Worked somewhere but never got paid - what to do?

[Juddog]

Friend of mine worked for a company that was small, and they were paying her using cashier's checks for the first couple months. The payments came later and later, finally being delayed an entire week and this week not showing up at all.

What can be done as far as going after the employer? This is a small startup company, the company owner kept telling her that the check was on her desk, but wasn't, or that the check was on the way, but she never got it. Now the owner simply isn't answering the phone, returning e-mails, etc..

As of right now she is owed approximately 4 weeks back pay. I'm just wondering what the first steps should be, e.g. call the police, hire a lawyer, etc..

Friend left the work after the 4th week of not getting paid.

-UPDATE-
As an update, my friend has still not gotten paid. Her ex-boss told her that the money was in the mail, of course that mail never came. She has opened up a case with the labor dept. of NY and called the IRS. He's already making up bullsh!t stories about leaving the money on her desk and saying she never saw it and had the gall to get mad at her for not coming into work after a full two weeks of not getting paid.

I am at the point now where I want to get revenge. My friend doesn't want to retaliate though and doesn't want me doing anything. I literally told her that I would help her grab all the computers from there and hold them for ransom but she didn't want to do that. I also told her that she should delete all of the work she did for him for those 5 weeks she didn't get paid but she wouldn't do that either, saying she just wants her money and doesn't want to see the ex-boss ever again.

I ran a full criminal background check on her ex-boss and found that he has had charges pressed against him in the past for doing this same type of crap 5 years ago. He owes her over $1500 after the proper deductions, which he most likely never submitted, so gross pay would be something like $2500 owed, assuming that she will have to pay the fees later on.

I found his facebook account, which he has under a fake name, in it he posted something about women being problems, etc.. Hopefully the state dept of labor kicks his ass but he'll probably just get a slap on the wrist. He also already had a craigslist ad up looking for help to replace my friend during the last week she worked there, so it was obviously planned. He'll just be scamming a new person now. The pay thing also happened to my friend's co-worker, so they're both bringing up a case with the dept. of labor.

 

[BoomerD]

State Department of Labor.

 

[highland145]

State Department of Labor.

+1

 

[Juddog]

State Department of Labor.

Does the state go after the wages not paid, or does that have to be done separately via small claims court? Also if the person in question was being paid in cashier's checks, does that affect anything?

Thank you in advance, will contact the state dept. of labor asap.

 

[BoomerD]

Does the state go after the wages not paid, or does that have to be done separately via small claims court? Also if the person in question was being paid in cashier's checks, does that affect anything?

Thank you in advance, will contact the state dept. of labor asap.

What state? USUALLY, the state will go after wages owed to the employee. It MAY be difficult for your friend to prove how much is owed. Did they keep copies of paycheck stubs? If the employer didn't issue stubbed checks, that may also be a violation of state law. (each state is somewhat different on this)

 

[Juddog]

What state? USUALLY, the state will go after wages owed to the employee. It MAY be difficult for your friend to prove how much is owed. Did they keep copies of paycheck stubs? If the employer didn't issue stubbed checks, that may also be a violation of state law. (each state is somewhat different on this)

All the employer did was give her cashier's checks - no stubs, etc..

This occurred in NY.

 

[mmntech]

That's the problem with getting paid cash, isn't it. No paper trail. Since it's a cashier's cheque, the bank may have some record of it. She needs to have a written record of her hours and what her pay rate is. Regardless of what the law is, the difficult part is always proving it.

Tell her to talk to the labour department first. See what they say.

 

[moshquerade]

were they deducting taxes, soc. sec., disablity, etc. out of her pay?

 

[Juddog]

That's the problem with getting paid cash, isn't it. No paper trail. Since it's a cashier's cheque, the bank may have some record of it. She needs to have a written record of her hours and what her pay rate is. Regardless of what the law is, the difficult part is always proving it.

Tell her to talk to the labour department first. See what they say.

Ok will do. When the shady behavior started to occur a few weeks ago, I told her to carefully document everything, so she carefully has been recording her hours.

 

[Juddog]

were they deducting taxes, soc. sec., disablity, etc. out of her pay?

They told her that they were but never gave any kind of pay stub, etc., just paid her using cashier's checks.

 

[moshquerade]

They told her that they were but never gave any kind of pay stub, etc., just paid her using cashier's checks.

Hmmmm.... all kind of fishy.

 

[Juddog]

Hmmmm.... all kind of fishy.

Yeah the whole thing stinks.

 

[hanoverphist]

i had a friend in a similar situation. he took the work truck and put it in a storage unit, then told the owner he could have the truck and tools back when he gave him the 6k he owed him. he tried to have him arrested and took him to court, judge told him to pay the man or he gets to keep the truck and tools. gave him 6 months to pay, my friend has owned the truck for about 9 years now. not saying it would work for your friend, but here in az i guess its a workable situation.

 

[Juddog]

i had a friend in a similar situation. he took the work truck and put it in a storage unit, then told the owner he could have the truck and tools back when he gave him the 6k he owed him. he tried to have him arrested and took him to court, judge told him to pay the man or he gets to keep the truck and tools. gave him 6 months to pay, my friend has owned the truck for about 9 years now. not saying it would work for your friend, but here in az i guess its a workable situation.

Unfortunately she doesn't have a company car she can take for ransom.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Hate to be the asshole, but she probably just worked the last month for free.

If he's not paying her and with the pattern you talked about (getting slower and slower), he probably doesn't have the money.

She can go with a small claims court claim, but if he doesn't have the money to pay...

 

[KeithP]

They told her that they were but never gave any kind of pay stub, etc., just paid her using cashier's checks.

Which means, most likely, that the proper deductions were not made. I may be wrong about this, but I am pretty sure if that is the case she will still be responsible for the applicable taxes.

She is probably better off not rocking the boat. If she goes after them in the proper legal channels, she may be guaranteeing that they will also find out about the back taxes she owes.

-KeithP

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yep, she probably won't see any money out of this guy

I've worked for a few financially insolvent companies and this kind of behavior is rather common unforetunately. I got stiffed 8 weeks of pay in a similar situation once.

Theoretically if the company goes into BK the employees have first claim on any assets, then secured creditors, then unsecured creditors. But often times small businesses just fold up and go away without being forced into BK, and even if they go through a formal BK there may not be even enough assets to satisfy the employees claims

 

[mesthead21]

This remind me of this:

Bob Slydell: Milton Waddams.
Dom Portwood: Who's he?
Bob Porter: You know, squirrely looking guy, mumbles a lot.
Dom Portwood: Oh, yeah.
Bob Slydell: Yeah, we can't actually find a record of him being a current employee here.
Bob Porter: I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him about it; but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck.
Bob Slydell: So we just went ahead and fixed the glitch.
Bill Lumbergh: Great.
Dom Portwood: So, uh, Milton has been let go?
Bob Slydell: Well, just a second there, professor. We, uh, we fixed the *glitch*. So he won't be receiving a paycheck anymore, so it'll just work itself out naturally.
Bob Porter: We always like to avoid confrontation, whenever possible. Problem is solved from your end.

 

[Juddog]

Which means, most likely, that the proper deductions were not made. I may be wrong about this, but I am pretty sure if that is the case she will still be responsible for the applicable taxes.

She is probably better off not rocking the boat. If she goes after them in the proper legal channels, she may be guaranteeing that they will also find out about the back taxes she owes.

-KeithP

Given that she only worked there a few months, I'm pretty certain that 4 weeks of pay would be greater than the amount of taxes that should have been deducted. I already told her to contact the NYS dept. of labor if she doesn't hear back from him on Monday.

She has the key to the office still too. I'm half tempted to walk in there and grab some of the computer equipment to hold for ransom.

 

[Juddog]

Yep, she probably won't see any money out of this guy

I've worked for a few financially insolvent companies and this kind of behavior is rather common unforetunately. I got stiffed 8 weeks of pay in a similar situation once.

Theoretically if the company goes into BK the employees have first claim on any assets, then secured creditors, then unsecured creditors. But often times small businesses just fold up and go away without being forced into BK, and even if they go through a formal BK there may not be even enough assets to satisfy the employees claims

First claim on assets? I'm liking the sound of that...

 

[alkemyst]

were you worth paying for?

 

[Patranus]

Why did she continue to work for 4 weeks if she wasn't being paid?

 

[Juddog]

Why did she continue to work for 4 weeks if she wasn't being paid?

Well being paid 2 weeks after work is fairly normal. So for example a two week work period, then get paid the next friday. Except in this case, when Friday came, no pay, and just continue that forward an additional week, so basically no check for over a month.

 

[Juddog]

were you worth paying for?

I'm definitely worth paying for, but my job is a much more steady income than my friend.

 

[rudder]

They told her that they were but never gave any kind of pay stub, etc., just paid her using cashier's checks.

Thats because they were taking out her taxes.... but keeping them.