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jeannem · Oct 4, 2009, 09:07 PM

I need to find out if I can sue my husband and his employer. My husband is allowing his employer to not pay him for 1 hour of overtime every day, which amounts to 1000.00 a month. As a result of this which I know is illegal, my house is going into foreclosure. My husband doesn't seem to care and is alllowing this to continue. I plan on divorcing my husband, but I feel I should be able to take legal action to stop this, so I don't loose my home.

stinawords · Oct 4, 2009, 10:27 PM

Whose name is your house under? Also what state are you in? Different states have different laws but basically no, you can't sue (and win) your husband or his employer. Their agreement is their agreement. Now, of course there are labor laws but someone can agree to work for any price they want... he could agree to work for five cents an hour (don't think he would but he does have that option). What type of work does he do? That usually makes a greater difference in how pay is set and how much barganing goes into how much someone is paid... also is he part time or full time an actual employee or self contractor?

jeannem · Oct 5, 2009, 03:25 AM

The house is in both of our names, I live in New Jersey. What's happening with this hour is against federal labor laws. He drives a truck daily from New Jersey to New York city, hauling away demolition material. Federal labor law for truck drivers says wait time is not considered break time, yet his
Boss says that hour of overtime he docks every day is for break time. I know that it is illegal for him to dock overtime for any reason, and breaks are not taken. My husband took this job because it allows him to live the lifestyle he wants, his previous job his overtime was paid off the books, and he lied about money then too. He is out of control, and keeps getting worse. I worked until 4 years ago when I was totally disabled in a car accident.
I have tried everything to talk to my husband and let him understand he has no right to loose what I worked so hard for, and I feel that because he is allowing his boss to do this there must be some kind of legal action I can take. His boss also has his drivers taking metals from these demolition sites and selling it to him, he pays them in cash off the books. My husband denies it but I'm sure he's involved in this also. I can also prove that the mortgage was paid on time until he started working there. There is also the legal issue that he is breaking the law, and if the IRS gets involved, it could come back at me, and I have done nothing wrong. Please, any advise you could give me I would greatly appreciate.

stevetcg · Oct 5, 2009, 04:41 AM

You cannot sue your husband.

You have no case against your husbands employer. It is possible he does.

JudyKayTee · Oct 5, 2009, 04:57 AM

Originally Posted by jeannem

The house is in both of our names, I live in New Jersey. Whats happening with this hour is against federal labor laws. He drives a truck daily from new jersey to new york city, hauling away demolition material. federal labor law for truck drivers says wait time is not considered break time, yet his
boss says that hour of overtime he docks every day is for break time. I know that it is illegal for him to dock overtime for any reason, and breaks are not taken. My husband took this job because it allows him to live the lifestyle he wants, his previous job his overtime was paid off the books, and he lied about money then too. He is out of control, and keeps getting worse. I worked until 4 years ago when I was totally disabled in a car accident.
I have tried everything to talk to my husband and let him understand he has no right to loose what I worked so hard for, and I feel that because he is allowing his boss to do this there must be some kind of legal action I can take. His boss also has his drivers taking metals from these demolition sites and selling it to him, he pays them in cash off the books. My husband denies it but I'm sure he's involved in this also. I can also prove that the mortgage was paid on time until he started working there. There is also the legal issue that he is breaking the law, and if the irs gets involved, it could come back at me, and I have done nothing wrong. Please, any advise you could give me I would greatly appreciate.

Here's the way I see it - you cannot sue your spouse. You are still legally married so suing your husband is out of the question.

You cannot sue his employer - you are a third party.

As you say, if you report this and you had knowledge, never reported the situation or reported it until now, filed a joint tax return, you are also going to have problems with the IRS.

If you report your husband and his employer to Wage and Hour (or whatever you are thinking of doing) he will undoubtedly lose his job and you will definitely lose your house.

Whether the mortgage gets paid is between you and your husband and no one else.

jeannem · Oct 5, 2009, 06:50 AM

I just find it hard to believe that because you are married to someone, they can basically do whatever they want,
Even if it is against the law and directly having a negative impact on the other spouses life and finances and the only legal
Recourse is to divorce, which is going to happen, but from a legal stand point what's occurring now although against the law,
There's nothing I can do. How then does anyone stop someone from reckless and careless and illegal behavior when "married"? Let them do the damage until the divorce goes through? Its got to be against the law.

stevetcg · Oct 5, 2009, 07:23 AM

Him not going after his boss for a few hours of overtime is not against the law.

HE is doing nothing illegal that I can see. Its questionable that his boss might be. But like Judy said... if he does anything about it its likely that he will get fired.

And regardless if you find it hard to believe or not, it's a fact that you cannot sue your spouse for anything other than divorce or child support. His behavior is far from reckless or careless. Not standing up to his boss is not criminal.

JudyKayTee · Oct 5, 2009, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by jeannem

I just find it hard to believe that because you are married to someone, they can basically do whatever they want,
even if it is against the law and directly having a negative impact on the other spouses life and finances and the only legal
recourse is to divorce, which is going to happen, but from a legal stand point whats occuring now although against the law,
theres nothing I can do. How then does anyone stop someone from reckless and careless and illegal behavior when "married"? Let them do the damage until the divorce goes through? Its got to be against the law.

When you first realized this was happening, why did you go along with it? That was the time to stand up and get out.

And, again, it's not against the law. He's your husband. If you were concerned about this or similar issues you should have kept your finances separate.

What you do is locate a divorce Attorney immediately, file for a divorce, file a Motion to freeze the marital assets and demand a full accounting - before he does more financial damage than he already has done.

jeannem · Oct 5, 2009, 07:58 AM

Your'e right, I should have left. There's a lot more to this than I have the time or the energy to write about. I will most definitely hire a lawyer and file for a divorce. Thanks for the advice and time.

stinawords · Oct 5, 2009, 08:00 AM

You may find it hard to believe but it's the truth. You're only way out of this is a divorce (unless you want to stay married and realize that you have no legal action to take other than divorce against your husband). So start shopping around for a lawyer.

jeannem · Oct 5, 2009, 08:25 AM

I am looking for a lawyer already. No way I would stay in this farce of a marriage. I would have done things differently, if the situation were reversed, but I have a conscience, and I know right from wrong. I'm sure I'm not the first person this has happened to, nor will I be the last. I guess as women we always end up giving way too much, and sometimes we're so busy we can't or won't see what's happening until its too late. I wish I had been smarter, and hadn't given every thing I had,
Before I lost my ability to work. I could have gotten out much easier then. Maybe he doesn't care because I'm disabled now and can't bring in a paycheck, I'm not useful to him, and that's OK, with the way he's been that feeling is mutual.

JudyKayTee · Oct 5, 2009, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by jeannem

I am looking for a lawyer already. No way I would stay in this farce of a marriage. I would have done things differently, if the situation were reversed, but I have a conscience, and I know right from wrong. I'm sure I'm not the first person this has happened to, nor will I be the last. I guess as women we always end up giving way too much, and sometimes we're so busy we can't or wont see whats happening until its too late. I wish I had been smarter, and hadn't given every thing I had,
before I lost my ability to work. I could have gotten out much easier then. Maybe he doesn't care because I'm disabled now and can't bring in a paycheck, I'm not useful to him, and thats ok, with the way he's been that feeling is mutual.

I'm confused - you knew he had some sort of payroll scam going on before this and you did nothing? I appreciate that you have a conscience and all but unfortunately you are now implicated in this mess.

And I don't know that it's just women who give too much/stay around too long - but I do get your point!

The relationship boards here are great and you may want to post over there and get some advice.

jeannem · Oct 5, 2009, 04:47 PM

I did everything I could, with the first job I mentioned I called the IRS, I still have the number of the agent I spoke to,
He said it would be investigated, and nothing happened. Then I called the labor board, they went there and had them make
A few minor changes like installing a time clock, but it was in the office where the owner could punch the drivers out after 8 hours and continue to pay their ot off the books. With this job, I called the federal labor board, and nothing happened. I have also had a restraining order against my husband, and documented what was going on at his job, because the restraining order was for an incident related to his job. I regret I dropped the restraining order. I can document every time I tried to do something to stop it, unfortunately I really don't think anyone cares, and they dropped the ball. I'm just trying to save my money to get out for good.

Fr_Chuck · Oct 5, 2009, 06:10 PM

The house is going into foreclosure because you and husband did not make the payments.

So he is not giving you enough money, that is a martial issue and should have been addressed long ago.
Perhaps you could have gotten part time job to save home .

At this point you file for divorce and see what you can get