Short-lived company directors face employees’ ire over unpaid salaries

A marketing company inaugurated with pomp in May 2010 only lived for one year, as court marshals cleared the premises and evicted all operations after creditors sought back furniture, computers and other equipment which was never paid for.

Some 30 employees are now demanding payment for their services, many of whom are owed thousands of euros.

Donald Micallef, 30, of St Paul's Bay and his 29-year-old partner Celine Bentley, who acted as managing director and chief executive respectively of Market Handle Limited, faced a Magistrate yesterday to answer to charges levelled against them by the Labour Office.

Micallef however does not appear as a shareholder or director of the company according to MFSA records, and the sole director, shareholder, judicial representative and company secretary appears to be Celine Bentley.

Notwithstanding the official records, Micallef and Bentley spent a whole morning in Magistrate Audrey Demicoli's courtroom as former employees filed past them insisting that they were owed salaries, bonuses and leave payments from the couple.

Micallef was the signatory on the employees work contracts, where some were even granted a €1,000 per-week pay.

Each case was heard individually as Labour Office prosecutors explained that although tedious, it was technically the best way to ensure a better prosecution against the accused, whose cases are piling day after day.

Apart from not paying employees, Micallef and Bentley also face separate charges over unpaid social security and stamp duty contributions on behalf of their employees, while also facing investigations by the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) for failing to register their employees.

New cases are reportedly being filed against Micallef and Bentley even from foreigners who claim to have left their jobs in Britain to take up employment with Market Handle after responding to job vacancy advertisements.

Market Handle Ltd was officially inaugurated by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech on 25 May, 2010. Fenech lauded Donald Micallef for his touted investment of €500,000. The inauguration was given prominence in local media, then as Micallef had boasted a start-up operation with 50 employees and was expected to increase his
resources to 100 over the months.

Employees said they resigned after receiving no pay cheques, others when they found court marshals
affixing eviction notices to their Msida offices, and others still when marshals returned to take away everything, including the chairs they were actually sitting on.

Micallef reportedly had kept contact with his staff through occasional meetings in a Ta' Xbiex coffee shop, but despite assurances that things were going to get better, employees started to ditch the firm and demand payment for the services they had rendered to the company.

Most employees are in the process of opening civil cases to secure payment from their former employer, while also demanding compensation for loss of opportunities elsewhere.

According to court records, Micallef has been handed a series of garnishee orders and seizure orders from Interbrands Limited, Anthony Formosa, Go Plc, Marvin Zammit, Chef Choice Limited and Peter Cawthorne.

Market Handle alone has seizure orders and guarnishee orders handed down against them by the courts on behalf of Go Plc, Web Consulta Ltd, Vodafone Malta Ltd, Omni Stat Ltd, Klikk Ltd, BE Communications Ltd and Network Publications.

The cases continue.