Closing a business

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maggiemay1952

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We have two business's and are in our 70s. My husband built them up when he was working full time and both made a good living, however he only works a half day per week now to deal with his long time customers, I had my own job until I retired . For the past few years it's been impossible to get new staff and the ones who are with him longest are all part time all but one. One of the business's only opens for three days a week now as it was more expensive to open a full week and staff don't want to work a full week anyway. The staff we have don't seem to want to work much anymore...they come in late and leave when they want withe the result that business is bearly ticking over. My husband is making himself sick with stress and worry and we cannot see a way to close up without having to pay redundancy. The full time worker has always said he would take over the lease of the shop he works in if we ever wanted to give up so that would probably leave us not having to pay his redundancy if he agreed. That leaves the staff in the other business and even if someone bought the lease of that premises it wouldn't be enough for us to live on and pay everyone off. Can anyone give us an idea of where we stand.
We would be grateful for any advice!
 
If you decide to close the business, the employees are entitled to redundancy from you at statutory rates.

If you don’t have the means to pay them, you (and they) can apply to the state’s Redundancy Payment Scheme but you would need to provide evidence of your inability to pay.

If someone else takes over the business as a going concern and the staff were retained, you would avoid a redundancy situation but this may raise other issues regarding the conditions of any sale/handover agreement.
 
I'd get a hold of the staff behavior first. If they don't conform, give them warnings. If they continue not to conform, give them final warnings. They may then leave of their own volition.

I'd assume the full-time person is a de-facto manager. Have them provide weekly reports along with all staff signing in and signing out daily. If they are on an hourly rate, deduct hours that they are not working.

See if the full time person is interested in buying the business, let then know that you plan to put feelers out in the trade. (Your accountant can do that)

But managing the staff and ensuring they are working for what they are paid to do is the first step
 
peemac said:
If they continue not to conform, give them final warnings.
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The OP would need to be careful in this regard. There’s an incremental process to be observed before you threaten final warnings. The WRC has a code of practice on grievance and disciplinary procedures that should be observed in the absence of a company specific alternative.
 
maggiemay1952 said:
My husband is making himself sick with stress and worry and we cannot see a way to close up without having to pay redundancy.
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This is a real killer.

Good employers who have held onto their staff for years are saddled with a huge redundancy bill. If you have a limited company, you can let it go insolvent and let the state pay it. But if you do not have a limited company, you are personally liable.

You need a good HR advisor to advise you on the options. Have the employees reached retirement age? Can they be required to retire? Probably not if you don't have a retirement age in the employment contract.

If the business is losing money, you can sit down with them and tell them that you need them to start earning their keep. Again, you have to do this with a HR advisor.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
But if you do not have a limited company, you are personally liable.
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If you don’t have the funds, the employees can still be paid through the Redundancy Payment Scheme. The Department of Social Protection is obliged to pursue the employer but is able to accept repayment in instalments.

Redundancy Payment Scheme

The Redundancy Payment Scheme makes statutory redundancy payments from the Social Insurance Fund to an employee where an employer is unable to make a statutory redundancy payment.
www.gov.ie www.gov.ie

This might be preferable to trying, in your 70s turn a business around an underperforming business.
 
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