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Two former employees of the populist Populist Party of Nigel Farage, a populist reform in the UK, have filed legal complaints against the organization in a row about the money they say is owed to them.
The cases were presented this month to the court of small claims in Northampton by former employees, who claim they were fired last year after the UK general elections without pay for several months of work.
One alleged that she was employed on a temporary contract as a campaign in the July elections, when the reform won five seats in parliament, and was fired in September without paying 8,000 £ she was forced for three months of work, according to Documents seen by Financial Times.
The second claimed that he worked for the party as a manager for nearly three years before he was fired in November without notice or nearly 9,600 £ to pay for four months before he was issued.
The reform said employees “had tried to bring legal claims against the party based on what we have reason to believe they are fraudulent and forged ’employment contracts’. The plaintiffs denied the claim as “completely unfounded”.
After the elections, Farage adjusted the reform management, bringing a new chair, Zia Yusuf’s technology entrepreneur and removing former deputy chairman Ben Habib and former executive chief Paul Oakden.
The reform said the new management team had begun an investigation into how the party had previously run. “Some employees under old management had completed their employment (from the new leadership),” she said.
Habib said “It is not acceptable how the new management handles the basics of the reform.
“They are long in criticism and short in recognizing those who handed over the party to the position in which it is today,” he added.
Oakden did not respond to a comment request.
The line underlines the challenges Farage faces while he seeks to attract a line with his time as the leader of the most amateur political clothing, including the Brexit Party and the UK Independence Party.
UK reform has increased in British opinion surveys in recent months, and is now the most popular party with about 26 percent of public support, according to policy poll surveys, with 25 percent work and 21 percent. Local elections in May will test if that voting will translate into electoral success.
The reform is currently composed as a company, unlike other UK political parties, which are associations, but Farage has pledged to hand over the party ownership for members and divert its shares more than 75 percent.
Reform membership recently exceeded 200,000, according to its website, compared to 131,680 declared by conservatives in November last year and about 370,000 for the Labor Party.
