Wages not paid despite multiple attempts to recover
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Wages not paid despite multiple attempts to recover
I worked as a contractor for my employer who was a vendor for a big company.
The company paid my employer, for the billed hours that I worked for a month. My
employer didn’t cash the check for over a month. In the meantime the vendor
management company went bankrupt. My employer refused to pay when there is
clearly no fault of mine. I kept requesting him personally, via phone calls and email
to pay me but I haven’t seen a cent. Once he verbally agreed to pay me half of
what he owed in front of other witnesses but still hasn’t pay me anything. What is
my recourse? I will also really appreciate if you please clarify further about the
time duration passed or the statute of limitations. This incident of my employer
refusing to pay me happened in 2008. I followed it up with him up until a year and
half ago. I didn’t want to get into litigation and was trying to be nice. I know now it
was a mistake. But I do want this employer to be accountable for what he did.
Thanks and best regards. VK
Asked on March 23, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Unfortunately, the statute of limitations in your state for a wage claim is either three years (for employers) or four years (for indepedent contrators working pursuant to a written agreement--it's only two years if the agreement was oral). The time period starts from when they failed to pay you--in your case, eight years ago. That means that far too much time has passed, based on what you write, and you can no longer enforce your claim (i.e. you can't take legal action to make them pay).
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