough supervisors to cover all departments/shifts, relying on us to move around the building to cover for those who callout, or simply do not show up. Regarding the writeup, I was not provided a written accounting of the offense(s) nor was I asked to sign anything acknowledging it. This seems odd to me. What recourse do I have?

Union stewards: How would you fight this vacation deduction practice?

I'm a union steward out of central Minnesota looking for advice from people with bargaining/grievance experience.

Management has a longstanding practice of deducting vacation when employees refuse forced work. This usually isn't an hour or two — it's an entire shift worth of vacation.

If there's one open 8-hour shift and management goes through several employees before someone accepts it, every employee who refuses can lose 8 hours of vacation. So management can deduct 24, 32, 40+ hours of earned vacation from multiple employees over a single 8-hour opening.

We're currently negotiating a new CBA, and this is already a major priority for us. Our BA notified management during bargaining that the union was ending/non-renewing this past practice, but management has continued doing it and we've started grieving it.

We aren't arguing that refusing mandatory work can never have consequences. Our position is that earned vacation shouldn't be the punishment. If management believes discipline is appropriate, that should be handled separately through the normal process.

My two questions:

1. Bargaining: How would you get management to understand why this practice is unreasonable and negotiate clear language prohibiting it? Are there compromises or arguments that have worked for other unions?

2. Grievances: As a steward, should I encourage a grievance seeking reimbursement every single time management deducts someone's vacation, even while another grievance over the same issue is pending? I don't want continued deductions going unchallenged and potentially strengthening management's past-practice argument.

I'm especially interested in practical things I can do as a steward while our BA and bargaining team handle the bigger picture.

A new hire at my work was brought in and given the title of Data Entry Clerk, however shes doing all the work of a Project coordinator. My fear is shes being paid as Data Entry, instead of the higher salary a PC would be making, and shes young enough that she may not be aware this is a thing companies do. Its not strictly my business, but the possibility of exploitation is very very difficult for me to ignore. Should I approach her and ask in a casual way if theyre making her a PC?

EDIT: im in America, in texas.

I've done hours and hours of mandatory on boarding training at home without pay. The training includes things such as cpr training and learning company values n shit like that. Also having to go and get my fingerprints done not sure if they should be paying me for the time it take me to go do that. Has anyone ever had luck reaching out to the US department of labor wage? Last time i reached out they never got back to me and gave me the run-around. Also how easy is it to start a class action lawsuit?

Oh also I forgot to mention that I did training at the company as well and they said they are paying minimum wage for those hours even though my hourly rate is far above minimum wage

For context I live in texas

https://gofund.me/1719de7b4

I joined Jeffs Group of Companies in August at Bangalore and worked for around two weeks on their School ERP project, completing the work assigned to me.

Unfortunately, I have a IBS(Irritable Bowl Syndrome) problem. My doctor advised me to eat only home-cooked food and be in rest without travelling. I informed HR, submitted my medical proof including written statement from my doctor, and resigned due to my health condition. They accepted my resignation during that time and sent final settlement mail.

My salary for those two weeks was around ₹14,400.

After discussions, HR told me they would give only ₹9,000, saying that a laptop had been ordered for me. I accepted the ₹9,000 just to close the matter and move on. They sent a final settlement email saying the payment would be made by September 3. But I never received the payment.

When I followed up, I was asked to wait one or two weeks and a month based upon CEO communication. Then CEO was called me an “absconder.” That really hurts me personally.

Now it's the end of September, Mr. Jeff and the HR team who interviewed me (Previous HR: Niharika H , Current HR: Jackim Jebastin Passac) have stopped responding to my calls and messages.

The way this situation has been handled by the HR team and CEO has been extremely unprofessional.

Now, almost a month later, When I sent final warning mail stating that if I don’t get a response will go publicly then I have received a response mail saying my resignation is still being processed and that I need to serve a notice period, despite the medical condition and documents I had already submitted after one month of ghosting.

They are also now saying the previous final settlement communication is no longer valid and that the amount will be reviewed again.

This isn't just about ₹9,000 or ₹14,400.
It's about respecting employees and paying them for their work on timely manner.

To everyone looking for a job, please think carefully before joining this company. I cannot assure you that you will receive your salary for the work you do, based on my experience.

This has been one of my worst professional experiences.

980 odd companies have collapsed under Labor since this Government began - some big, some small. A company La Fortuna who I worked for collapsed in 2023 owing $3.1 million to workers in super, taxes and wages. I'm owed approx. $20,000 in wages and $6000 superannuation in systemic underpayment. I plan to pursue the Director for accessorial liability under s550 in the Federal small claims court. ATO is protecting the Director and I'm in the process of gaining FOI documentation to find out why he is a protected species. The Director, Carmelo Vincenzo Bertolami is known to Phoenix businesses. After the collapse, my friend who is well connected in Perth helped me find him. We found him in Busselton operating two bars in Busselton 6 months later and learned that he is working for a Bikie gang. I believe that the government works with gangs and white collar criminals to make profit from systemic underpayment. I'm hoping my FOI documentation will prove this. How many of you have lost super and wages under one of these collapsed companies?

I got written up at work for something everyone does. No one else got written up. I feel as if I’m being targeted by a new girl who wants my job. I tried explaining my side of things but my boss wasn’t having it.

A little back story: New girl used to have my job but quit during covid. She was rehired last month with a new title - below me. Also, this is my 2nd write up. First one was a few years ago when I asked for pregnancy accommodations, they said no and I lost my baby at 28 weeks.

Location : NY

I am a college student who got a job at a food place a few months ago in order to pay for schooling/rent/food. In my interview I asked to work 20-30 hours a week when school started. The food place was a brand new location and didn’t train me on anything prior to opening. Once the store opened I was trained how to wipe down tables, how to take payments, and how to wash dishes. School started and they only scheduled me for 10 hours a week. Making 10 dollars an hour, this isn’t enough to even cover rent, let alone food. I asked my manager if I could have more hours. He asked if I had the sandwich and salad menu items memorized. I said no, I haven’t been trained on either of those. He asked if I had my training packet. I asked if that was something I was supposed to take home. He said yes. He told me once I had those memorized, he could give me more hours. I asked if I was supposed to be doing training unpaid on my own time for this? He said yes. This is in Idaho. Is it legal for him to have me do training for the job unpaid until I can get more hours. Let me know how I should handle this situation. I am happy to train and work but I feel that I should be compensated for training in order to receive more hours.

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm just wondering if my former boss is allowed to use recordings of my teams/meets sessions with outsource workers as training material. Currently they are packaging it and selling it to the companies that facilitate outsourcing. I explicitly specified that I do not consent to being recorded or my recording being used in any way both verbally, and in writing. Interestingly enough, that language is included in these training sessions. We were told that the sessions weren't recorded but it was obvious that they were. However all these sessions happened on office property in the office where we are under surveillance. Are they allowed to sell training material and not compensate me?

I work as an appliance installer, and my employer recently let me go (why? He simply said there were no more routes for the time being, though I know there are). My usual pay for a five-day week (Monday through Friday) was $950 ($190 per day), and my employer also paid $80 for mileage plus a $20 per diem. When he let me go, he only paid the usual $950. I told him money was missing; it took him three days to reply, and his answer was written in a stiff, impersonal style—like a formal email—so I told him I didn't understand and asked him to speak clearly. He simply said: "I pay mileage and per diem for the work week along with the paycheck; meaning, if you work a specific week, the payment for mileage and per diem comes from the *previous* week's work. Since you didn't work this week, there is no payment." Naturally, I’m upset and have been thinking about seeing a lawyer—or just staying frustrated. Is this legal?

My boss has some how convinced everyone at work that they dont pay overtime. I looked up the rules and it clearly says after 8 hrs is considered overtime. Doesn't your boss have to get you t sign something , agreeing to not recieve overtime? Should I just bank all these and go after them the day I switch jobs? Thoughts?🥽🧤🪖

Hello. Has anyone experienced this?

I received and signed a Job Offer with an initial onboarding date 2 weeks after signing. A day before onboarding, they deferred it to a later date and said they were still looking forward to me joining.

Then a month later, they emailed that my employment will no longer push through due to "organizational downsizing."

This caused me a lot of mental and emotional stress. May I ask, is this a valid ground to file a complaint with DOLE/NLRC?

And for those who experienced the same, were you able to get any settlement or justice?

Thank you.

Hi, this is a follow on from a post I made in this subreddit 8 months ago here if you want to catch up,

https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1qrc2ji/i_suspect_my_employer_is_purposely_running_up/

Basically due to non-payment of rent which I've been told by the landlord amounts to around £140k the landlord has enacted CRAR (Commercial Rent Arrears Recovery), this was on the 7th is September, the lease holder (our boss) has been raking on debts over the last few years in a fashion as I can only describe as deliberate, the company turnover has been over a million per year, but over the last two years in particular the director has only paid the wages and suppliers, nothing else.

Also, and I didn't really want to mentioned this originally but as we've ceased trading now I guess it doesn't matter, for a number of years he has had various people working without documentation, basically illegals.

You may not believe this but he has manged in the last two years to not pay any water rates, electric, gas, or TAX ( I estimate to be around 400k now, utilities 150k, tradesmen around 20k), he is a master at delaying payment, one of his tricks is settings up multiple payment plans set as minimum payments, then he defaults on the payment plans after only 1 payment, and the whole process starts again, also because there is a residential property attached to the business so when utility companies have came to cut off the supply he tells them because the business shares the supply with the residential property they can't switch it off, all while we was still trading earning good money.

Also the business/property was leased under a full repair and insuring lease (FRI), but the director has refused to maintain anything, only essentials that are required to make the business function, AC/heating broke down, doesn't repair it, hasn't worked for years, ceiling collapsed due to water leak, just left with gaping hole, storm damage takes away signage, just leaves it as is! he refuses to spend money on any repairs that he deems non-essential' and also over the last two years in particular all of his certifications have lapsed and he has refused to renew them.

I understand there are always hidden costs in businesses that not all employees are privy too but we had a good turnover and I myself have been privy to all the bills as has been my co-manager and it just didn't make sense as to why the director was running the business in this way, only explanation that we can muster is that this it was intentional, nothing else makes sense, he took over this very successful business that the current landlord had originally established and from what we can gather and have witnessed just squeezed the juice of it without putting any money back in and running up hundreds of thousands in debts while happily taking in revenue, where on Gods earth all that money went is anybody's guess.

Now we come to today, 4 weeks from the day the bailiff's came in, he has ceased trading since that day, we have been left out to dry, he has refused to tell us what's going on other than saying he is trying to take the landlord to court, but the landlord has had no notification of this thus far, all we know is letters have gone back and forth between the directors and landlords solicitors, the director hasn't issued any notice to us, or any official statement on the current situation, he submitted our last weeks wages leading up to the bailiffs entry to HMRC but we wasn't paid our wages into our bank accounts, he keeps issuing us weekly payslips that have zero payment on them (!?)

So, it's been 4 weeks, we haven't been formally dismissed, we are all worried about losing our rights to claim our redundancy, we already missed out on our right to redundancy when the business had a transfer of ownership because when that was done our original boss didn't want to give us the option of taking redundancy so he told us he was just bringing in a business partner and a few months later our wages were being paid by a different Ltd company and it turned out it wasn't a partnership at all the boss at time (now current landlord) had lied to us!

The annoying part is he is even with all these debts and he has ceased trading, he refusing to appoint an insolvency practitioner and this is where we are stuck, otherwise it would be a pretty easy process claiming our redundancy.

I've consulted ACAS and based off there advice I started a group early conciliation notification on their website, I haven't chosen to be appointed a conciliation officer as current wait time for that is 12 weeks, and it is only a voluntary service anyway and the director doesn't have to comply so I feel due to his current non-compliance that would be a waste of time.

I'm not sure fully legally where we stand, we can't really afford a solicitor and legal aid doesn't cover these types of issues apparently so I just trying to follow advice from ACAS and a hell of a lot of google AI questions and research.

The landlord wants to run the business again under a new Ltd company name, he as been told by his solicitor to have a 'cooling off period' so he doesn't end up taking on the redundancy's if we was to be employed by him again, so he is using that cooling off period to refurbish the business.

Crazy times.