I have a wage claim case that is finally approaching a hearing date. This is a long one and if something does not make sense it's because the owner regularly contradicts herself.
When I interviewed for the position (at a mental health office) the owner was late and we discussed compensation, hours, and responsibilities. She wanted me to be an independent contractor so she could save on taxes – I said I don’t think I qualify – she insisted. Job title was office manager.
Started work that day and emailed the accounting person to introduce myself “to help in the office”. I was only supposed to be handling mail and scanning of documents she stated that in the future she might have more responsibilities for me and I stated that’s fine we can re-discuss compensation then because I gave her a certain hourly for what I wanted for those responsibilities.
Shortly after I was told I needed to be at two staff meetings where I was introduced as “back office support staff” and asked to take over the phones for the office since the person that had been doing them was leaving. This took my hours from 15 to 20 hours a week nearly double. I was told to be at certain meetings the owner wanted me to attend, networking events, meetings with other businesses to partner with, and start doing office scheduling and personal tasks.
At one point I was supposed to go out of town for a work trip, rather than actually having the days off I was still texted and expected to do work from the office iPad, which I documented and my roommates for the trip saw. I was texted on Fourth of July to ask some questions that could’ve waited, the owner was surprised that I included that time within my hours.
My last week, I was instructed to meet the owner, when I arrived there was a woman the owner wanted to bring in to help restructure the business. This woman told the owner very clearly that my status needed to be changed to employee. That evening after 8 PM (not a normal business hour) the owner called a conference call with the accounting person and the new phone person, at this time I was named “Clinical Director.”
I was told to meet with the woman again to discuss how to restructure this woman had not been hired yet. After another long meeting with the woman and several employees, I had a decent amount of information to take back to my employer. We met on Friday morning, I told her I needed to meet to discuss this and was asked to go to their home, the owner was going out of town. On the way from the parking lot to their home, I was invited to the SO’s birthday and to go out of town that weekend. I was starting to feel really uncomfortable. I was asked how many hours I was at, as of that morning it was “36 hours, not including our meeting time.” We discussed properly classifying being an employee and I was told to come up with a proposal to be an employee rather than an independent contractor. At this time a business credit card was ordered for me to use as petty cash so I did not have to put the expenses on my personal credit card.
We discussed tasks moving forward what I would handle and others. The owner confirmed that I should handle shipping a handbag and work on the insurance paperwork they did not want to do. I stated that I had no experience with insurance and it would probably take me longer than it would take someone else because I didn’t know what I was doing. “that’s fine.”
I went in on Saturday to get needed signatures. Sunday morning there was an announcement in the back office that the owner would be out of town and no one would be there to handle what I normally handle. I reached out and told them I was confused because I thought we had discussed this on Friday. They wanted a proposal from me before having me do anything else – put things on hold/my services were no longer needed. I stated I was in the middle of a couple of tasks and asked if they would like me to finish them up or leave them as is. They asked that I finish them so I went in on Monday. I finish the tasks as well as put out some fires due to their lack of management.
Midday Monday the owner stops responding to me, not even when I asked if there was more printer ink because other employees need to print things. I tried again when I was almost finished for the day. When I left I had planned to go home and upload my final hours. When I got home I no longer had access to the back office so I emailed to submit my hours and let them know where I left the keys and the office iPad.
I was told I would be paid as normal via payroll, I let them know that since she let me go there was a labor code stating that I need to be paid within a certain amount of time and payroll would not meet this. Their attitude changed, following emails stated I only worked for her about half the time I did, that I was overqualified to be an assistant, claimed my hours were inflated so she would not be paying me and that I was blackmailing her (I still have no idea how) and they mentioned an attorney but when I asked for their contact information there was no reply.
3 days later payroll did not come through, I was told it would need to wait until after the owner got back from vacation.
A couple weeks later I got an email from the accounting person stating they wanted a breakdown of what I did every day of my last week, I let them know that since I no longer had access to the back office or the office iPad that I mostly worked from that this would be rather difficult. I was asked for reports for the meetings I had been in, I replied that I was not asked for any reports previously. I stated that I would like the owner to contact me directly.
When I was prepping for the wage claim conference I found out that around the time I was let go – before I filed the wage claim – the owner contacted another employee and told him I accessed information without their consent or knowledge. The owner suggested he file a police report against me and would fully support him with it. After he brushed them off, they pushed again and he again said no. The owner also asked for access to any personal communications between the employee and I. The owner had this employee tasked with responsibilities outside his job description, she ended up sending him a W-2 and 1099 for the same time period.
Two other employees stated that the owner claimed they inflated their hours when it came to final paychecks and one had already filed a complaint with the labor board regarding working conditions.
At the wage claim conference, the owner stated that I was brought on as an HR expert which I replied I have no HR experience and that is not on my résumé. The owner did not understand why I submitted my hours the way I did, claiming there was a specific form, I have an email from the accounting person instructing me to submit as I did. They claimed that a Facebook post was posted around the same time I was “supposedly” working one evening as evidence that I inflated my hours and was supposed to be out of town. That all of the HR research I was “supposedly” doing was just one page that they found in the office mailbox. They had no evidence or anything except this one piece of paper that yes I did print along with several other pages.The owner asked about settling, I agreed to accept what I was owed plus 1/2 the penalty fees. Those handling the case for the labor board said I was being generous. The owner only wanted to pay what I had originally been owed. I declined the offer.
I have declarations from 3 employees, a lot of texts and emails.
My anxiety has gotten really bad as the date to submit evidence gets closer. Debating if I should hire an attorney. Any advice?
TLDR: Employer misclassified as an independent contractor. Possible HIPAA violations. Changed job title at least 3 times. Claims I blackmailed her. Attempted to have an employee file a police report against me. Has a history of stating employees “inflate their hours”
Support and advice appreciated!