Actually, the reason that my legal judgement was as large as it was is that I was an employee. My case went to the state labor board but the subcontractors were locked out of that option because they were not employees and who knows why else. Anyway, because I was able to go through the labor board, I did not *have* to get an attorney, while the subcontractors did. The subcontractors are also getting sued and they are in better shape in the second case because they hired their lawyer collectively before the second case started. They were already suing for wages in another venue. That has been going on for two years. Had they not had a lawyer in the related case, I doubt they would have been able to find a lawyer either. No lawyer wants to have a conflict of interest with the rest of the parties to the case. Their lawyer would have a conflict of interest anyway, so it's not in his interest to drop them as clients.
Because I was an employee, I did not have to sue and I did not have a lawyer. I was able to use an alternate regulatory compliance track. Having been a contractor could technically give me a stronger legal position, but being an employee gave me automatic government assistance. In fact, there is still some question about what the heck is going on, but it seems that the state tax board may have filed a lien on my behalf in order to collect my labor board judgement. However, in this case, it sounds like the company is looking for excuses to not pay and regardless of the strength of your legal position, you still have to worry about your legal position. It doesn't matter what any contract says, they can refuse to pay you even if it's not legal for them to do so. Being an employee doesn't matter either-- they can still refuse to pay you. It will cost lots of time, effort, and money to collect any money owed and it is simply not worth it to most of the people in this case (there are, I think 17 employees and contractors involved). My problem with the contract isn't the terms of the contract, but the implications of it. If they are already looking for ways to get out of paying you for work that you have completed to their specifications, you can't trust them. You need to decide up front what you will do in the event of not getting paid and determine what course of action is worthwhile. Then expect to not get paid and budget that in. Any time they pay you it will be like a happy bonus. Maybe you'll find that they really are trustworthy and you can slack a bit but I would probably stay concerned the entire time I worked for them. On 7/5/05, Louis Mezo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > As far as I know, you're usually in a stronger legal position to collect as > a contractor, rather than as an employee. Generally, in any State, the > courts favor the little guy, that is, the sub-contractor, provided they > didn't agree to something (in any legal document) that would absolve the > prime contractor from their obligation. Depending on the State, it is true > that even if you had signed something you shouldn't have, it may still be > considered unenforceable under the State's contract law. -- "My mind is a scary place." The Tick Now blogging.... http://www.blivit.org/blog/index.cfm http://www.blivit.org/mr_urc/index.cfm?sectionid=2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:11:2720 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/11 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:11 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.11 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
