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Is this a legal Employee Agreement?

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Hello, I am an auto mechanic located in Minnesota, and I stupidly signed this employee contract without getting legal advice first.

my BIGGEST concern is in section 5 of this agreement it says that bringing in your tools is at your "sole discretion" yet my boss said if I didn't bring in my own tools, I won't make as much money. I would also like to point out that my tools were already at the shop, so would this contract negate anything that has happened before I signed it?

here is a link to the entire contract:
http://home.mn.rr.com/totaleclipse/employee_agreement.html

The reason I am asking is that my boss stole about $2500.00 worth of my tools (several items I could see sitting on his tool box when I went to pick up my items) where he said "You have NO right to be here, get the "F" off of my property" (you can replace the "F" with the actual word) and he called me a bunch of names and said if I were to take him to court he'd "beat the "SH" out of me in court" and he said that my claim of how he owes me my tools back was "blackmail" and "extortion" and that he would have me put in jail if I were to pursue this further.

I am posting in this section "hiring, firing & wrongful termination" because I am not sure where else to put it, mainly because this revolves arround the contract.

Thank you for your time and advice.
--David Jonathan from Minnesota.
 
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BelizeBreeze

Senior Member
I didn't bother reading the contract because this is NOT a contract issue. This is an issue filing a police report of theft against the boss.
 
I tried with the police, and they told me it's a "Civil matter" because I couldn't prove he* took the items and I'd have to take him to conciliation court (small claims) - I gave my ex-boss the opportunity to return my items to me and he said "I don't have them" and continued with the statemens I pointed out above, and told me that if I were to sue him the employee contract would keep me from winning at which point he put his hand in the shape of an "L" on his forehead started laughing and called me a loser (that's why I posted the contract)

He also said that by saying I would sue him if I didn't get the return/replacement of my property that it was blackmail AND extortion, and that he would have me put in jail for fraud if I even got the claim filed. I'm wondering how true that is (or if you could point me to the correct section for that question)

He also stated that he would "hand pick" the judge so he could get his way because this isn't "communiust russia" and the "'dam.' liberal judges in minnesota aren't worth 'sh..'" (sorry for the language, I'm trying to use the exact quotes but still be respectful of others)

I wanted to try to work with this person, when I first quit working there, I told him about the tools that were missing, and he said "I'll get them back to you as they turn up" - I being the nice guy let it go at that, I had called him about once a month, and stopped by the shop often until I finally started working there again towards the middle of this past october just so I could look arround the shop for my missing tools, I did find a few, but he kept me so busy working I was never able to take my tools home. At this time, I didn't sign any agreements, and he's also refusing to pay me for the time I worked this october stating there were no records of me working there (which is a lie because I KNOW there are records of me having worked there unless he destroied them)

that's why I'm asking if this contract will hold any water if I do take him to court for the tools, and if there's any truth to his comments of blackmail/extortion/fraud, and if he can have me put in Jail, I have a newborn, and we can't afford to have me going to Jail for any ammount of time (but we also can't afford the cost of replacing my tools)

--David Jonathan from Minnesota.

(sorry about the long post, I'm just trying to be as clear as I can be)
 

JETX

Senior Member
Bottom line.....
1) Any contract that you might have signed would NOT cover the issue of stolen property.... even if the contract itself was valid.
2) You need to contact the police and get a stolen property/theft report filed.
3) You need to decide whether you are going to stand up to this 'bully' and file a lawsuit to try to recover your property, or whether you are not. If not, then you have no further legal recourse and should accept the loss and move on.

The decision on what you do is solely yours.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
This doesn't help you at the moment but all the mechanics I know (manufacturing, automotive, etc.) have etched a unique number or symbol on all their tools so if something goes missing or is stolen, identification is simple.
 

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