Labor Laws and us...

[Warchef]

seems i have reached a crescendo with unscrupoulous restuarant owners.. seems i have run into every sort of scoundrel,liar,thief,and dumbass there is out there..

the owner i was recently working for was having troubles paying me my paycheck in a timely manner... i was exploring other options.. but was not quick enough to seal a deal before the gas company came in and shut down the line for non payment.. i packed up my knives and left..

now it seems i am owed 2 weeks salary, plus 3.5 days.. i have called, left messages and its been three weeks now that she has refused to pay me.. tommorow i file a legal action against her with the state labor board..

in addition i have filed an unemployment claim against her.. i was unable to continue working there due to the fact that i was not able to recieve paychecks.. and the gas was shut off.. will recieve notification in the next 10 days as to whether or not thats a valid reason for filing..


anyone else have experiences with this sort of stuff? how did it pan out? did yuou use a lawyer? did you do it all yourself?

do chefs actually fall into the overtime exempt laws? if so.. then ill accept it.. i do what i do for the love of it.. not the money.. but.. if we do not fall into these exemptions.. then im gonna soak her for the 40hours of overtime a week i did work...

im pissed about this.. im tired of working for devious owners... it has chased me out of the business once before.. i went back at it because its what i love.. but once again i have lost all hope in finding a place of employment in this field that isnt filled with employers of dubious distinction..

[foodpump]

Stick with the labour board. If you are owed salary, they will get it, and they don't help themselves to a piece of your pie.

Don't even think about lawyers. Forget about courts. You may pay alot of money in fees and legal costs and win, but there's no guarantee that you will get your money. The courts have no teeth when it comes to enforcing payments. The labour board, on the other hand, has a very sharp set of teeth. They can, and have done on many instances, freeze the bank accounts of employers.

Sounds hard to do, but don't get worked up. You'll spend alot of time being frustrated, negativley inclined, and sleepless if you're worked up.

[Pete]

If she is still in business you should have a decent chance of getting your money, but if she is, or has filed bankrupcy then you are pretty much SOL. Sorry.

[panini]

Warchef,
Were the owners aware that you packed up and left when the gas was shut?
If not, I'm not so sure that is a good reason to walk off. I know it's crazy, but the gas issue will have nothing to do with you performing your duties. A walk off is usually going to disqualify you from benes. Hope not.
The non payment is still an issue though. Go to your library and pull up an attorney program. Pull a sample demand letter. Send one to them certified.
Then, I think the next best move is to move on.
Sorry, this kind of thing give owners a bad name.
pan

[Warchef]

we tried calling her for half an hour on both her cell phone... and her house phone.. when we recieved no reply and the gas man lost his patience and shut off the line.. i started packing my stuff.. i had a feeling that the weekend would be shot.. i then proceeded to put away the food i had out and clean up.. that took me about another 1/2 hour.. she never returned our calls.. i left my key with the waiter who said he was going to hang out until she called.. i told him that i was done.. and that if she wanted me to stay she should call.. if not then should should mail me my check.. and make sure she had the money to cover it... its been two weeks + since and i have not recieved my check.. after trying to call her on her cell.. leave messages at the restaurant.. both with a person..and on the machine.. i still have yet to hear from her..

the owner is notoriously dodgy when it comes to monetary issues.. she owes just about everyone..i was warned before hand by the chef i replaced that the purveyors were on COD...after talking with the owner i was told it was because of the previous owner skipping out on everyone and
that she was in the process of building credit with them..

but that never stopped her from going to spend a hundred dollars on jeans at Guess.. or spending 180 dollars on a hair cut/coloring... its all good.. she should be allowed to spend for her personal stuff.. but would often come in and tell us her daily spendings...

i was payed consistently up to the week before my departure.. .she would hand me a voided check, but with the cash to cover it... the last check i recieved only had enough to cover a little more then half of the amount.. it took me almost two weeks to recover the rest.. and i had to do that by taking it myself out of the daily reciepts on the day i left..

surely the inability to recieve payment for my time is reason enough to walk off of a job... topped with the delectable cherry of no gas to cook with, and garnished with the whip cream of the owner not returning our calls when we told her the gas company was there.. it seems i would have one **** of a sundae... but thats for the unemployment office to decide...

either way im just determined to put a thorn in her side to keep her from pulling this with the next person...

as it is i am owed 1200 dollars...a trivial amount to some.. but with a baby on the way.. and not many jobs available in the field here.. i do believe i am entitled to compensation from UI... walk off or not..

today im calling the labor board.. ill keep you posted on what happens.. moreso that some one else in the future may encounter this same situation... and hopefully they can learn from my mistakes :-P

[shroomgirl]

when you next interview talk to the kitchen staff and see how long they've been working at the restaurant/under current employer...... if there are long timers than it's a good sign.

[katbalou]

had this happen to me before - no warning at all - went in on a monday morning and the dishwasher told me we were closed. took a while to get the pay, but i did and so did the dishwashers that i dragged into the labor board with me. so my advice is to go down to the local labor board and file the complaint right away.
kat

[Pete]

I hate to say this, as I feel for you, but you might of screwed yourself by taking money out of the dailies without her permission. Yes, I know she owed you the money, but legally that did not give you the right to take it upon yourself to dip into the cash flow. That could really hurt you in the long run.

[Warchef]

actually she did leave instructions for me to take the money she owed me ou of the dailies...

anyway.. called the labor board.. all of this has to be done through the mail.. so the are sending the forms...

[foodnfoto]

Regarding overtime laws-
I have been party to several cases with the dept. of labor where chefs and sous chefs have recouped back pay for overtime.
Here's haw it worked-
Anyone being paid a salary must spend at least 65% of his or her time at administrative dutes and no more than 35% in production if overtime is not to be paid.
If someone is being paid a straight salary without overtime compensation and spends more than 35% of his time in production, a legal case for back pay can be sought.
The enforcement of these laws vary from state to state, however. Your state labor dept. might take the case and it might not.
From my experience, plenty of food service operations flout this law-both small shops and large corporations (Starwood and Hyatt, for example) and too many people are exploited by being forced to work overtime without pay.
To recoup back pay, you must have an accurate depiction of the hours you worked on a daily basis and the specific duties you performed.