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"contractor" with no agreement for work, am I liable when leaving suddenly?

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J

jd9000

Guest
I work in California, and I was working for a company as a "contractor", though the reality was I was an employee (according to the IRS's standards).
It was a terrible working environment, and, finally, the last straw came when my "client" was going to pay me late again. I went to him to demand to get paid, and a very animated argument ensued. I have not finished the project I was working on, and I only got paid a little of the money. Needless to say, I don't work there any more. I'm not interested in the rest of the money, and want this simply to be over with and move on.
We have a contract, but it only covers intellectual property, agreeing not to contact clients or persuade employees to leave the company, and some things saying not to harm the company. The contract does not cover completing work.
My concern here is what sort of liability I'm exposed to. I read somewhere (if I interpreted it correctly) that common law could leave me liable for damages, if he can establish damages as a result of my leaving. The problem was that this was for employees, not "contractors".

Thanks in advance!
 


H

hexeliebe

Guest
First of all what type of work were you doing? There's a whole lot of things that fall under 'contractor'.
 
J

jd9000

Guest
That was quick :) Thanks for your interest :)
It was programming.
 
H

hexeliebe

Guest
Now how did I know that.

O.K. the non-compete clause of your contract won't hold up in a California court. Other than that, there is nothing in the law that would hold you responsible for quitting.

In fact, you have a cause of action against your employer for non-payment of the contract.

There are others here who practice in California and will be stopping by soon. Wait until you hear from them before doing anything drastic.
 
J

jd9000

Guest
Heh, yeah. Well that's good to hear so far. I'm not going to do anything drastic, I really just want to put this behind me and forget about it. I was only worried that this might come back to haunt me some how. It looks like as long as I just do my taxes like a good citizen everything should be okay. Call this legal advice as mental therapy ;).

Thanks again :)
 

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