ShadowDrake
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Michigan.
This one actually could fit in wrongful termination as well. But I feel there's a bigger case here.
I made a thread about this a while ago, and basically got told to clean my act up - which I have. I am prepared to pay taxes in, as an independent contractor and have made official complaints about my independent contractor status to my (former) employer.
I worked in a computer shop, repairing computers.
I was required to punch a time clock both in and out, and be in at regular intervals.
I was told to perform my job a specific way and had all the same duties, and responsibilities as one of the others there who was an actual employee.
For all intents and purposes, I was an employee apart from tax status. My employer was trying to do this as a tax dodge.
On weeks I was asked to work more than 40 hours, I did, but never received overtime pay for any hours over 40.
We were supposed to be paid weekly (every wednesday) but I have not received a timely check in months. Often times the check was at least two days late, or I wouldn't receive a check for a week and the amount would get rolled over into the next week, where the check would again be late. Checks are written to me by hand, and I deposit them the same day I get them. I would have to go to the bank to pull up copies of all of the checks, but I do have receipts for deposit amounts and dates.
The final straw today was I was helping a customer who was picking up their computer today, and they decided I would be a good person to spill their life story to. They just paid us approx. $400 for services, so I was not going to be rude but I did not attempt to further the conversation, just simple acknowledgements like nodding or letting them know I'm listening. They talked for about 10 minutes.
In that time, my boss punched me out of the timeclock because he did not want me up there listening to the customer for so long. He never let me know he was going to do this. As I was walking past him back to my station to work, he told me I should probably punch back in. I, at that point, left, to which I was told to not come back.
My boss will often cut our times short. If we are late more than 5 minutes, he will round our times off 30 minutes AFTER we punch in. He says it's legal because he has it posted. He still expects us to work for time we are not getting paid. He has full access to our punch in and out times for the time clock and is the only person that has access to them, and the backups. There's no way to tell if he modified our times in the clock until we see our check come up short, if we kept track. I've caught him in this several times but he always blames it on me being late.
I don't know how I'm supposed to prove otherwise when he can modify punch times at his will. But he's been shorting me money for a long time.
So, the short summary:
-Independent contractor treated as an employee
-Not being paid overtime for hours over 40
-Paychecks are unreliable and never show up on time
-If punching in more than 5 minutes late, 30 minutes from punch in time is removed from time, yet we are still expected to work this time
-Was punched out by my boss while I was working, with intent for him to not pay me for that time - results in me getting fired on the spot.
What can I do about this to have some sort of recourse? I have another job already but would really like to see this guy get what he has coming for all the ****ty treatment (which is what I originally made my post about).
Is a lost wages case with the labor board all I'm going to have? How do I prove what I actually worked when my previous employer could modify the times in the time clock?
This one actually could fit in wrongful termination as well. But I feel there's a bigger case here.
I made a thread about this a while ago, and basically got told to clean my act up - which I have. I am prepared to pay taxes in, as an independent contractor and have made official complaints about my independent contractor status to my (former) employer.
I worked in a computer shop, repairing computers.
I was required to punch a time clock both in and out, and be in at regular intervals.
I was told to perform my job a specific way and had all the same duties, and responsibilities as one of the others there who was an actual employee.
For all intents and purposes, I was an employee apart from tax status. My employer was trying to do this as a tax dodge.
On weeks I was asked to work more than 40 hours, I did, but never received overtime pay for any hours over 40.
We were supposed to be paid weekly (every wednesday) but I have not received a timely check in months. Often times the check was at least two days late, or I wouldn't receive a check for a week and the amount would get rolled over into the next week, where the check would again be late. Checks are written to me by hand, and I deposit them the same day I get them. I would have to go to the bank to pull up copies of all of the checks, but I do have receipts for deposit amounts and dates.
The final straw today was I was helping a customer who was picking up their computer today, and they decided I would be a good person to spill their life story to. They just paid us approx. $400 for services, so I was not going to be rude but I did not attempt to further the conversation, just simple acknowledgements like nodding or letting them know I'm listening. They talked for about 10 minutes.
In that time, my boss punched me out of the timeclock because he did not want me up there listening to the customer for so long. He never let me know he was going to do this. As I was walking past him back to my station to work, he told me I should probably punch back in. I, at that point, left, to which I was told to not come back.
My boss will often cut our times short. If we are late more than 5 minutes, he will round our times off 30 minutes AFTER we punch in. He says it's legal because he has it posted. He still expects us to work for time we are not getting paid. He has full access to our punch in and out times for the time clock and is the only person that has access to them, and the backups. There's no way to tell if he modified our times in the clock until we see our check come up short, if we kept track. I've caught him in this several times but he always blames it on me being late.
I don't know how I'm supposed to prove otherwise when he can modify punch times at his will. But he's been shorting me money for a long time.
So, the short summary:
-Independent contractor treated as an employee
-Not being paid overtime for hours over 40
-Paychecks are unreliable and never show up on time
-If punching in more than 5 minutes late, 30 minutes from punch in time is removed from time, yet we are still expected to work this time
-Was punched out by my boss while I was working, with intent for him to not pay me for that time - results in me getting fired on the spot.
What can I do about this to have some sort of recourse? I have another job already but would really like to see this guy get what he has coming for all the ****ty treatment (which is what I originally made my post about).
Is a lost wages case with the labor board all I'm going to have? How do I prove what I actually worked when my previous employer could modify the times in the time clock?
