Aguilabrava
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ
I am a computer field repair technician. Lately I have been getting jobs from different companies through a website that launched few months ago. This website is called Work Market (www.workmarket.com) and is located in NYC, New York.
The way the website works is by helping companies to find technicians to perform different computer related jobs or "assignments" as they call them. The companies get the job from one of their clients, then they post the job or assignment in Work Market with all the specifics including what the pay rate will be once the assignment is completed, we the technicians get notified, we accept the assignment, and the company pays anywhere from 7 to 30 days after the assignment has been completed to the "end user" satisfaction.
The problem is that sometimes these companies claim that their client or "end user" has cancelled the job, after we, the technicians, have driven to far away locations spending gas and paying toll roads to get to the job's location, and the job have been completed to the end user's satisfaction.
Recently, I had another bad experience. I received an assignment from a company located in Boston that has a big contract with Staples. My job was to go to a Allstate office located here in New Jersey to check and diagnose a problem they were having with a printer. The job was for $55.05 flat rate. I went to this office and was taken to the little room where the problematic printer was located. I proceeded to check the issue they were having, I removed few parts from the printer including something called "the imaging kit" which is basically an assembly that holds the toner cartridges. When I removed the piece, some of the cartridges spilled toner on the carpeted floor. It was nothing big, just few little spots in an area smaller than two square feet. The owner of this Allstate office passed by, saw the toner on the floor, and got very upset. She said that the carpet was brand new, that the toner would stain it if not removed professionally, so she called Staples to complaint. At the same time, I called my contact at the company that hired me and explained the situation. He told me not to worry about it. I took a picture of the damage with my cellphone and sent it to him. Anyhow, I kept working on the printer, I determined that the piece I had removed, the imaging kit, was defective. I called Lexmark, the printer's manufacturer, and they agreed to ship a new replacement part free of charge to this customer even though their warranty was expired. I left the site and went back home.
The next day, I receive a call from someone at Work Market, telling me the damage to the carpet cost was $195.00 plus tax, and they wanted me to pay for it. I explained to them that the damage was not due to any negligence on my part but a defective printer I was troubleshooting, I couldn't believe that Staples, a multimillion dollar company, and their subcontractor, the company that hired me for $55.05 were throwing this on me, the little guy trying to make a living. I told them I didn't have money to pay for this. Yesterday, the company that hired me cancelled the job or assignment refusing to pay me the $55.05 with no other explanation that "they can't pay for this". As far as I am concerned, I did my job, I diagnosed the faulty printer, was able to get the replacement part free of charge from the manufacturer, and what happened to the carpet was an unfortunate accident prone to happen when working on defective printers.
Is this legal?. Can they legally get away with this?.
The way I see it, there is a website that charges 9% to this companies that find cheap labor through them, they are for the profits only, if there is any problem, they throw it on the little guy, therefore this website is just another instrument through which the 1% is exploiting and taking advantage of the needy 99%, with large corporations like Staples ripping guys like myself.
What can I do?.
I am a computer field repair technician. Lately I have been getting jobs from different companies through a website that launched few months ago. This website is called Work Market (www.workmarket.com) and is located in NYC, New York.
The way the website works is by helping companies to find technicians to perform different computer related jobs or "assignments" as they call them. The companies get the job from one of their clients, then they post the job or assignment in Work Market with all the specifics including what the pay rate will be once the assignment is completed, we the technicians get notified, we accept the assignment, and the company pays anywhere from 7 to 30 days after the assignment has been completed to the "end user" satisfaction.
The problem is that sometimes these companies claim that their client or "end user" has cancelled the job, after we, the technicians, have driven to far away locations spending gas and paying toll roads to get to the job's location, and the job have been completed to the end user's satisfaction.
Recently, I had another bad experience. I received an assignment from a company located in Boston that has a big contract with Staples. My job was to go to a Allstate office located here in New Jersey to check and diagnose a problem they were having with a printer. The job was for $55.05 flat rate. I went to this office and was taken to the little room where the problematic printer was located. I proceeded to check the issue they were having, I removed few parts from the printer including something called "the imaging kit" which is basically an assembly that holds the toner cartridges. When I removed the piece, some of the cartridges spilled toner on the carpeted floor. It was nothing big, just few little spots in an area smaller than two square feet. The owner of this Allstate office passed by, saw the toner on the floor, and got very upset. She said that the carpet was brand new, that the toner would stain it if not removed professionally, so she called Staples to complaint. At the same time, I called my contact at the company that hired me and explained the situation. He told me not to worry about it. I took a picture of the damage with my cellphone and sent it to him. Anyhow, I kept working on the printer, I determined that the piece I had removed, the imaging kit, was defective. I called Lexmark, the printer's manufacturer, and they agreed to ship a new replacement part free of charge to this customer even though their warranty was expired. I left the site and went back home.
The next day, I receive a call from someone at Work Market, telling me the damage to the carpet cost was $195.00 plus tax, and they wanted me to pay for it. I explained to them that the damage was not due to any negligence on my part but a defective printer I was troubleshooting, I couldn't believe that Staples, a multimillion dollar company, and their subcontractor, the company that hired me for $55.05 were throwing this on me, the little guy trying to make a living. I told them I didn't have money to pay for this. Yesterday, the company that hired me cancelled the job or assignment refusing to pay me the $55.05 with no other explanation that "they can't pay for this". As far as I am concerned, I did my job, I diagnosed the faulty printer, was able to get the replacement part free of charge from the manufacturer, and what happened to the carpet was an unfortunate accident prone to happen when working on defective printers.
Is this legal?. Can they legally get away with this?.
The way I see it, there is a website that charges 9% to this companies that find cheap labor through them, they are for the profits only, if there is any problem, they throw it on the little guy, therefore this website is just another instrument through which the 1% is exploiting and taking advantage of the needy 99%, with large corporations like Staples ripping guys like myself.
What can I do?.
