Regarding Axiom payroll service

[Jeff Wexler]

This letter went out to I.A. members regarding Axiom demanding that money be paid back. I am posting the letter for the benefit of non-union members who may have had dealings with the now bankrupt payroll service.

Dear Local 695 Members:

Following is urgent information concerning Axium Bankcruptcy from IATSE Vice President Michael F. Miller, Jr. that you be aware of.

"The IATSE has just been advised that a letter was sent by the Axium Bankruptcy Trustee, Howard M. Ehrenberg, to IATSE members who received checks from Axium or any of its affiliated companies in bankruptcy during the ninety (90) day period prior to filing the bankruptcy petition. The Trustee has done this as part of collecting assets of the estate. The letter requests that the individual return money to the Trustee. The one letter the IA has seen thus far is accompanied with a printout showing the check(s) in question and the amount. It also threatens a collection proceeding if the money is not repaid. *We believe that this is totally improper on the part of the Trustee and this matter is being dealt with through the IATSE counsel in an expeditious manner to resolve this error. *If there are any unique circumstances where there is a statutory basis for such collections of assets from any individual, there will be future correspondence to that effect. The bankruptcy attorneys retained by the IATSE have been apprised of this situation and they are taking the necessary steps to correct this matter."

Obviously if you are not a member of the I.A. you will not benefit from the efforts of our union to sort this out, but it may be valuable information if you need to go up against Axiom Trustee.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

[Philip Perkins]

Does the letter say when that 90 day period was?

Philip Perkins

[jamieg]

I got it via email, and there doesn't seem to be any dates mentioned

[Laurence]

Seems like the message is not really about the 90 days.  Did you get a check from Axiom... and then a letter asking you to send it back?

[Philip Perkins]

Didn't Axiom go out of business in '07?

Philip Perkins

[Jeff Wexler]

The main point is that NO one should send any money BACK to Axiom or anyone else. If the bankruptcy lawyers need information from people who were paid before, during or after Axiom filed for bankruptcy, the lawyers should contact directly and ASK for information, copies of pay stubs, etc. No way should any money anyone was paid be returned!

-  Jeff Wexler

[studiomprd]

" if you are not a member of the I.A. you will not benefit from the efforts of our union to sort this out "

actually, I'd guess that any non-IA members paid by a non-signatory Axiom subsidiary would probably benefit from the actions the IA takes, as they will no doubt get this nonsense reversed across the board.

[Jatb51]

Hi, I have recieved a letter from the trustee, Im based in NY, the subsidiary was Avalon. At the time I was non union on a non union show, is it worth being in touch with IATSE here? This is outrageous, and I dont have the money they're asking for! Best james

[Jeff Wexler]

First of all, Axiom and all of its partners and subsidiaries, handled payroll services for hundreds if not thousands of companies and many of them were non-union companies. I only posted the letter initiated by our union because it was the first mention of Axiom since they filed for bankruptcy. Each individual should respond, or not, based on their own knowledge of the situation. I had hoped that the notice from the I.A. (I got one from Local 695 and from Editors Guild 700) will compel people to not comply with returning any monies. If you were paid for a job through any payroll service, that is YOUR money! If the payroll company is having some problem or is being sued or declared bankruptcy, whatever, this should not be your concern.

-  Jeff Wexler

[Laurence]

Further explanation can be found in a letter from the IA attorney to Axium's attorney that was just posted on 695's Announcements page moments ago.

[Jatb51]

Hi, Would it be possible for someone to post this letter here, Im not a 695 member and cannot access the site. Best James

[Jeff Wexler]

Hi, Would it be possible for someone to post this letter here, Im not a 695 member and cannot access the site. Best James

I think it could possibly be improper to post the attorney's letter here but I will post a summary/excerpt that pretty much shows what the official I.A. response is.

The one letter the IA has seen thus far is accompanied with a printout showing the check(s) in question and the amount. It also threatens a collection proceeding if the money is not repaid. "We believe that this is totally improper on the part of the Trustee and this matter is being dealt with through the IATSE counsel in an expeditious manner to resolve this error."..... "If there are any unique circumstances where there is a statutory basis for such collections of assets from any individual, there will be future correspondence to that effect. The bankruptcy attorneys retained by the IATSE have been apprised of this situation and they are taking the necessary steps to correct this matter."

[studiomprd]

not only crew are affected:

cast (Actors) are also receiving these letters, so SAG is getting involved.  so far, the Trustee has been persuaded to not implement further legal actions, at least against SAG actors, at this time:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003436.html?categoryId=18&cs=1&nid=2248

[Eric Toline]

According to the article in Variety referenced in a previous post, the date of filing was Jan 8, 2008. So it would appear that payment made prior to October 11th, 2007 (90 days from Jan 8, 2008) would not be included in the action.

Eric

[RPSharman]

Please excuse me if I am wrong, but as an individual employee paid for services rendered, there should be no way that any proceeding can take that money back.  If you were paid as a corporation or paid for rental as 1099 income, that might be different.  But there must be labor laws that prevent money from being recouped for services rendered by an employee.

Now I'm aware that some people were paid by production to stay on the job (cash or otherwise).  If Axium doubled up a payment made by production, then that's a different story, but they would have to prove such overpayment.

I know that Richard is probably right in terms of procedure and such, but I can't imagine a collection agency coming after you for money that was paid to you for services rendered.  Some clarification would be great.

Robert

[Jatb51]

There is a cut off of 5475.00 (section 547 © (9) effective april 1st 2007 pursuant to 11 USC 104 and still aplies) that anything under, the trustee cannot go after, which is why no one else on the production received a letter-  my payment included day rate, kit rental and substantial overtime. So anyone that has received a letter is not defending a days work. The Trustee is after 5012 from me, we're replying that this is under the amount

[Jatb51]

If anyones interested this defense is called-the small commercial preference defense. I would be interested to hear fron anyone who like me who is having to defend themselves. Best James

[Guest BobD]

Two words...  Fu_k them.

[Guest BobD]

I find legal matters fascinating and enjoy educating myself on them.  First, thanks Eric for pointing out the date of filing, I should have read that posting.  I was merely trying to inform anyone who may not be benefiting from legal representation from the I.A. legal counsel.

James, it does seem that you have a good case for being under the limitation set forth by the court.  I'm surprised that they even sent you a letter of demand knowing that there was a limitation to what they could collect.  I'm sure you are considering the gross amount of your check and not the net amount. 

Bankruptcy hearings are held in Federal Courts and are governed by the United States Codes of Law, created by and enacted on by Congress.  Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is interesting in that the court usually dismisses all claims against the estate, as opposed to Chapter 11 in which payment plans are usually the norm.  This is why the trustee is given the power to reclaim payments made by the estate, within guidelines set forth by the court 90 days prior to the filing of the petition, and in this case a limitation of payment made of more than $5,475.00 (USD).

Good luck with your FU defense BobD, I'm sure your new inmate will enjoy that dirty mouth

Just trying to offer some information,

RVD

I actually feel pretty confident with my style of legal defense....  It's worked before....

[studiomprd]

this just in (via SAG-AFTRA, but applies to all who may have been paid by Axium)

Members who have filed claims in regards to the Axium Bankruptcy may have already received a notice directly from the court. The below is being sent as a courtesy to members who are claimants.

 

The Trustee in the Axium Bankruptcy has filed his Final Report and Applications for Compensation. This Final Report lists all claimants that have been recognized by the Trustee, and the amount in which their claim will be paid if the judge approves the Final Report at a Dec. 17, 2014 hearing.

 

If you have claims relating to the Axium bankruptcy that have not already been paid, we urge you to review the Final Report. Claims are grouped into two categories, based on legal rights to "priority" treatment under the Bankruptcy Code. Click here to view an excerpt of the report. Pages 29 through 83 list all claimants who will be paid 100% of their allowed claims. Pages 83 through 156 list all claimants who will be paid about 9.4% of their allowed claims.

 

If you believe there is an error, objections must be filed with the Trustee and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court by Dec. 3, 2014. 

 

If you are approached by parties offering to buy your claim, we suggest you review the Final Report and determine whether any such offer makes sense as compared with the payment proposed by the Trustee on your claim.

[studiomprd]

and another payroll service company issue:

Some SAG-AFTRA members have received notice from American Residuals and Talent, Inc., d/b/a ART Payroll, regarding a data security breach at their company. The breach may have affected the data of individuals who have received payments from ART Payroll.

 

Should you have any questions about this matter, please contact ART’s confidential inquiry line between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday at (888) 644-7473.

 

The company also services Actors’ Equity contracts and provides crew payroll services.

 

ART President Emily Erskine said that the information “potentially accessed by the intruders” includes clients’ names, Social Security numbers, addresses, bank account information, date of birth and email addresses.

“On October 18, we detected an unauthorized login onto our web application,” she wrote in a letter to the payroll company’s clients.

 

http://deadline.com/2014/12/sag-aftra-hacking-payroll-company-american-residuals-and-talent-1201307882/

Edited December 4, 2014 by studiomprd