Employer not Communicating

[ProbablyAnotherNCFail]

DP's workplace (part of a multinational) has 'temporarily closed' due to some sort of investigation of a small number of employees. The first DP knew of it was when he turned up to work and was told it was shutting down briefly and nobody is to communicate with colleagues under any circumstances.

Since then (June) he has heard nothing other than a no reply email saying 'we'll let you know' and all other means of contacting them (email, staff intranet, phone) has been strictly prohibited.

He has no idea if he's being paid, no way of viewing payslips, no way of putting somebody down for a reference to apply for other jobs, no way of applying for JSA as he can't prove he is either out of work or not or that if he is, that it's not a dismissal.

He tends to bury his head in the sand about anything and everything, but surely it's not an appropriate or legal way in which to operate, as it prevents staff from doing anything to gain alternative employment at a time when there is absolutely no way of knowing if or what he may or may not be paid at the end of each month?

My thoughts were to contact ACAS (but I'm considerably more belligerent than he is I fucking have to be with Mr Oh, I Don't Want To Get Into Trouble here ) - but perhaps there is a legal requirement to keep employees informed or something else that could be done?

Help!

My first thought was that he's been sacked and is now trying to hide it from you. There is no way a major company would act like this...not a chance.

Why don't you drive by his work and see if it's open?

It would be normal for someone involved in (or under) investigation to be told not to contact anyone else involved in it. That's the only bit of this that rings true tbh. You've not got the whole story here OP IMO.

This is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard! Really hope you get to the bottom of it & that your dp gets paid.

Apologies for the delay - life got in the way and I had to get the NC working again.

I've seen the email now. The entire office, including the office manager, has been suspended pending completion of investigations. God knows what's been going on.

The only reference to pay is that they'd be paid for what they had already been on a rota for, no mention of past that point (ie, this month). And not to contact anybody under any circumstances.

ACAS (I listened to his call) told him that there's no legal issue until/if he doesn't get paid at the end of this month.

I was very much thinking along the lines of him walking out/getting fired and not wanting to admit it to me, hence my wanting to check here if there was anything else that could or should be done. I did also do my usual thing of questioning everything and went to the office - it is absolutely closed.

It certainly doesn't help us plan or for him to apply for other jobs in the meantime, but apparently they're allowed to leave people hanging without any information or means of contact. I suppose this makes sense if it's potentially a criminal matter, but that's with my workplace head on, rather than my 'what the fuck is going on/how can they completely ghost you/the law can't work like that/there's a problem, which means there is something to be done to sort it' perennial Survivor of Shit attitude.

There is no way he'd be involved in anything dodgy, he just isn't criminally minded unlike me who had about five different illegal and extremely lucrative things that his specific office and sector could do and how to do them pop into my head within seconds there's no way he could physically, never mind mentally, cope with the stress of doing something 'wrong' or illegal. He didn't keep it from me at all, he told me the instant it happened. So, despite being an inherently suspicious person, I do think he's been caught in the crossfire of somebody else doing something dodgy.

Just got to wait until the end of the month and see if there's any salary not enough coming in or if they deign to keep the rank and file updated, I guess.

Thank you - if there are any developments, I'll update.

When would he normally be paid, last day of month?

They've said they'll pay them as usual this month OP, see what happens after that. Clearly you don't trust him if you are listening in to his calls.

The entire building closed? Or just his floor / department?

He was paid at the end of last month as that was what they were referring to in the email, don't know about this one (last working day).

I don't trust anybody where it comes to personal survival. Which includes him because he does tend to act as though things aren't happening until there's some massive clusterfuck that can't be ignored that I then have to resolve in some way - the leveret analogy came about because I know him so well.

I also listened to the call because he tends to avoid making them say 'Oh, OK then' if somebody tells him something to get him off the phone or he forgets to mention something essential and then doesn't get appropriate information. And usually forgets to tell me the outcome because well, he made the call like I said he should.

Yes, he is Autistic - and hypersensitive to any hint of crossness, irritation or questioning, as he interprets all of the above as a direct attack and threat. He's communicated more about this than anything else that has ever happened in ten years. Well, this and the time he dropped a hammer on his foot, although it took three days with a broken toe for him to get around to mentioning that, only happening then because he thought I would probably start asking him questions about why the shelves hadn't been put up on Saturday after all; I wouldn't have asked about the shelves at all, as I'm used to things being delayed indefinitely/right up to the point at which I start doing them, but I would have been interested in knowing exactly why his toe was a mixture of blackest black and royal purple. The bit about an obvious physical injury being of interest to me hadn't occurred to him in the slightest.

The entire office is closed. It's a shared building which is still open, but the bits his company occupied are all shut up. (I talked myself all the way to the office door by charming the Security, who said much the same, they came in one morning to be told x on y floor is temporarily closed with immediate effect).

Argh. Not happy. But there's not much I can do about it, other than have the information to hand in case something goes more tits up than it has already.

I hope they find whoever has done something wrong quickly and get back in touch, rather than this sodding limbo.

Is the company currently the subject of a target bid to take it over? This sounds like a response to alleged mass insider trading

You say he's not cunning enough to do anything illegal, could it be possible his name has been put on something illegal though?
Is he at a level which this would be possible and therefore he sort of is under investigation?

Wow please update when you know what's gone on - this is crazy !

How stressful OP for you both

Have you googled the name of the company?
I think I'd contact colleagues and approach ACAS as a group. The whole thing sounds ridiculous - I've never heard anything like it.
Or you could try your MP. Or a journalist.
If the issue is as big as it seems to be, I'm amazed it's not in the press already. How many employees are we taking about?