Forgery on a W-4 and Employment Contract

[HeyGuise_]

What is the name of your state? Location: Alabama, USA

Hi all,

I am a guitar teacher who has recently been let go from the company I taught with after a fairly messy process. I feel that it would be simpler to start at the beginning, but don't worry, I'll save the long winded explanations for later. Here's the short of things:

I had an issue at work which I feel was poorly handled, so I decided to quit during the meeting giving 4 weeks' notice. I did this because this would allow me to transition into my other part time job more permanently, and give them time to move my 40 students to other guitar teachers' schedules. A few days later, I received notice that the company would not be seeing my 4 weeks out, and that my time with them would be coming to an end immediately(this is spring break, so no lessons are taught therefore I was not scheduled to come in until next Monday).

Of course I'm upset about this and want to contact other teachers and students to thank them for their time, and to make them aware of the situation, but I don't want to cause a legal mess. So, I requested a copy of my contract for 2025 to see what I was bound by, and this is where red flags started to go off - they don't have a signed copy they can provide for me, and I don't recall signing a contract for this year at all.

I'm paid via Gusto so I decided to look there for documents, and only found a direct deposit document and a W-4, no contract. However, the signature on my W-4 is not my handwriting, and I did not ever fill out a W-4 for them. I asked around, and other teachers there have also not signed a W-4, so I'm concerned that the company has forged signatures for this document, and speculating that they could have done the same thing for my 2025 employment contract. I'm curious if there is a way the company could have signed these documents without my explicit consent(like some kind of online form signing up to gusto, or something), and where I would be able to find those forms without raising alarms. I'm in my early 20's and don't know much about these things, so me posting here is so I don't get myself into any real trouble.

Currently, they are looking for my signed contract, and the W-4 issue has not been presented to them by anyone as far as I know. I don't want to take action unless there is a serious issue here, but forgery on tax documents company wide seems like a pretty big deal. There are around 70 teachers for this company, so I can only assume that this is the case for all of these teachers.

**I wrote this post a day ago(for another site), and have received this communication from them this morning about my signed 2025 contract:

"We did not issue new individual contracts for teachers in 2025. The only position contract on file for you is the one signed at the time of your hire in 2021. At that time, it was standard practice for us to issue contracts only upon hire.

As you know, we transitioned all teachers from contractor to employee status in 2025, and we communicated the related updates and expectations to all teachers in October of 2024. The updated staff handbook was sent to the whole team in December of 2024. These materials were provided in advance of the transition so that teachers could make informed decisions about continuing employment at [deleted]. Those who chose to move forward completed the required employment documentation including the I-9 and other onboarding forms through Gusto."

I was told by the person who called me about not honoring my 4 weeks notice to contact the individual who wrote this email to get my signed contract. I think they are supposed to have this but now are trying to cover tracks since I did not sign this. They were able to send over an unsigned 2025 contract, so I know that this is a thing and they did not get rid of them following the 1099 to W-2 status change.**

Thanks to all who give this the time to read! Please feel free to ask me questions, and since I am so unfamiliar with this side of the world, any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Location: Alabama, USA

Hi all,

I am a guitar teacher who has recently been let go from the company I taught with after a fairly messy process. I feel that it would be simpler to start at the beginning, but don't worry, I'll save the long winded explanations for later. Here's the short of things:

I had an issue at work which I feel was poorly handled, so I decided to quit during the meeting giving 4 weeks' notice. I did this because this would allow me to transition into my other part time job more permanently, and give them time to move my 40 students to other guitar teachers' schedules. A few days later, I received notice that the company would not be seeing my 4 weeks out, and that my time with them would be coming to an end immediately(this is spring break, so no lessons are taught therefore I was not scheduled to come in until next Monday).

Of course I'm upset about this and want to contact other teachers and students to thank them for their time, and to make them aware of the situation, but I don't want to cause a legal mess. So, I requested a copy of my contract for 2025 to see what I was bound by, and this is where red flags started to go off - they don't have a signed copy they can provide for me, and I don't recall signing a contract for this year at all.

I'm paid via Gusto so I decided to look there for documents, and only found a direct deposit document and a W-4, no contract. However, the signature on my W-4 is not my handwriting, and I did not ever fill out a W-4 for them. I asked around, and other teachers there have also not signed a W-4, so I'm concerned that the company has forged signatures for this document, and speculating that they could have done the same thing for my 2025 employment contract. I'm curious if there is a way the company could have signed these documents without my explicit consent(like some kind of online form signing up to gusto, or something), and where I would be able to find those forms without raising alarms. I'm in my early 20's and don't know much about these things, so me posting here is so I don't get myself into any real trouble.

Currently, they are looking for my signed contract, and the W-4 issue has not been presented to them by anyone as far as I know. I don't want to take action unless there is a serious issue here, but forgery on tax documents company wide seems like a pretty big deal. There are around 70 teachers for this company, so I can only assume that this is the case for all of these teachers.

**I wrote this post a day ago(for another site), and have received this communication from them this morning about my signed 2025 contract:

"We did not issue new individual contracts for teachers in 2025. The only position contract on file for you is the one signed at the time of your hire in 2021. At that time, it was standard practice for us to issue contracts only upon hire.

As you know, we transitioned all teachers from contractor to employee status in 2025, and we communicated the related updates and expectations to all teachers in October of 2024. The updated staff handbook was sent to the whole team in December of 2024. These materials were provided in advance of the transition so that teachers could make informed decisions about continuing employment at [deleted]. Those who chose to move forward completed the required employment documentation including the I-9 and other onboarding forms through Gusto."

I was told by the person who called me about not honoring my 4 weeks notice to contact the individual who wrote this email to get my signed contract. I think they are supposed to have this but now are trying to cover tracks since I did not sign this. They were able to send over an unsigned 2025 contract, so I know that this is a thing and they did not get rid of them following the 1099 to W-2 status change.**

Thanks to all who give this the time to read! Please feel free to ask me questions, and since I am so unfamiliar with this side of the world, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Your post was reported to have the company name edited from it. It is not smart to publish real names on an open forum, especially when you are engaged in a dispute with that named entity/individual.

Electronic signatures are often used that are different from a person’s real signature. The person agrees to use that signature with the click of “I agree.”

 

[HeyGuise_]

Your post was reported to have the company name edited from it. It is not smart to publish real names on an open forum, especially when you are engaged in a dispute with that named entity/individual.

Electronic signatures are often used that are different from a person’s real signature. The person agrees to use that signature with the click of “I agree.”

Thanks - I did not catch this when I copied their response, I'll edit this out.

Also, I don't remember doing an electronic signature, however it is still possible, but would there be documentation of this somewhere?

 

[quincy]

Thanks - I did not catch this when I copied their response, I'll edit this out.

Also, I don't remember doing an electronic signature, however it is still possible, but would there be documentation of this somewhere?

If you saved the document on your computer and/or you printed off a hard copy of the document then, yes. There would be a record held by you. Otherwise the document is probably held somewhere by the other party.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Location: Alabama, USA

Hi all,

I am a guitar teacher who has recently been let go from the company I taught with after a fairly messy process. I feel that it would be simpler to start at the beginning, but don't worry, I'll save the long winded explanations for later. Here's the short of things:

I had an issue at work which I feel was poorly handled, so I decided to quit during the meeting giving 4 weeks' notice. I did this because this would allow me to transition into my other part time job more permanently, and give them time to move my 40 students to other guitar teachers' schedules. A few days later, I received notice that the company would not be seeing my 4 weeks out, and that my time with them would be coming to an end immediately(this is spring break, so no lessons are taught therefore I was not scheduled to come in until next Monday).

Of course I'm upset about this and want to contact other teachers and students to thank them for their time, and to make them aware of the situation, but I don't want to cause a legal mess. So, I requested a copy of my contract for 2025 to see what I was bound by, and this is where red flags started to go off - they don't have a signed copy they can provide for me, and I don't recall signing a contract for this year at all.

I'm paid via Gusto so I decided to look there for documents, and only found a direct deposit document and a W-4, no contract. However, the signature on my W-4 is not my handwriting, and I did not ever fill out a W-4 for them. I asked around, and other teachers there have also not signed a W-4, so I'm concerned that the company has forged signatures for this document, and speculating that they could have done the same thing for my 2025 employment contract. I'm curious if there is a way the company could have signed these documents without my explicit consent(like some kind of online form signing up to gusto, or something), and where I would be able to find those forms without raising alarms. I'm in my early 20's and don't know much about these things, so me posting here is so I don't get myself into any real trouble.

Currently, they are looking for my signed contract, and the W-4 issue has not been presented to them by anyone as far as I know. I don't want to take action unless there is a serious issue here, but forgery on tax documents company wide seems like a pretty big deal. There are around 70 teachers for this company, so I can only assume that this is the case for all of these teachers.

**I wrote this post a day ago(for another site), and have received this communication from them this morning about my signed 2025 contract:

"We did not issue new individual contracts for teachers in 2025. The only position contract on file for you is the one signed at the time of your hire in 2021. At that time, it was standard practice for us to issue contracts only upon hire.

As you know, we transitioned all teachers from contractor to employee status in 2025, and we communicated the related updates and expectations to all teachers in October of 2024. The updated staff handbook was sent to the whole team in December of 2024. These materials were provided in advance of the transition so that teachers could make informed decisions about continuing employment at [deleted]. Those who chose to move forward completed the required employment documentation including the I-9 and other onboarding forms through Gusto."

I was told by the person who called me about not honoring my 4 weeks notice to contact the individual who wrote this email to get my signed contract. I think they are supposed to have this but now are trying to cover tracks since I did not sign this. They were able to send over an unsigned 2025 contract, so I know that this is a thing and they did not get rid of them following the 1099 to W-2 status change.**

Thanks to all who give this the time to read! Please feel free to ask me questions, and since I am so unfamiliar with this side of the world, any advice is greatly appreciated.

First, it is not normal for an employee a your level to sign a contract at all unless they are represented by a union. It does happen, but generally not at your level. Also, it is quite normal for a contractor to sign a contract that remains in effect and automatically renews. Therefore, the fact that they do not have a signed contract for you for 2025 is pretty much a moot point.

As far as the W4 is concerned, yes, it is more than a bit odd that the only W4 you can find has a signature on it that you do not think is yours. However, since a W4 sets up your withholding, which is a deposit towards your taxes, unless you have any demonstrable harm from this (which you would not know until next year's tax season and is unlikely anyway since we are only a few months into the year), then that could also be a moot point.

The company was not required to let you actual work through your notice period. It is very common for employers to let employees who are quitting go immediately.

 

[adjusterjack]

Thanks to all who give this the time to read! Please feel free to ask me questions, and since I am so unfamiliar with this side of the world, any advice is greatly appreciated.

I carefully searched your post for a question mark and couldn't find one.

So please explain why you are here, what you want to know, what you want to accomplish, what action against your employer that you imagine you can take, and what results you hope to get.

Frankly, though, I don't see anything in your post that suggests that your employer did anything wrong or illegal.

 

[quincy]

I carefully searched your post for a question mark and couldn't find one.

So please explain why you are here, what you want to know, what you want to accomplish, what action against your employee that you imagine you can take, and what results you hope to get.

Frankly, though, I don't see anything in your post that suggests that your employer did anything wrong or illegal.

HeyGuise was interested in the possible forgery of his name on employment documents. I suspect everything was signed electronically.

HeyaGuise said he didn’t want to take any action unless there was a serious issue that should be addressed. I don’t see a serious issue that needs addressing, based on what has been posted.

 

[Taxing Matters]

I'm a lawyer who used to work for IRS. A forged signature on a W-4 is a federal criminal offense but I never saw such case come, much less get prosecuted unless it was connected to a wider crimal like tax evasion. All the W-4 does is give the employer information needed to determine the correct withholding. The Form W-4 is not provided to the IRS except in unusual circumstances. In the (at least the smart ones) keep it in the employees personnel file in case the employee gets into legal trouble with their taxes. Just from the facts you gave the IRS isn't going to be interested in pursuing it if you haven't been engaged in any tax evasion activities.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state? Location: Alabama, USA

… Of course I'm upset about this and want to contact other teachers and students to thank them for their time, and to make them aware of the situation, but I don't want to cause a legal mess. So, I requested a copy of my contract for 2025 to see what I was bound by, and this is where red flags started to go off - they don't have a signed copy they can provide for me, and I don't recall signing a contract for this year at all.

I'm paid via Gusto so I decided to look there for documents, and only found a direct deposit document and a W-4, no contract. However, the signature on my W-4 is not my handwriting, and I did not ever fill out a W-4 for them. I asked around, and other teachers there have also not signed a W-4, so I'm concerned that the company has forged signatures for this document, and speculating that they could have done the same thing for my 2025 employment contract. I'm curious if there is a way the company could have signed these documents without my explicit consent(like some kind of online form signing up to gusto, or something), and where I would be able to find those forms without raising alarms. I'm in my early 20's and don't know much about these things, so me posting here is so I don't get myself into any real trouble.

Currently, they are looking for my signed contract, and the W-4 issue has not been presented to them by anyone as far as I know. I don't want to take action unless there is a serious issue here, but forgery on tax documents company wide seems like a pretty big deal. There are around 70 teachers for this company, so I can only assume that this is the case for all of these teachers.

**I wrote this post a day ago(for another site), and have received this communication from them this morning about my signed 2025 contract:

"We did not issue new individual contracts for teachers in 2025. The only position contract on file for you is the one signed at the time of your hire in 2021. At that time, it was standard practice for us to issue contracts only upon hire.

As you know, we transitioned all teachers from contractor to employee status in 2025, and we communicated the related updates and expectations to all teachers in October of 2024. The updated staff handbook was sent to the whole team in December of 2024. These materials were provided in advance of the transition so that teachers could make informed decisions about continuing employment at [deleted]. Those who chose to move forward completed the required employment documentation including the I-9 and other onboarding forms through Gusto."

I was told by the person who called me about not honoring my 4 weeks notice to contact the individual who wrote this email to get my signed contract. I think they are supposed to have this but now are trying to cover tracks since I did not sign this. They were able to send over an unsigned 2025 contract, so I know that this is a thing and they did not get rid of them following the 1099 to W-2 status change.**

Thanks to all who give this the time to read! Please feel free to ask me questions, and since I am so unfamiliar with this side of the world, any advice is greatly appreciated.

In regards to the bolded above, your former employer was probably trying to protect their client base by preventing you from contacting the teachers and students about your departure. Client lists are a valuable company asset and your employer would not want to lose any of their students who otherwise might want to follow you to a new location for private lessons.

If/when you get ahold of your original contract, there could very well be a provision that spells this out.

 

[Mark_A]

According to your post, all teachers were transitioned from contractor to employee status in 2025, so it seems that there is no applicable contract. In most states an employer can fire an employee at will with no notice.

It is not unusual for people to give 2 weeks notice and the employer to tell them they can leave before the 2 weeks are up, and the company will still pay them for the 2 weeks. As I a manager, I have done this myself a couple of times for employees who have given 2 weeks notice, and one time it happened to me when I resigned a job and they let me leave before the 2 weeks were up, but still paid me for the 2 weeks. I have never heard of this going beyond 2 weeks, unless it is for a CEO or senior executive and they need a transition period to a new executive. And I can see a smaller company not having the financial resources to want to pay someone even for 2 weeks if they want the employee to leave immediately for various reasons (especially if that employee may compete with them at their new job).

 

[quincy]

An employer owes nothing to the departed employee, absent an agreement to the contrary. Once an employee tenders his/her resignation, the employer has the (often exercised) option to dismiss the employee immediately. There are several good reasons for an employer to do this. I noted one good reason in my previous post.

 

[LdiJ]

An employer owes nothing to the departed employee, absent an agreement to the contrary. Once an employee tenders his/her resignation, the employer has the (often exercised) option to dismiss the employee immediately. There are several good reasons for an employer to do this. I noted one good reason in my previous post.

And...it is NOT the norm for the employer to go ahead and pay the departing employee for the two weeks even if they immediately let them go. Some employers do, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[quincy]

And...it is NOT the norm for the employer to go away and pay the departing employee for the two weeks even if they immediately let them go. Some employers do, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

I would say it’s the exception rather than the rule, too. I would say that most employers do not reward employees for quitting by giving them two weeks worth of pay.

 

[cbg]

I do not deny that it is the exception; and I agree that the employer has no responsibility beyond the last day worked.

However, I have always paid out the notice period on those rare occasions when I do not have them work the notice period out. If they're good enough to give me notice, and if for some reason I don't want them to continue for the notice period (usually for salespeople) it's only fair for me to pay it out.

 

[quincy]

I do not deny that it is the exception; and I agree that the employer has no responsibility beyond the last day worked.

However, I have always paid out the notice period on those rare occasions when I do not have them work the notice period out. If they're good enough to give me notice, and if for some reason I don't want them to continue for the notice period (usually for salespeople) it's only fair for me to pay it out.

You are far nicer than most. Of course, we all already knew that.