My employer wont pay me. Now what can I do?

[whatcaneyedo]

I did some work for a general contractor at the start of May. He said that he would pay me $15/hr and I worked for 27 hours. So he owes me $405 but has not paid me a cent. I call his home once a week to remind him and he rarely answers. So I leave messages but he has not returned one of my calls since May the 12th. Foolishly I don't have a written contract so its just my word against his. He claims to be too broke to pay but I don't believe him. I've offered to take money in installments and even less money than what he owes me. But still I have not received anything. I've been told that I could try BC Labour Relations to resolve this. Do I have any other options? I know which street he lives on but not which house...

He uses Craigslist and kigigi to find work and actually has an add posted right now http://princegeorge.en.craigslist.ca...743179068.html http://princegeorge.kijiji.ca/c-resu...AdIdZ205332468

[Funky_Fish14]

You could threaten to put a Lien on whatever property you worked on for upaid workers. legal threats work wonders.

A very similar thing happened to me (I was owed for something like 28 hours at the same rate from a landscaping company)... nothing was written... but yeah my dad knew about this trick and called the owners (who hired me) and suggested they pay 'the honest kid' for my work or he would have a lien applied on the properties I had worked on. They got the money to me within a day after 4 weeks of ignoring me.

[globaldesigns]

Originally Posted by Funky_Fish14

You could threaten to put a Lien on whatever property you worked on for upaid workers. legal threats work wonders.

A very similar thing happened to me (I was owed for something like 28 hours at the same rate from a landscaping company)... nothing was written... but yeah my dad knew about this trick and called the owners (who hired me) and suggested they pay 'the honest kid' for my work or he would have a lien applied on the properties I had worked on. They got the money to me within a day after 4 weeks of ignoring me.

As you have no written contract, I do believe it would be hard to put a lien on anything, especially for a few hundred bucks.

Personally as a small business owner, you can do 2 things

1.) go to small claims court

2.) decide to write if off, if you get it great, but if not, oh well... Personally you have to decide how much time is it worth to pursue, or just forget it and move on to the next project.

I guess you can say, live and learn, all us self employed have had this happen to us.

I don't start any work without a signed contract and without 50% deposit. I find if the potential customer complains, then maybe they won't pay anyways.

Good luck!

[whatcaneyedo]

I've considered just letting this slide. $405 isn't A LOT of money for me, this is more about principals and the fact that I don't like to be ripped off. If I was more confrontational I'd just knock on doors until I found him... but I'd prefer to do this the proper way.

I've spoken with the home owner where we did the work and she has been helping me out. She says she paid him $600 so that he could at least pay his workers (me and two other guys). According to at least one of the other guys I worked with he hasn't been paid anything as well.

I tried City Hall today and was told that they have no record of a Benjamin Joe having a business license / general contractors license.

[iansfishy]

let me have a good pic at your frags and ill take care of this for you! Seriously.

[iansfishy]

heres a freebie --- its 2328 quince. dont say i never did nothing for ya!

[fsjman]

Hey I have some HA friends in PG they would love to collect for you
go to the labour board If you do that he can get in to exterme trouble as he is doing this kinda stuff also report him to revenue Canada there is not really much a guy can do as it is a very small job but you can put a stop to his tactics Good Luck don't get your self in to to much trouble collecting if you know what i mean
+1 legal threats work wonders

[zum14]

Wife is telling me to tell you to look into small claims. Google bc small claims and you get the government website with all the forms. Doesnt cost anything because you represent yourself. I guess that is pretty much "legal threats" but if you serve him he might pay instead of going to court.

[The Grizz]

As a business owner I can tell you that if there is nothing in writing like a subcontractors agreement there is nothing that you can do other then small claims court but then again it is your word against his. And to make matter's worse you have to be able to prove that he hired you to do the work verbal agreement's mean nothing in court and to any labor standards board.

[lockrookie]

wouldnt he be able to use the ppl at the place he did the work as witnesses that he worked there and in fact did the work?