Up to 50,000 packages in the possession of Fastway Couriers will be returned to the businesses that sent them over the next two weeks after the company went into receivership on Tuesday.
However, staff are in limbo, unable to apply for social welfare for the next month but not being paid by the courier firm.
Receivers Mark Degnan and Brendan O’Reilly of Interpath Advisory are currently overseeing an operation where all packages and parcels in Fastway’s possession are being transported from 20 depots around the State to the group’s main hub in Portarlington, Co Laois.
The packages will then be returned to senders but this process could take up to two weeks. Retailers will then be responsible for rearranging delivery to purchasers of the good.
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It is understood that some businesses have been told they should be able to collect products from the courier as early as next week.
Meanwhile, staff, who only found out their jobs were at risk when told to stop work on Tuesday, have been informed that they will not be paid for their final week of work pending a 30-day statutory consultation period before any claims can be made to the State’s Insolvency Payments Scheme.
They will remain as employees of the company during the period and will thus be ineligible for jobseeker’s benefit.
“They were told they cannot sign on for 30 days or look for employment as they are still technically employed,” said a close family member of one of the workers.
“It’s absolutely desperate for families just seven weeks before Christmas. If they sign on or take up employment, they have been told they will forfeit their right for wages owed and redundancy where applicable.”
The receivers are understood to have told staff it will likely be next year before they receive statutory redundancy payments from the State scheme. Under the scheme, staff with more than two years’ service will get two weeks’ pay up to €600 a week for every week of their employment with Fastway plus one additional week.
Sources suggested that disgruntled contractors had been blocking parcels from leaving some Fastway depots, with customers whose packages were delivered to local pickup points also being refused collection.
The receivership was instigated on Tuesday, shortly after Fastway clients settled accounts for the company’s courier services over the previous two weeks, but also after one of the busiest weekends of the year for Fastway’s client companies.
In a statement, the Mr Degnan and Mr O’Reilly said they “appreciate that this situation is frustrating for businesses, customers and staff, particularly given the timing and proximity to the busy trading period and we ask for patience as we continue to work methodically through the issues to ensure the best possible outcome for all stakeholders”.
The receivers described it as a “highly complex situation” and said they were are seeking an “orderly and fair” resolution.
The State consumer watchdog, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, has issued a reminder that retailers – not couriers – are responsible to “address any delay, damage or non-delivery”.
It said that orders should be delivered within 30 days and that consumers have the right to cancel the order due to non-delivery should that no longer be possible.
In its most recent financial accounts ending March 2024, Fastway’s parent company Nuvion Group cut its losses by more than 60 per cent to €16.2 million, from €41.4 million in 2023, when the business – majority owned by London-based Elysian Capital since 2022 – took a €31.2 million impairment charge.
