Asked by the Customer on 20-10-2014 21:30:54
Question posted in the General Law category relating to Western Cape
Question posted in the General Law category relating to Western Cape
Dear Sir,
My Husband(A South African) has been working in ethiopia for the past 2 and a half years. He has a contract. The company he is working for is a German company and he is based in Ethiopia. Our problem is that he has not been paid for the last 10 months and been promised that foreign investors will be investing money soon. This seems like a stalling tacticv. The story runs a lot deeper than this, the company has done a lot more wrong. What would you recommend we do? Can we pursue this legally? And if so how should we go about this?
Hoping to hear from you soon. Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Susan
My Husband(A South African) has been working in ethiopia for the past 2 and a half years. He has a contract. The company he is working for is a German company and he is based in Ethiopia. Our problem is that he has not been paid for the last 10 months and been promised that foreign investors will be investing money soon. This seems like a stalling tacticv. The story runs a lot deeper than this, the company has done a lot more wrong. What would you recommend we do? Can we pursue this legally? And if so how should we go about this?
Hoping to hear from you soon. Thank you.
Kind Regards,
Susan
Message from the Attorney
Posted by Att. Patrick on 22-10-2014 09:24:00
Hi there and thank you for your question,
Essentially your husband has a claim against his employer company for his unpaid salary. In South Africa he could lodge a dispute with the CCMA regarding his unpaid salary, and they would assist him in his claim. The requirements however for the CCMA is that he is employed by a company that has offices in South Africa...
As your husband's claim is against a German company in Ethiopia, he would need to file his claim either in Germany (because that's where the company's offices are) or in Ethiopia (because that is where he is employed). I don't think that it would be feasible to travel to Germany to lodge the claim, and I really don't think that he will have any success in Ethiopia at all.
There is however nothing stopping him from pursuing this claim against the company, the only issue is where he will practically pursue it, and whether it will actually have an effect. i.e. getting his arrear salary.
My advice would be that your husband should soon decide to cut his losses and leave the company. He can't continue without being paid! That is really crazy. At some point in time he will need to draw a line. The problem is that I don't think that he will actually be able to recover anything from the company. It's a major risk and problem!
Does the company have an office in South Africa? If it does, then he could come home and then lodge a claim with the CCMA.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
Essentially your husband has a claim against his employer company for his unpaid salary. In South Africa he could lodge a dispute with the CCMA regarding his unpaid salary, and they would assist him in his claim. The requirements however for the CCMA is that he is employed by a company that has offices in South Africa...
As your husband's claim is against a German company in Ethiopia, he would need to file his claim either in Germany (because that's where the company's offices are) or in Ethiopia (because that is where he is employed). I don't think that it would be feasible to travel to Germany to lodge the claim, and I really don't think that he will have any success in Ethiopia at all.
There is however nothing stopping him from pursuing this claim against the company, the only issue is where he will practically pursue it, and whether it will actually have an effect. i.e. getting his arrear salary.
My advice would be that your husband should soon decide to cut his losses and leave the company. He can't continue without being paid! That is really crazy. At some point in time he will need to draw a line. The problem is that I don't think that he will actually be able to recover anything from the company. It's a major risk and problem!
Does the company have an office in South Africa? If it does, then he could come home and then lodge a claim with the CCMA.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
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