With the current problems in the economy many businesses are being forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid complete financial disaster. As a result, many employees are finding themselves entangled with the bankruptcy court as creditors and claimants.
Oftentimes, businesses that are filing bankruptcy have already missed one or more payrolls leaving many former and current workers in the red. After filing bankruptcy, the business will list employee(s) as creditors and the bankruptcy court will send out a notice, along with a claim form to those listed. Even if an employee is receiving their pay on time, they may still receive a notice because their benefits or pension may be modified during the Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
What you need to do:
Read any notices you receive from the bankruptcy court carefully. The notice will list your name and how much money is owed to you. Is that amount listed correctly? If not, or if the amount is listed as “undetermined” you may need to fill out a claim form and send it to the bankruptcy court.
Sounds easy enough; but unfortunately, claim forms are often incorrectly filled out causing serious delays or complete dismal of the claim. To avoid unnecessary problems in receiving payment from a bankrupt employer, you may want to speak with a bankruptcy attorney about correctly filling out your claim.