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  1. #1

    Default My Previous Employer Refuses to Pay Me and Has Threatened to Sue Me

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

    I recently worked for a company where I was a commission-based employee.

    My commissions were recently cut, and to "make up" for it, my employer offered me a bonus of $3,000 if I hit a certain quota.

    This offer is documented in text messages between myself and my employer.

    I was fired on April 9th, the day before payday, and he has since refused to pay me the $3,000.

    I found out that another employee with the same bonus that I get DID in fact receive his $3,000 from the employer -- he text me confirmation that he did, in fact, receive the $3,000 in cash from our employer.

    I was thinking of taking my employer to small claims court.

    My biggest concern is that he is well-known as someone who files frivolous lawsuits in order to hurt others. He has bragged about it to almost everyone in our office, how he will sue people for no reason, just to screw them over.

    I am fearful of getting into one of these lawsuits, but this $3,000 is important to me financially and in principle.

    I will paraphrase the text messages between him & me here for transparency:

    March 15th:
    Employer:
    Bonuses:
    $900K GM $1,000
    $1mm $3,000
    $1.1mm $4000

    Me:
    Looks good boss... we will push hard for it!

    Employer: Cash $


    April 9th, after being fired
    Me:
    Hey bud, so Mike just let me know the news. No hard feelings on my end -- I think maybe I wasn't the best guy for the job, and then these health issues really took me out of the game last week.

    How do I go about getting the $3K for hitting $1MM last month?

    Employer:
    We will meet up. Sorry man I'm sick today.
    All the stress adds up.
    But I love you man for real
    I'll pay on the 10th
    Let's meet up for lunch
    Or tomorrow




    ...After this, I continued to text and follow up with him over the past 7 weeks and he has continually dodged me and made excuses why he can't meet up. I want that money.

    He recently went radio silent on me and ignores my texts/calls, and my last text message to him is:

    May 23
    Me:
    This text message is to confirm that you've decided to not pay me the $3,000 bonus you owe me for hitting the $1,000,000 in revenue for the month of March.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: My Previous Employer Refuses to Pay Me and Has Threatened to Sue Me

    You have little to lose by suing him but if you decide the fear of frivolous litigation from the man is enough to dissuade you, that is your decision.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: My Previous Employer Refuses to Pay Me and Has Threatened to Sue Me

    Quote Quoting jk
    View Post
    You have little to lose by suing him but if you decide the fear of frivolous litigation from the man is enough to dissuade you, that is your decision.
    It might be worth running it by the department of labor. However, I agree that you have little to lose by suing him in small claims court.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: My Previous Employer Refuses to Pay Me and Has Threatened to Sue Me

    Quote Quoting llworking
    View Post
    It might be worth running it by the department of labor. However, I agree that you have little to lose by suing him in small claims court.
    I could be wrong (California is a weird beast) but my understanding is the dept of labor (state or fed) only concerns itself with ensuring the op received at least minimum wage. If true, unless op received less than minimum wage for the period they won’t do anything.


    Of course it doesn’t hurt to inquire to be sure.

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