I appreciate any and every response on this matter. I live in the metro NY area and have worked for a certain employer who for some reason or the other has not paid me for services rendered since June 2007. It was a summer program where a couple of friends and I applied, got the job and worked but still have not gotten paid. Whenever we ask Mr. Bossman, he always seems to sound concerned and disappointed that we have not been paid - constantly promising to contact payroll. I guess the question here is: what can we sue for because we still currently work for same guy... only hoping that he would pay us for our summer work period. Bills that had to be paid because we were dependent on this money were forfeited because we were not paid. Tuition, in my case, was not paid... what can I sue for? We have agreed that we want to sue now for possibly the stress caused and the forfeited bills and charges etc that were incurred. My apologies for the long message. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

I have to ask: Why didn't you just quit and find another job if you weren't being paid? I'm not sure what you can sue for legally, but a judge might think that you had a responsibility to mitigate your damages by looking for other work if you weren't getting paid at this job.

What sort of reasons are you being given for why you haven't been paid? And what sort of documentation do you have that you have actually worked since June? Keep in mind that when you go to court, you have to prove your case. What will be your response if the boss says he never hired you, etc.

Hello s:

Can/should you sue?? Yes.

excon

I would first contact the NYS Labor board. Slavery is illegal and an employer who does not pay for work done is going to get in trouble real quick.

You can sue for the actual wages you were owed plus any additional losses that occurred because you weren't paid. Trying to add on intangible things such as "stress" gets stickier but you can cetainly include any expenses that you had to put out as a result of not getting paid. For example, if you had to move because you couldn't pay your rent, you can sue for the moving expenses. Since you weren't able to pay your tuition, will you have to pay any type of late or re-registration fees? Add those to the list. Did you lose any time and thus wages on another job due to taking time off to deal with this problem? How about lawyer fees? Keep detailed records of all amounts that you've had to put out and why and add the total to whatever actual wages you're owed.

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Originally Posted by s_cianci

You can sue for the actual wages you were owed plus any additional losses that occurred because you weren't paid. Trying to add on intangible things such as "stress" gets stickier but you can cetainly include any expenses that you had to put out as a result of not getting paid. For example, if you had to move because you couldn't pay your rent, you can sue for the moving expenses. Since you weren't able to pay your tuition, will you have to pay any type of late or re-registration fees? Add those to the list. Did you lose any time and thus wages on another job due to taking time off to deal with this problem? How about lawyer fees? Keep detailed records of all amounts that you've had to put out and why and add the total to whatever actual wages you're owed.

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I don't know if a lawsuit for wages would rise to this level - there would be responsibility on your part to find another job instead of continuing to work and not get paid - you certainly are entitled to back wages if you can prove you actually worked the hours.

Probably what you would get if you sued would be the wages owed, expenses for your suit (lawyer, court costs) and interest on the money that was owed (normally done at like 6%).
You can ask for more and you might get it but you might get told your just greedy and only get what your owed. Depends on the judge. Also just because you go to court and the judge says pay the person doesn't always mean you get paid either. I have lots of out standing judgements from tenants that owe me money but it takes sometime 2 or 3 suits before the judge will force someone to pay you or face jail time all depends on the amount and the judge.