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Legal Advice


egreir

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So, I was running a restaurant for a guy in town. Long story short, he fired me and refused to pay me my last two paychecks.

A) I can not prove he never paid me.

B) He can not prove that he did.

I have the time card for one paycheck, I don't have it for the other. I've filed a small claims case...how do I present my case the best?

I have payroll records showing I was a salary employee and a time card from my last two weeks there, but I can't show that he failed to pay me. Is that my burden to prove or his?

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Im not from the the states but I've studied HR law in another country.

Basically... If you are laying the complaint in a he said she said nature... You have the burden of proof.

Did he pay you cash? Or was it directly into your bank account?

Did you get a reciept/invoice/docket if he paid you in cash varifying the amount etc?

Honestly keeping clean and uncomplicated records is the best form of protection.

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Generally' date=' the burden of proof for documentation is on the employer. You don't have to prove that he did nothing...he has to prove that he did indeed pay.[/b']

That said, you'd do better to inquire on a legal forum instead of the FL one. :P

Normally I would agree but I have 0 knowledge of the American Employment legal system. So I was covering my bases.

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I feel like it should be cut and dry. I will claim he never paid me, he can't prove he did, I can prove I worked during the period he didn't pay, and thus he showed be found to owe me the money.

Basically he was paying every other Monday. He was notoriously hard to communicate with, hardly ever came around the place.

Monday comes, I can't get ahold of him at all. No one hears from him. Tuesday comes around, same thing. I finally get someone to answer at his house, its his mom, she asks to take a message, so I tell her whats going on...people threatening to quit, hard to run a business when the owner won't answer, etc.

Wednesday comes, he shows up and fires me for being "rude" to his mother and refuses to pays me the paycheck he's already 48 hours late paying, let alone for the 8 days in the new pay period that had transpired since the last payroll ended.

Calculating in what I can sue for 3x what is owed, according to the state labor department, and it washes up to close to 4 grand. Could be pretty helpful right about now.

edit: I should sue for more for all the mental stress and anguish this has caused me. Losing the job turned into losing my fiance which turned into losing a place to live which turned into my phone being shut off which turned into the past 2 weeks of my life being absolute hell :/

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Generally' date=' the burden of proof for documentation is on the employer. You don't have to prove that he did nothing...he has to prove that he did indeed pay.[/quote']

That's how it is in my country as well.

Not just that, but salaries are usually deposited in a bank account and it's easy to prove that you haven't received anything.

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You lost your fiance because you lost your job? Sounds like more is going on there. Plus you have had like 5 characters to 50 in the last 3 weeks. With all due respect, it may be time to checkout of FL for awhile to sort out the things going on with your life. Good luck!

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Getting paid in cash is always shady--that should've been a huge hint to be wary of the guy.

It is likely his liability if he didn't have you sign off on receiving the cash.

But I doubt you'll see much money out of it. This guy probably lives day to day and may not be able to pay...there is a reason he pays cash.

He is probably trying to cheat his taxes.

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