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Employee quits in middle of job

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nancy&Cyndy
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Nancy&Cyndy

Guest
Georgia

I am writing this on behalf of my dad. He was hired as a private contractor to do X amount of jobs for this company. He would be paid in 3 draws for the total amount, and after the job was completed he would be paid the remaining balance. Part of what he had to do was to travel out of town. He spoke with a family friend(first mistake), who agreed to help him with the job. He explained it would be out of town work and would take approx 4 weeks to complete. He told him as he recieved the draws on the job, he would pay him, and they agreed on a price. My father said he would also pick up the hotel bill, but he would be responsible for his own travel to and from the job, and his food. This was all agreed upon. Well the first job they had, instead of him traveling to and from work by himself, he traveled with my dad, which was okay, but it meant that this employee would have to use the company vehicle for an emergency that had happened in his family after the 2nd week they were working. The first 2 weeks went fine, but as the emergency happened, he said he could not return to work. The emergency was his son was having surgery for a hernia, which was understandable, but he left for 3 days plus the weekend, was to return, with the company vehicle on Sunday night or Monday morning. But did not. We had to send someone to pick up the van, and he said that dad had to pay him because he needed the money. Dad explained that he had not recieved his first draw yet on the job, and he would have to wait. The worker was not happy, but did wait. Dad got his draw and paid him the wages he was owed. Then the worker came back and worked like 3 days, but this was part of the last draw, then he said it was too much being away from his family, so he went home. He wanted his pay, but dad explained to him, he had to finish the job, and then they would be paid after the company checked the job, and okayed the completion of the work. That was 2 weeks ago. Now the former worker is harrassing my dad, saying he has to pay him, and my dad still has not been paid for completing the job. The former working is harrassing him, and calling the corporate office for the company my dad was contracted for, telling them he stole equipment from the company. My dad has reciepts for everything he has purchased (I do the accounting, and the paperwork for his company). Is there anything he can do to stop the harrassing, he wants to pay the man, but is struggling now because he has not been paid yet. He is having to go back and complete some of the job the former worker did, because it was not up to specs. Now my questions are this:
1) Because the former worker did not complete the job he agreed to complete, does my dad have to pay the wages agreed upon? Can he pay him less, because he had to find someone to replace him, and he was not given notice?
2) He also paid for hotel accommidations for 2 of them, and only my dad was left at the hotel. Because it was paid for in advance, he could not change the rate, and the other guy was not there. Can he subtract his part from what he owes him?
3) My dad is older, and this former worker caused him to have to work 16 hour days sometimes, and also my mother was so scared of him getting ill with his blood pressure, and physically ill, she went to try to help him. Therefore putting our family at risk for loosing my dad. Can he hold the former worker liable for any of that.
4) Any suggestions on how to handle this would be appreciated.

also this worker was paid thru 1099, and will claim this on his own personal taxes, so not sure how that all works. Also there was no written contract with this employee. Only verbal, and it was for the finished job, which he did not complete. Can dad only pay him min wage since he did not ful-fill his end of the deal?? Thanks alot
 


Beth3

Senior Member
1) Because the former worker did not complete the job he agreed to complete, does my dad have to pay the wages agreed upon? Do you mean wages for the entire job? I don't see why your father would have any obligation to pay him for work not perfomred. Can he pay him less, because he had to find someone to replace him, and he was not given notice? Again, pay him less than what? The fair and proper thing for your father to do is to pay him a reasonable or agreed upon wage for the work the guy actually did.

2) He also paid for hotel accommidations for 2 of them, and only my dad was left at the hotel. Because it was paid for in advance, he could not change the rate, and the other guy was not there. Can he subtract his part from what he owes him? Because it was paid for in advance??? Who pays a hotel bill in advance? That doesn't make any sense. If your father had reserved two rooms for "X" amount of time, he should have cancelled the other room when the guy left.


3) My dad is older, and this former worker caused him to have to work 16 hour days sometimes, and also my mother was so scared of him getting ill with his blood pressure, and physically ill, she went to try to help him. Therefore putting our family at risk for loosing my dad. Can he hold the former worker liable for any of that. Liable for what? You can't sue someone for something that might happen or that never actually happened. And even if something had happened to your father, the other guy isn't responsible for your father's age or poor health. The actual problem here was your father's poor hiring choice.

4) Any suggestions on how to handle this would be appreciated. None of this actually has anything to do with employment laws. Your father was a contractor (i.e. vendor) and he in turned hired a guy to act as a contractor to him. What I think your father should do is pay the guy a fair amount for the work he actually did and call it a day. And next time, he needs to be a lot more careful about who he hires to help him.
 
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Nancy&Cyndy

Guest
Thanks Beth

thanks Beth for the advice, as far as the hotel, they knew they would be there for 1 month, and they paid for the room by the month, it was like an efficiency apartment. After they paid the management would not let him move to another apartment, and refund the money. Like the manager said, it was not his fault the other guy did not stay. So I was asking if he could deduct that from his wages.

They agreed on a price for the full job. They would get paid in draws until the job was completed. The man worked for dad for 2 1/2 weeks, and was there for the first draw. We recieved a demand letter from him yesterday and it was claiming the entire amount which was around 1,450.00. which was what they agreed on for the entire job. The whole job took 34 days to complete, and the guy only worked 15 days of it. And my dad has already paid him like 750.00 of it. So what now?? My other brother in GA, has a heating and air business, and said that if an employee quits in the middle of a job, and you had an agreed price for the whole job, you can pay him min. wage for the hours he actually worked, and let the rest go. Since he broke his verbal agreement. Not sure if that is true or not, do you?

Thanks for your advice, will be taken to heart.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
But did your father have an agreement with the guy that if he did not complete the job, the cost of the room could be deducted from his salary? No, right? Unfortunately, your father didn't put anything in writing regarding the terms of this man's employment nor did he even think it all the way through - such as what the terms would be if the guy bailed on him.

As I said, I think it's fair for your father to pay him for the work he actually DID. As to whether he can deduct the cost of the pre-paid room, your father is free to do that too. If the guy has a problem with not being paid for work he didn't perform and being assessed the cost of the room he didn't use, he's free to file suit against your father, presumably in small claims court.

If your father has any further plans to hire anyone, I urge your dad to see an attorney to draft a template agreement that includes ALL the necessary terms and conditions (including all the things that haven't yet occured to your father) that he can use in the future.
 
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Nancy&Cyndy

Guest
Thanks Again Beth

I agree with your advice, but too bad for dad it came late. He went ahead and paid the man the wages, and learned a valuable lesson. Hopefully in the future it will not happen again. Thanks again.
 

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