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My boss is refusing to pay for completed work - Legal Forum

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Erikson

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? British Columbia, Canada.

I was been working for a website for almost a year now, working as their main reviewer. The agreement was that I would be paid every three months for my work on their website for writing reviews, editorials, and other duties. They have paid me once in the time that I have worked there, and now it seems that they are refusing to pay for the rest of it.

They currently owe me $4300.00, and wish me to accept only $900.00 and as they have put it, “Call it a day”, meaning that they want me to just ignore the rest of the balance owed.

Back in March they have sent one other check to me, for more than $900.00, but removed money from the account so that there were insufficient funds. They said that they were moving around funds for whatever purpose. They then said to expect a check in April, but it has not come.

In short they are giving excuses, trying not to pay for services rendered, and need to pay up. The main problem is that they are based in California, and I am up in Canada. How can I get them to fork over the money? Do I need to take them to court? If I do need to, would it be the court up in Canada?
 


eerelations

Senior Member
It sounds like you were working as an independent contractor, and not an employee, and you are therefore not covered by employment legislation, in Canada or the US.

That said, it does sound like you have a civil claim with these people. Because they're in California, Canadian courts will not have any authority over them (in other words, a Canadian court will not be able to order them to pay you), so you'll have to file your claim in California, in a California court.

Before you go rushing off to California, however, contact the appropriate civil court and ask if they're able to order these people to pay a Canadian.
 

Erikson

Junior Member
First... Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I also have a follow-up that hopefully you can help out with.

Since the work has not been paid for by them yet the work would still belong to me right? If that is so would this not be an issue of copyright infringement, since they are gaining funds from my work?
 

pattytx

Senior Member
You're lucky eerelations is here, as he has experience in Canadian labor law. The administrators let him contribute if he can, but don't expect anyone else to. Guess the U.S. Law only notice at the top of the page didn't mean anything to you. :rolleyes:
 

eerelations

Senior Member
I am not an expert in copyright law, and so I can't answer your question. There may be another forum on this site where you can ask about that - and when you're asked where you are, say California, because the copyright law that would affect you would be American, not Canadian. The Canadian judicial system probably isn't remotely interested in whether your work still belongs to you or not (and even if it were, it doesn't have any authority over your US client to enforce any decisions it might make about this).
 

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