The Owner did not want to pay me for 1,000 hrs of OT

[fc18899]

What is the name of your state? KS

1… .I was hired at salary basis as a Consultant to the Owner of a Motel in Kansas. The Employment Contract was for 3 months and the governing law is California Law. I worked there for 4-1/2 months before I quit.

2. The actual job assigned to me was nonexempt and non-managerial type of long hour and routing works including manual and labor only jobs. My recorded OT was over 1,000 hrs. But the Owner did not want to pay for any OT. He said “I never asked you to work OT”

3. Now, after I have quit 14 months, the Owner still owes me some salary and trip expenses reimbursement. Can I also claim for OT and can I claim it under California Law?

 

[cbg]

I have no idea whether you may have exceeded the statute of limitations by waiting 14 months. The way to find out is to file a complaint with the CA DOL.

Why in heavens name did you wait so long?

 

[fc18899]

Statute of limitation: 2 years / "14 months" was due to the Owner's willful delay

Hi, cbg: Thank you for your questions.

1. Reasons for 14 months:
The Owner gave me two checks when I left the job last year. Both checks were wrong in the payee’s name and the salary amount was short, too. I have been asking the Owner to replace the void checks several times since last year, but the Owner tried to ignore it. Last week I faxed him again through his friend and asked him to wire me the salary he had owed me. He then finally replied me and said he wanted me to mail back the void checks and he will first deduct the stop payment fees of the two void checks from the salary (that he had owed me for 14 months, and void checks was his fault) and then write me new checks.

Knowing he is still not paying, I decided to take legal actions against him now.

2. My questions: California law seems to be much better for employee?
Because I know this Owner too well, if I do not file the claim through DOL, he probably will not pay me. Now I decided not only to file the claim against him for the salary he had owed me but also for the 1,000 hrs+ OT. My questions are 1) do I qualify for nonexempt? 2) Can I file the claim in California? Since California has 1.5 x + 2 x OT law.

3. Statute of limitation: Per Employment Guide of DOL FLSA:
“Employee rights: An employee may file a private suit, generally for the previous two years of back pay (three years in case of a willful violation) and an equal amount as liquidated damages, plus attorney’s fees and court costs,”

4. Do you think if I have a case?

 

[fc18899]

Where to file the claim – California DOL or Kansas DOL

Hi, cbg:

You seemed to think that I could file the claim with CA DOL.

But I called CA DOL yesterday; the person answered the phone said I should contact KS DOL, since the work place was in KS. The investigator of KS DOL has to conduct investigation there. So I am now contacting KS DOL.

I still would like to find out that if my employment contract was under CA law; and I was interviewed and accepted by Owner’s representative in Los Angeles, then can I claim the OT under CA law, even the work place was in KS? The employer is a KS corporation.

CAN SOMEONE HELP TO ANSWER MY QUESTION?

 

[cbg]

Hey, hold your horses, okay? Do you have any idea what time it was on the east coast? You're lucky I was there as late as I was - it was after 10:00 at night when I posted my first answer to you. I'm a volunteer and I do this on my own time. You've waited fourteen months - you can wait another 9 or 10 hours till people open for business.

There is no way I can evaluate whether your contract was legal under Califoria law or any other state law. I haven't seen your contract and neither has anyone here.

I also cannot evaluate to a 100% guarantee whether or not you were non-exempt. You have not provided enough information to say. What I can tell you is that the likelihood is that you were non-exempt.

Contact the Department of Labor. If they cannot help you, contact a local attorney. And don't be as demanding with them as you've been here.

 

[fc18899]

I do appreciate that you would even spend time to guide me and help me.

Hi, cbg:

I am so sorry if you felt that I was pushy. I was just trying to answer the questions on a real time basis. I think I was too anxious trying to get help and get a direction of this case.

Again cbg, I really appreciate your time and help. I have visited many other labor forum cases that you have posted comments on. I found that you are very knowledgeable in labor law and always provide good comments and directions to help victims in tough cases. Thank you very much for your time.

 

[fc18899]

My non-exempt status & Employment Contract

1. My non-exempt status (This is what I think I was, need help to confirm my status)

1.1 I WAS NOT

1.1.1 My salary was much less than 100 k /year
1.1.2 I was not hired as an executive staff,
1.1.3 I was not a manger or assistant manager of the Motel; I supervised no other employee.
1.1.4 I was not hired as an administrative staff of the Motel
1.1.5 I was not hired as computer person or outside salesman
1.1.6 I was not allowed to “use discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance”.

1.2 I WAS

1.2.1 Salary based, got paid semi-monthly; salary was over $455/week
1.2.2 Hired as a “Consultant”
1.2.3 My job was a bit of administrative, a bit of sales, a lot of translation work ( Owner was a Chinese gentleman and did not speak English), and a lot of errands-running labor work as in a Motel’s daily routine jobs
1.2.4 Daily assigned job required me to work average over 18 hrs a day.

2. My Employment Contract

It was a simple one-paged contract. Major points are:

2.1 Task: To provide consulting service to improve the current miss management condition
2.2 Contract period: 3 months
2.3 Monthly compensation
2.4 Governing Law: California Law and Arbitration.

MY QUESTIONS:

1) Can I claim for OT?
2) Can I file claims under CA law for OT?

 

[fc18899]

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc

I was wondering if it is a good idea to seek help from "Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc"? They charge about 29.95 per month and will provide attorney's names to you in your area for you to do "unlimited phone consultation".

Does anyone have experience with them? Good or bad?

 

[gryndor]

I was wondering if it is a good idea to seek help from "Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc"? They charge about 29.95 per month and will provide attorney's names to you in your area for you to do "unlimited phone consultation".

Does anyone have experience with them? Good or bad?

Personally I hate PPLS. They got a hold of my CC# and charged me monthly under a contract that I had no knowledge of. When I asked them to prove the existence of a contract that included my signature, they became very unprofessional, rude, accusatory, and then hung up on me. I had my bank recover all the charges to my account, as my bank found them fraudulent.

Here's my post from a few months ago:
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=172498