Long time lurker, first time caller, I have a few questions reguarding employment, wages, etc…feel free to move if this isn’t the right category.
First off, I am located in Michigan as I know that does make a difference.
I’ve been working for a company for a year and a half now, when I began working there my payday was Monday. Throughout that time the payday has been pushed forward several times and is now Friday, and by Friday I mean not until Friday night around 10pm. This is already frustrating and in addition to this our first two paychecks were held back so we are a month behind as far as the dates we are getting paid for. Last week our store was seized because the owner had a major debt and a judgement against him, the store was shut down for a couple of days and when I came back to work I told my boss I would not work for free and that if I wasnt paid on Friday I would not be returning to work on Saturday.
Yesterday was Friday and we did not recieve our paychecks, he said we would get them today. After discussing it with him he and I agreed that I would return to work once I was paid. Well, now he’s saying we won’t be paid until Monday and this is getting ridiculous. Should I file a complaint with the Dept of Labor even if I am paid on Monday? If I choose not to return to work do I have any claim for unemployment? Would you continue to work in this shaky situation? I have reason to believe we will not even get paid Monday as the owner has a history of lying to us, we don’t know what to believe.
Sorry it’s kinda tl;dr I just feel like there’s no other way to explain the situation. I’ve been reading these board for quite sometime and figured this was a great place to get a little advice on this subject.
Welcome aboard, anon888. I’ve moved your thread to the IMHO forum, as responses are more likely to be opinions than the hard, factual answers that the GQ forum is all about.
The first advice I’d give is to call the state’s labor board and find out what the rules are and what your options are.
At the same time, odds are good that you can get a short consultation with a lawyer that specializes in labor law pretty cheap, and if you’re thinking about taking any drastic action, that would be an obvious first step.
Personally, I’d recommend making sure you have a backup plan before rocking the boat too badly. Can you afford to be out of work right now? Do you have some resumes on the street?
That’s the thing, I can’t afford to be out of work. I’ve been sending out my resume to a few places but not really looking too hard. I’m not planning on doing anything just yet and I don’t want to do anything drastic right away, I am just really frustrated. I think getting a consultation with a laywer and talking to someone at the Dept of Labor are going to be my first steps.
ETA…one of my other problems is that I don’t even know if I’m going to be paid on Monday…it seems like he is trying to keep the place open and not pay any of us for as long as he can to make as much money as he can before he just shuts down/everyone quits.
If that’s the case, I’d up the priority on talking to a lawyer on Monday, and make sure you have EVERYTHING documented. Gather together documents and paystubs and memos today and write up a short summary of the situation with dates and times. Having this stuff in-hand when you go in to see the lawyer will keep the consultation shorter (hence, cheaper).
Generally speaking, bankruptcy judges put employees at or near the top of the list to be paid, but there’s no guarantee of that. Get in the queue ASAP, before any lawsuits get filed against the business by creditors.
For what it’s worth, when I lived in NY the company I worked for announced company-wide layoffs the tues before Thanksgiving one year. Oh, and we weren’t getting paid on Thursday, either. Nice. We were all out of work and it didn’t look like they intended to pay us at all for our final 2 weeks of work. They declared bankruptcy and when I called the labor board, they basically told me that there was nothing to do except present myself as a creditor that they owed money to; there was no way to force them to pay any of us. It was ridiculous. Lucky for me they needed computer help as they were wrapping up business and I was able to get them to pay me my back pay plus cash for a few hours of work for them, but I’m very cautious about things like this now. You have reason to believe they will stiff you on a check soon, so protect yourself as best you can and assume that soon you’ll have no income from them. If you aren’t already, take the checks directly to their bank, the bank it’s drawn on, and cash it there. Don’t deposit it in your bank in case it bounces. Good luck.
In all 50 states by law the employer HAS to meet payroll. This is a major violation if they don’t.
Just go to the website for Michigan Department of Labor and file a complaint.
Yes file a complaint like yesterday. It’s ridiculous and illegal.
If your company goes under and you don’t get paid, as another poster said, you are simply a person who is must file as a creditor.
I worked for a company that went bankrupt and yes I didn’t get paid. I had to file as a creditor to get my money. I got 5¢ on the dollar for my effort. Most people didn’t bother filing at all.
You will also get unemployment. Don’t quit, without having another job.
If you leave a job and quit it, it’s possilbe to collect unemployment. But the mere fact you put on the unemployment application “quit” means that you will be triggered and will probably be subject to an appeals process which takes time
You don’t need a lawyer really as the Labor Department is pretty quick to act to enforce it’s laws. I would also contact my state legislature and my US Senator and House Representative as well. A similar case in Illinois was resolve much quicker when someone contacted a House member and she went to bat for the workers of her company. Didn’t hurt with elections coming up
