Employees owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages by an Oamaru medical practice that went into liquidation last month have been told they will be among the first to be paid out, but will miss out on potential redundancy claims.
Heartland Health Ltd, which operated a medical surgery in Reed St, was put into liquidation on May 6, because it had been unable to pay for locum services.
PricewaterhouseCoopers liquidator Malcolm Hollis said the business, which was under the sole directorship of South Otago businesswoman
Kaylene Holland, was not trading profitably and ''hence was not in a position to pay the locum provider''.
At this stage three ''preferential'' claims from creditors had been identified: $13,302 in unpaid wages and holiday pay; $1338 in unpaid GST; and $3847 in liquidator's fees.
The liquidator's report, released on June 11, revealed Heartland Health could owe as much as $62,406 to unsecured creditors, but had enough assets to repay only a small fraction of that. The report showed there was a shortfall of $46,267, owed to all creditors.
However, that total was just a ''guesstimate'' at this stage, Mr Hollis said.
''All the claims haven't come through yet. The reality is unless there is sufficient funds to pay creditors we won't agree their claims as such, until we know there will be funds available to pay them.''
Claims for redundancy payments by employees were not made for that reason, Mr Hollis said.
The liquidation process would investigate the actions of company directors ''to ensure all relevant legislation has been complied with'', Mr Hollis said.
''An investigation into the books, records and affairs of the company will be conducted to determine if any insolvent transactions have occurred and if there have been any breaches of legislation by the the company or its officers,'' he said.
Any financial breaches would be reported to the relevant authorities, Mr Hollis said.
All patient records had been kept confidential during the liquidation process.
