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Not being paid, need advice.

2K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  mr.pastry 
#1 ·
Long story short. The hotel I work for was recently bought out. The new owners knew nothing about F&B. They offered me to take over the whole F&B which included weddings, banquets and liquor. I told them thanks, but no thanks, only because I did not have the capital to make pay roll.

So they hire this guy that has his own catering biz. He starts and first month is fine. Next month checks were not being delivered on time, by a day or two. The guy totally destroys all out side biz by doing away with happy hour and specials. So biz starts to suffer. Pay checks are being delivered a week late. My staff is mad and starts freaking out, because they live pay check from paycheck. Some employees not being paid at all(dishwashers).

Now we are at the point of pay checks being two weeks late, in my case three weeks late. I am owed two full paychecks. Two weeks ago my staff and myself refused to work any shifts till we are paid in full. I was paid one check, most of the staff is still waiting. Now he is just BSing everyone and barely returning my calls.

He hired a new bartender and has a maintence guy from the hotel to cook(hahaha).
I talked to the owners about us being paid and they say they have no part in his biz.

So my question is what is the most effective way to get this guy to pay us? He swears up and down that I will be paid in full tomorrow(jan 4th). If I get a BS excuse I think I will try to put a little pressure on the hotel owners. Start by telling them that I will call the labor board, and IRS. I am really depending on this money, so it is very important to me. Any advice would be great.
 
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#3 ·
"What is the most effective way to get this guy to pay us?"

Assuming you are in the US...Contact the US department of labor. It may take some time but you will get paid.
 
#5 ·
Labour board.

Don't know what State you're in, but these guys (L. brd) have teeth and can use them.

Don't even think about lawyers or court, it'll be a looooong time if your case even came up, and by that time, the guy's taken off.

I feel for you.
 
#6 ·
Yes! Good catch. Ultimately when it comes to some thing like this it's time to move on but the labor board will make sure you get paid in the end.
 
#7 ·
Depending on how the deal was set up between the hotel guys and the catering guy, they may not have much pull in how he runs his business. You need to deal directly with this guy. As stated before, you need to talk to the local labor board. Forget lawyers-they'll cost you more than is owed you and forget court as it will take forever for your trial to come up. Either way, I'd seriously think of bailing and moving on. Sounds like the writing is on the wall on this one.
 
#8 ·
Well I told him I would call the labor board, but he didn't react like I wanted him too. However when I mentioned others were going to call the IRS, his faced turned white and I could see he was freaked out.

IRS threat won the day, I was paid and the others are being paid ASAP. So I assume he is probably not paying payroll taxes.hahaha
 
#10 ·
Yes. Run, do not walk, for the door. There's 50 good kitchens in my city and I don't even live in a real foodie town. What I'm getting at is, there's way too many jobs, that will actually pay you, to put up with this nonsense.
 
#11 ·
And spread the word to other cooks, chefs, dishwashers, agencies, etc. to avoid this guy altogether. You don't have to get in to any grudge details - just let them know he is dirty and don't take any chances with him.
 
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