I have a legal/financial problem which I expect is not solvable, but I'm pissed and want to at least TRY. Advice appreciated. One of my prior workplaces did not have the money to pay me for essentially my last month of work there - totaling about $800 (actually more, but we settled on $800). They assured me they would send me a check in a week or two. That was September; they have sent me nothing. The complicating factor is that the cafe was tiny, I was the only employee, and everything was in cash. There's no official payroll or electronic records of any sort, so I don't think any sort of legal recourse is possible (not to mention that it's probably not worth it for $800). The cafe owner runs multiple other (successful) restaurants, so he sure as hell has enough money to pay me...he just doesn't want to, presumably. I only have the phone number for my old manager, who is evasive and continues to promise they'll get it to me. I've also emailed the publicly-available emails on the restaurant website, with no response. It's been months and months, and it's been clear for a long time that I'm not likely to see a penny of my money...but I'm angry and if there's anything I could try, I'd be happy to hear suggestions.
Was the conversation in which you settled for $800 in e-mail/text/any sort of writing at all? That's about all I can think of. I hope you're able to get something of it.
I love unpaid wages cases. State laws tend to be favorable for unpaid employees, but because it's law, there are probably some hoops you have to jump through that are not obvious to you in order to set up the claim. Legal Aid does approximately 27 gazillion of these cases every day. Give them a call.
also: i'm the kind of asshole who would find every yelp/feedback page for every restaurant he owns and post the truth: that he doesn't pay his employees hundreds of dollars in earned wages. it's not ransom/blackmail if it's true and i'm owed money, and i'd delete it if it were to become false. it's not "paying me off" when he owes me the money anyway. then again, i am but a petty bitch, so
Seconding Rigs here: call Legal Aid. Maybe your worries are right and you won't be able to get your money out of this jerk. But more likely, the jerk's going to have to turn over the money you're owed. This is hella illegal, what he's doing, and the courts tend to really hate it when employers try to avoid paying employees. And if there's no payroll records at all - your ex-boss is going to have a Fun time explaining that. (I wouldn't put anything on the yelp/feedback pages, but that's more because it drags things into a grayer area if it goes to the courts, which makes things more difficult. I can definitely understand the feeling, but otoh: if you don't, it's going to be easier to drag this guy to court and go "fucker owes me over $800 and won't pay me" and it's more likely the courts will go "well, damn. fucker better pay you then or we start garnishing his bank account till he's paid up, and y'know what - here's some punitives on top of that, because of how ridiculously egregious the whole thing is". No guarantee that's how it'll go down, obviously, but still.)
Yeah, I'm not sure where you live but unpaid wages tend to be one of those things that they take seriously.
I called my old manager and we spoke candidly about what's going on, and it's mixed news. On the one hand, I'll probably get my money in the near future, so that's great. On the other hand, it's STILL not being paid to me by the company. Instead, my old manager is taking it upon himself to pay me out of his own wages. And on top of that, he's not being paid super regularly either (and his financial situation is actually worse than mine, because he has a kid to pay for and higher rent than I do). The business owner is "tired and wary of paying him so much for no payoff", because the cafe is losing money hand over fist (it's still pretty new, and hasn't gotten enough business). So basically, I'll probably see my money, but it won't be coming from the actual company AND it'll be disadvantaging a decent guy who works insane hours to stay afloat, all because the owner is getting cold feet about paying for the business he started. My objective, if I want to pursue this, has to change to "somehow hold the owner accountable for not paying his employees enough/regularly", even though I'll have the money that I'm owed. I don't want to do it, but I feel like I should. I live far away now, in a different state, so anything involving the courts would be difficult. At minimum I should report the owner to the proper authorities, I guess. I'm concerned the fallout could be bad for my old manager, though - the owner could probably make his life even harder if he wanted to, and me reporting on my and his behalf could provide that incentive. I don't know.
I'd still go with "talk to Legal Aid" before you actually accept the money. (Although your old manager having to take it upon himself to pay you what you're owed out of his own wages is...nnnnnot going to look good for your former boss.) I suspect (but am not sure, because not a lawyer and not especially familiar with American law) that the courts are going to side-eye your former manager paying you the money, since he's not the one who owes you; it's the company. But talking with Legal Aid means you get someone who can take a look at this and figure out what the best option that, ideally, gets you and your old manager looked after and gets you both the money you're owed.
