Not Paid for Time Worked

[kenn]

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Mississippi

I started working for my fiance's mom (Jane) doing landscaping in June. We verbally agreed to a pay rate of $10/hr. In June, I worked 105 hours and only received $110 in compensation. The reason given for not paying the full amount is that Jane had not rec'd payment from her clients yet and couldn't afford to pay me. She stated that the remainder would be paid when the funds were available. After agreeing to this, I continued work and performed 35 hours for July.

I found out today that Jane did receive payment from the client and had the funds to compensate me for June. After confronting her, she terminated my employment. I am in an extremely tight financial situation and don't know what to do. I do not have a formal agreement with her for anything; although, I have recorded my hours that I worked and have witnesses to verify.

[jk]

so, you need to figure out if you were an employee or an independent contractor. If an employee, contact the Mississippi Department of Employment Security and file a claim. If an independent contractor, you would have to sue her.

[kenn]

I believe I am an inddependent contractor. So how do I go about a lawsuit? Never had to do this before and could use some pointers. Thanks

[jk]

you find your local small claims court or actually, in your state I see they are called "Justice Courts".

I cannot find much useful information I can link for you. About the best I can offer is for you to contact the justice court in your area (you would want the court in the county of the person you are suing) and call them to see if they have an information pamphlet available to explain the process to you. They may be able to point you to a website I am missing as well.

[Betty3]

You can sue in small claims court without an attorney for up to $3,500 in Mississippi. Here is a link with some general info re filing in small claims court in Ms.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5472417_miss...rocedures.html

When the amt. is over $3,500, an attorney in your area needs to be contacted to file a case in a "higher court."

[jk]

You can sue in small claims court without an attorney for up to $3,500 in Mississippi. Here is a link with some general info re filing in small claims court in Ms.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5472417_miss...rocedures.html

When the amt. is over $3,500, an attorney in your area needs to be contacted to file a case in a "higher court."

what's up with Mississippi? I can't find much of any information and absolutely no specific information from the state concerning their small claims actions.

[Betty3]

Beats me! Generally the court clerk can give out general information re filing a small claims court action though they can't give out the type of legal information/help that a lawyer can.