CLPM staff win right to claim back lost wages

Ten ex-employees of CLPM Dot Com, the company formerly known as Alliance PM, have been told that they can claim unpaid money from the government.

At a hearing at Reading Employment Tribunal Office last Friday (20 June), Judge Robin Lewis dismissed claims from the Secretary of State that there was transfer of CLPM Dot Com’s business to other companies around the time it went into administration in May last year.

The Secretary of State, represented by Mr N Marsh, claimed that CLPM Dot Com’s business had transferred at some point in 2007 to either Carters Manage­ment or B1 Colour, both of which are still trading.

The former staff originally worked for Carter Litho in Slough before it was bought out of administration by Alliance PM in October 2006.

If a transfer had been established, the claimants would have had to attempt to reclaim owed wages, holiday pay, redundancy and lieu of notice from the other company.

Judge Lewis said: “I don’t consider sufficient evidence of transference. There is insufficient, if at all, evidence that a transfer took place. This is an unsatisfactory outcome because of an insufficiency of evidence.”

Mr Marsh said the fact that cheques had been paid to staff from an account of Carters Management suggested that the transfer had taken place.

However, Marsh also claimed the case had been held back by a lack of evidence and a lack of cooperation from a factoring company, Indus­trial Corporate Finance, and CLPM Dot Com’s directors, including Myles Bunyard.

CLPM TIMELINE
October 2006 Carter Litho bought out of admin by Alliance PM
April 2007 Changes name to CLPM Dot Com
May 2007 CLPM Dot Com goes into admin
June 2007 Staff told they were made redundant previous month
June 2008 Staff told they can claim money owed from government

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