Ex-2e2 staffers STILL waiting for wages owed

The frustration for hundreds of 2e2 staffers waiting to discover if they are to be paid wages owed to them continues nearly a year after the Berkshire-based integrator went under in dramatic circumstances.

Some 356 claimants of 2e2 UK Ltd, Oakley Capital Ltd, Daisy Data Centre and Telefonica are holding out for the funds, and got their case heard at Reading tribunal on 18 and 19 December, as expected.

But Jenny Andrews, of Andrews Employment Law Consultants, the legal eagle representing the former 2e2 employees, confirmed to them in a memo seen by The Channel that the result was not yet confirmed.

The memo read:

The judgment has been reserved. This means that our solicitors will have to wait until they receive notification from the tribunal to confirm the outcome of the hearing.

She added that the arbitration may not come until the end of this month.

A clerk at Reading Employment Tribunal told El Chan that in normal circumstances it can take up to 28 days for a judgment to be passed.

"Occasionally they do go on longer if [a case] is more complex," she said.

It was at the end of January last year when the integrator was left with little option but to call in the administrator for its 10 UK subs after channel credit and cash funds ran dry.

The subsequent fallout was dramatic for staff, creditors of 2e2 and for customers, particularly of its data centre services. The latter, famously, were asked to cough wads of extra cash to keep the data centre running.

The business was split up with parts either sold or closed. Daisy Group swooped in and grabbed the two server farms owned by 2e2 UK and Telefonica took on staff working in its joint venture with the integrator. ®