- Jurisdiction
- California
Hello,
I worked for a small jewelry company where I made jewelry for $15 an hour. During the interview she told me the position was very chill and I could come in when ever I wanted. I could see it would be very chill as some of the pieces had weed leaf emblems on them, but I did not forsee what unfolded. (I often found bits of left over weed in the work space as well, but that's besides the point.
I worked there for a month or more, maybe. I saw my boss about 2 or 3 times, I mostly worked with her assistant or by myself. There was little to no communication. Often I would come in and there would be no work stated for me to do, so I would have to call or text and wait for their response, sometimes for an hour. The assistant didn't know how to make jewelry and would communicate to me how or what pieces for me to make, and I would do it. Often catching mistakes of previous pieces or samples. Yet, time and time again the boss would say the pieces were made wrong, well that's because the sample I was working off of was wrong. My work is impeccable and I followed what was given to me.
One day I came in, no work. I texted asking what I should work on. And prepped tags in the meantime. 30 mins later I get an email from the boss terminating me on grounds that it was hard to get consistent times from me of when to come in, when she stated I could originally come in whenever. And that I was working too slow, which also wasn't the case because she never came in and didn't see me work. She falsely based it off of the time log and what she thought I produced that day.
I stated this in my response email, she never responded. I waited for my last pay check. She never sent it. Finally 2 or 3 months later, I got a text from her assistant saying she sent it. I still to this day have not received it. That was mid May, it's now early October.
I emailed them about it yesterday and got a response from her assistant saying she no longer works for her. And from the boss herself claiming she sent it and it amounted to $40 because she deducted a whole bunch of things from it. Including: for unfinished pieces (there were none), pieces she "fixed" (added tags to. The orignal sample I went off didn't have tags and I wasn't told to add tags until later), and in her words "I also deducted (your original invoice wasn't even enough to cover them) for a pair of Celine sunglasses that were in my office that went missing, when you were the only one who had access." I was not the only one with access nor did I ever see sunglasses. The office was shared with another company and they had guests coming in and out for hair and fashion appointments. Not to mention the tenants were remodeling and had movers, painters and all kinds of people coming in to look at their fashion showroom.
Is this legal? Can she deduct these things from my paycheck and accuse me of stealing without proof? I personally think she fired me to begin with because she didn't want to pay me so high. Now that is confirmed. If you can't pay someone's last paycheck of a couple hundred dollars when you sell your jewelry for a couple hundred dollars a piece, you have serious heart issues. She wants another W-9, which means she probably lost my first one. Should I pursue anything, or chalk it up as a loss? This irks me to no end, and I want to see if I can get some justice here.
I worked for a small jewelry company where I made jewelry for $15 an hour. During the interview she told me the position was very chill and I could come in when ever I wanted. I could see it would be very chill as some of the pieces had weed leaf emblems on them, but I did not forsee what unfolded. (I often found bits of left over weed in the work space as well, but that's besides the point.
I worked there for a month or more, maybe. I saw my boss about 2 or 3 times, I mostly worked with her assistant or by myself. There was little to no communication. Often I would come in and there would be no work stated for me to do, so I would have to call or text and wait for their response, sometimes for an hour. The assistant didn't know how to make jewelry and would communicate to me how or what pieces for me to make, and I would do it. Often catching mistakes of previous pieces or samples. Yet, time and time again the boss would say the pieces were made wrong, well that's because the sample I was working off of was wrong. My work is impeccable and I followed what was given to me.
One day I came in, no work. I texted asking what I should work on. And prepped tags in the meantime. 30 mins later I get an email from the boss terminating me on grounds that it was hard to get consistent times from me of when to come in, when she stated I could originally come in whenever. And that I was working too slow, which also wasn't the case because she never came in and didn't see me work. She falsely based it off of the time log and what she thought I produced that day.
I stated this in my response email, she never responded. I waited for my last pay check. She never sent it. Finally 2 or 3 months later, I got a text from her assistant saying she sent it. I still to this day have not received it. That was mid May, it's now early October.
I emailed them about it yesterday and got a response from her assistant saying she no longer works for her. And from the boss herself claiming she sent it and it amounted to $40 because she deducted a whole bunch of things from it. Including: for unfinished pieces (there were none), pieces she "fixed" (added tags to. The orignal sample I went off didn't have tags and I wasn't told to add tags until later), and in her words "I also deducted (your original invoice wasn't even enough to cover them) for a pair of Celine sunglasses that were in my office that went missing, when you were the only one who had access." I was not the only one with access nor did I ever see sunglasses. The office was shared with another company and they had guests coming in and out for hair and fashion appointments. Not to mention the tenants were remodeling and had movers, painters and all kinds of people coming in to look at their fashion showroom.
Is this legal? Can she deduct these things from my paycheck and accuse me of stealing without proof? I personally think she fired me to begin with because she didn't want to pay me so high. Now that is confirmed. If you can't pay someone's last paycheck of a couple hundred dollars when you sell your jewelry for a couple hundred dollars a piece, you have serious heart issues. She wants another W-9, which means she probably lost my first one. Should I pursue anything, or chalk it up as a loss? This irks me to no end, and I want to see if I can get some justice here.
