I have been employed by my current employer for approximately 15 years and over the last ten years I have repeatedly been paid late. By late I mean weeks and up to a month with a balance of up to 15k. I am an hourly employee and I’m paid weekly (most of the time). During the ’09 downturn I was told by my employer that he could not afford to pay me weekly and we decided that I would be paid a percentage of each invoice that was paid. When he gets paid, I’ll get paid. That worked for a little while and then it was back to my employer borrowing money from my invoices (without my knowledge) that were getting paid and I would wait when he had the funds to pay me. We have a verbal agreement but no written agreement. Each time I am paid the invoice total is written on my paycheck stub with the percentage that is taken from the employer and the remainder of which I receive. I am now at the point where I am so disgusted with continuing to work with him that I no longer what to be involved with his company. The dilemma that I have is I am now owed close to 100k. The invoices that have been paid of the 100k add up to approx 10k. That 10k that was recently received by my employer went to pay other bills and other hourly employers. My question(s) is, what are my rights regarding receiving payment if I throw down my resignation? If I decide to sue, does my lawsuit have merit? My employer has also been paying employees under the table while the employees collect unemployment.
Comments:
1. I am an employee and not a contractor.
2. I make more than twice as much as my employer.
3. My employer is not involved with my side of the business. I essentially run a company within his company.
4. The percentage that my employer makes from me is small.
Thanks for helping.

