My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Florida.
I was hired by a company and when i finished my orientation i signed a contract stating that i was being hired at 11.80 per hour. When i returned to my account after orientation my local manager looked over the contract with me and let me know that was fine but he was only going to be paying me 10.20 per hour. I pushed the issue with him since as far as i know this is a signed contract and i don't understand how he could just make up an ammount different from what was signed by me and the people in Hr at headquarters. I worked for them for 25 months at the different pay and could never get a straight answer no matter how many times i brought up this issue with him, he just seemed to tell me he would look into it but i just felt he was blowing me off. How can i handle this? Do i have a leg to stand on to recoup the difference in pay i should have been paid according to the contract? Any help is greatly appreciated. Our office was here locally that i worked out of but the company is a huge company of thousands of employee's and a fortune 500 company. Thanks for any help you guys can send my way.
Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
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10-05-2013, 06:59 PMdsands321Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
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10-05-2013, 07:04 PMjkRe: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
if this is actually a contract, your recourse would be to sue your employer.
You might want to have a lawyer read what you believe is a contract before taking any action though. -
10-05-2013, 07:04 PMcbgRe: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
Your first and almost only option is to have what you signed looked at by a Florida attorney and see if it really is a contract. Quite often such agreements are not actually contracts at all.
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10-05-2013, 07:16 PMdsands321Re: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
I am no longer employed by them and called their legal department about this. They seemed to take it very seriously as i got 3 call backs on it the same day and they said they were looking over their copy of the document i'm talking about and that in fact it did say 11.80 when the computer shows that i was paid the entire time at 10.20 and would be launching an investigation into it and will be contacting me back early next week to let me know what they plan to do about it. I'm mainly looking for any advice you guys can give me, what to expect? How to respond if they do in fact call me back wanting to resolve the issue without litigation? I'm very ignorant to the law in this area.
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The document reads "Terms of Employment Contract" It was signed by me and the director of HR. At the bottom was where it reads "compensation approval 11.80 per hour".... -
10-05-2013, 08:11 PMjkRe: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
You may have an issue by not enforcing the terms of the contract for the period of time you were employed. While a verbal amendment to a contract is not generally enforceable, sometimes failing to assert your rights under a contract can be seen as tacit approval of the change.
See what HR has to say to the issue. If they rebuff your claim, I would suggest either filing suit in small claims court or speaking to a lawyer to give you some advice based on the specific facts of the case.
If they wish to attempt to resolve the issue without litigation, it would be up to you to accept what, if anything they may offer or not. -
10-05-2013, 09:21 PMdsands321Re: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
As i stated above i have contacted HR and the refered me to their legal department on the issue. The guy i talked with said he confirmed what i alleged through finding their copy of the contract and i in fact was paid the entire time of my employment at a different amount than the contract stated and he was launching an investigation as to how and why this occured. The VP of legal then contacted me almost immediately after this gentleman hung up with me appologizing for the mistake and thanked me for contacting them myself in order to give them a chance to resolve this without having an attorney file suit without giving them a chance to resolve this issue with me personally. I'm basically just looking for any advice i can get so that when they do contact me back with whatever they propose as it seems that's what they plan to do i just want to know where i stand and to make sure i get a proper resolution. He mentioned that this was more than just owing me money and could have legal ramifications what does he mean by that statement? I just want to be informed so i know how to respond intelligently to whatever they may offer me and if i should sign some sort of non disclosure agreement which he did mention in our phone call. Thank you all again for any help with this.
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10-06-2013, 02:18 AMBubba JimmyRe: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
95.11(2)(a) of the Florida Statutes provides a 5 year statute of limitations to enforce a contract.
"A legal or equitable action on a contract, obligation, or liability founded on a written instrument, except for an action to enforce a claim against a payment bond, which shall be governed by the applicable provisions of ss. . . ." -
10-06-2013, 04:01 AMjkRe: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
Sure it does but we have the issue of op knowing they were not being paid what the contract demanded and failed to seek to enforce the contract. There are defenses available to the employer that may prevent the OP from enforcing the terms now.
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10-06-2013, 04:12 AMllworkingRe: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on ContractIf they offer to pay you the difference for the period of time that you worked, and ask you to sign a non-disclosure, then that might be the best thing to do. Otherwise, you would have to await the outcome of a court case, without a guarantee that you would win.Quote:
Quoting dsands321
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10-06-2013, 06:36 AMdsands321Re: Employer Paid Me Less Than I Signed for on Contract
Ok, i guess i was looking for more of what my rights are and what i could possibly ask for? I just kinda figured if they wanted me to sign a non disclosure in order to settle with me that maybe that means they are pretty much wanting to settle with me so that i wouldn't sue them right? Pay me off to minimize their potential costs? Am i way off base here or would i have a little leverage?