My boyfriend made an oral agreement to build a set for a dance company. In a brief meeting, the leader of the group she said she could pay him $16/hour and asked him to estimate how long it would take him to build, and he estimated that it would take him 2 or 3 weeks to build.
The set is now built, and has been used for 1 of the 4 shows that will be performed. We gave the leader a written log of the hours that had been spent building the set, and asked her to estimate when she would be able to pay the money owed to him and sign the document. He worked 111 hours at $16/hour = $1776. She told him that she had a real problem with the amount of hours and that this is way too much, but unfortunately they had put nothing in writing before the work began.
In my opinion, it is not an unusual assumption that 1 week = 40 hours. So 2 or 3 weeks would mean between 80 and 120 hours. And he worked 111 hours. Technically speaking, this is in line with his estimate.
He does not have possession of the set, it is stored at the venue where the shows are being held. Set-up and tear-down of the set is extremely labor intensive, and would be extremely difficult to do without him.
Does he have any "leg to stand on" in this situation?
The set is now built, and has been used for 1 of the 4 shows that will be performed. We gave the leader a written log of the hours that had been spent building the set, and asked her to estimate when she would be able to pay the money owed to him and sign the document. He worked 111 hours at $16/hour = $1776. She told him that she had a real problem with the amount of hours and that this is way too much, but unfortunately they had put nothing in writing before the work began.
In my opinion, it is not an unusual assumption that 1 week = 40 hours. So 2 or 3 weeks would mean between 80 and 120 hours. And he worked 111 hours. Technically speaking, this is in line with his estimate.
He does not have possession of the set, it is stored at the venue where the shows are being held. Set-up and tear-down of the set is extremely labor intensive, and would be extremely difficult to do without him.
Does he have any "leg to stand on" in this situation?