question: breach of contract? work issues

Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
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Maybe not in soviet Michigan; but north Carolina is a right to work state.

That said, a significant reduction in hours can be seen as constituting a lay-off which would entitle the person laid off to receive unemployment.
 

qtnguyen87

Senior member
Feb 19, 2010
550
1
76
I moved down here becuase of this job. I was hired as a Full Time employee and the bosses even helped me get my own place down here. Now they have a sudden change of mind?
 

brandonb

Diamond Member
Oct 17, 2006
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No, they cannot.

Verbal contracts are still contracts, they don't need to be in writing. But first thing is first, I'd get him recorded on the phone (if you live in a 1 party consent state) or in email or something that he made this arrangement with you.

There is a concept in contract law that refers to "partial performance" meaning, you are putting in good faith effort into meeting the conditions of the contract, and in that case, they are still liable to the contract. In other words, if he contract you to do work for him, he has to pay you for that work as long as you are doing it. If you just disappear or don't produce results, he can back out of the contract because you breached. But if you have anything of substance to show for your efforts, then its partial performance, and he has to abide by the contract still.
 

qtnguyen87

Senior member
Feb 19, 2010
550
1
76
Ok now here is the dark side of the story:

I work as a manicurist and was hired as a full timer without a license even thought i will have mine in 2 weeks but i was hired about 10 months ago. The part timer has a license and ever since he was hired i was slaved around. i was told to do this and that and this and that while the part timer sat there and played on his IPhone.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
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brandonb is right, but a verbal contract is only as good as both of you remember, and in any conflict your recall is likely to skew to benefit yourself. Any witnesses to the contract?

So I have to ask again - are you a contractor (that is someone who invoices the company for time worked - does their own tax payments and is paid without taxes removed/no benefits/etc files a 1099).
Or are you an employee (filed a W-4 at beginning of work, gets taxes removed, has benefits, has a W-2 in January).

As a contractor - you are not subject to employer/employment laws so as far as defining fulltime/part time etc. You invoice the company for your hours worked, and also aren't really subject to overtime laws.

As an employee - this radically depends on state - can reduce your hours to nothing. However this allows you to file unemployment compensation.

This varies wildly according to your state. In FL - they can make you work 24 hours a day 7 days a week under employment law - and only have to pay you the Florida Minimum Wage + overtime for anything over 40. They can reduce your pay rate to minimum wage + overtime without telling you, and they can fire you for any reason. They don't have to give you any benefits besides paying their unemployment compensation, keep records, and pay their half of SS.

If I'm deciphering this correctly:

basically the employer tells the full time employee to stay home for a couple of weeks or months(i dont know, he said he doesnt know for how long) and decides to give those days to the part time emplyee

Your issue is that you were "told" you are to work a certain number of hours per week. You interpret this as a verbal contract. I submit that it isn't.
Your employer reduced your hours - telling you to stay home a few weeks, while he told another employee to come in during those hours.

File unemployment compensation if you are an employee. Find other work if an independent contractor. There is nothing "illegal" about this - again state dependent.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
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i was told to do this and that and this and that while the part timer sat there and played on his IPhone.
Completely irrelevant. While unprofessional of the person in charge it is not illegal to make one person do something while another does nothing. He could even pay the other person a whole lot more than you to just sit in a chair, while you are told to clean the sewer pipe with your bare hand for minimum wage. Provided of course the disparity in job function is not due to illegal discrimination based on a protected class (that is - provided your boss isn't making you scoop poop because you are white, and another employee doesn't have to because they are asian.)
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
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I moved down here becuase of this job. I was hired as a Full Time employee and the bosses even helped me get my own place down here. Now they have a sudden change of mind?

and even though i was a contractor, i worked from 9-630 6 days a week

These 2 statements are in conflict. Please resolve whether you are an "employee" or an "independent contractor".


I moved down here becuase of this job.
Again completely irrelevant. Whether you moved somewhere for a job has no bearing on your future employment, nor does it modify your employee/employer - contractor status, or entitle you to anything whatsoever.

and the bosses even helped me get my own place down here. Now they have a sudden change of mind?

Completely within the companies right to do so. They don't have to keep giving you hours. Your prior relationship with your employer does not guarantee any future benefits, or even a future relationship. Read the specifics of

You haven't said what state (or that this is even in the USA) you live in. Care to share? It really helps determine a few things. I deduce based on your sig - that it's North Carolina. Confirm?

This link might help determine the contractor status:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_contractor

NC is both a "Right-to-work" state (which specifies that you don't have to be in a union to work) and a "work-at-will" state (and the WaW status doesn't have an implied contract exemption).

"Right-to-work" laws are statutes enforced in twenty-two U.S. states, mostly in the southern or western U.S., allowed under provisions of the federal Taft–Hartley Act, which prohibit agreements between labor unions and employers that make membership, payment of union dues, or fees a condition of employment, either before or after hiring, which would require the workplace to be a closed shop.

At-Will employment means any hiring is presumed to be "at will"; that is, the employer is free to discharge individuals "for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause at all," and the employee is equally free to quit, strike, or otherwise cease work.

Noting that Dixycrat has misapplied the Right-To-Work doctrine. It has nothing to do with the amount of hours that you have to be given. I'm guessing no labor union is involved right?
 
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qtnguyen87

Senior member
Feb 19, 2010
550
1
76
Completely irrelevant. While unprofessional of the person in charge it is not illegal to make one person do something while another does nothing. He could even pay the other person a whole lot more than you to just sit in a chair, while you are told to clean the sewer pipe with your bare hand for minimum wage. Provided of course the disparity in job function is not due to illegal discrimination based on a protected class (that is - provided your boss isn't making you scoop poop because you are white, and another employee doesn't have to because they are asian.)


He has a license and i dont?
 

qtnguyen87

Senior member
Feb 19, 2010
550
1
76
Sorry i live in Southern Pines NC and work 10 mins in Pinehurst. I get paid $650 a week for working 6 days and days off them that is dived in 6 and minus 1 day of that. I get paid $350 check and 300 cash.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
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He has a license and i dont?

the boss is being nice rather than firing your lying ass. He could get fined if you get caught working without a license.... who the hell issues licenses for manicuring anyway.... but if the state says you need one to give a manicure... well you better have one. You misrepresented yourself.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
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He has a license and i dont?

Why do you think that matters? He isn't required by any law to hire only licensed people. That doesn't discriminate based on a protected characteristic either. It discriminates based on a non-protected characteristic (status of licensure). Perfectly legal.
 

Hugo Drax

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2011
5,647
47
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Verbal contracts only work on the floor, where your word is your bond. Everywhere else, verbal contracts are for suckers.
 

bobdole369

Diamond Member
Dec 15, 2004
4,504
2
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the boss is being nice rather than firing your lying ass. He could get fined if you get caught working without a license.... who the hell issues licenses for manicuring anyway.... but if the state says you need one to give a manicure... well you better have one. You misrepresented yourself.

This. Here is the bottom line - you are given lower hours than expected.
As an independent contractor you aren't able to file for unemployment.

If you are an employee - then you are only able to file for unemployment for the wages that are "on the books". That is if your check has taxes and benefits taken out. I suspect that you are a contractor though - this is exactly how companies screw employees and you fell for it hook line and sinker.

When you go to file your taxes this year you are about to get a royal drubbing. You will owe so much its going to hurt until the next tax year.

Use this time to move on - find a better job.
 
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