Rendering1
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- California
Sorry Lengthy but accurate..
My statement of events are exactly how they happened.
On 3/24/2017 at time of me being hired I was given my hourly rate and told I'd be paid mileage for delivering materials to and from job sites. I was hired to install wood flooring around the So Cal area. Traveling around in my vehicle was what was expected of me. 3/28/17 the 2nd day of work I shared a conversation with another employee about compensation and length of work. This employee had been there for 5 yrs and barely making over the minimum wage. I shared my rate w/ him which was double that. That afternoon the owner calls me and tells me not to share my compensation with them..He says, we don't usually start people out that much. On 3/31/17 just 3 days later while at a the same job, I return from lunch as usual 11:30a. After 40 min into laying floor 12:10, the co worker begins screaming at me. They spoke broken English at best so at times it was a challenge understanding them. I jumped up and ran to the entry way of the home.. I noticed my truck on fire and proceeded to extinguish the truck but it was too late. I now had just lost my paid off truck and thousands of dollars in tools.. The fire dept came out and helped me finish extinguishing the fully engulfed truck. Then the fire fighters made a relatively speedy investigation. The report shows undetermined across the board for the cause. He did say it was an extremely hot fire due to the damage it had caused. That following Monday 4/3/17 I returned to work and shared a conversation w/ the co-worker at lunch time. He said there could have been rags soaked in paint thinner used to clean up glue off the flooring thrown away. Along with the rags were multiple bags of dry flooring which was tossed in my truck bed to be properly disposed of. My first question was, who throws away soaked rags in paint thinner? My 2nd was how would he know that? That very night after work I looked through the burned wreckage and sure enough I found evidence of burned up rags still smelling of paint thinner on them. I took several photos of the rags. I asked him if would write his statement down and date and sign it to protect myself. He never did. On 4/6/17 2 days later I was asked into the office to fill my w4. I showed up at 3p to fill out my paperwork. I sat with the owner and not once did he show any concerns about my well being or my situation. I began explaining to him how I had just lost everything, my paid off truck and thousands of dollars in tools I use to complete jobs asked of me. His response was,"WHAT HAVE YOU LOST? His next words were, I'm letting you go for being unethical and immoral by asking his employee to sign a statement... WOW! Now I'm out my vehicle, tools and a job. My insurance thru Geico carried liability only and Im sure my employer failed to cover his employees with proper insurance coverage. It wouldn't be a surprise one bit if he also hired illegal aliens to perform contract work.. Which I feel is really why he fired me. In any event I'm now at a complete loss to provide for my family.. I've estimated the loss in damages to be around 20k and accumulating as my truck continues to sit and be charged daily for storage fees. I am also looking for lost wages as a result of wrongfully terminating me. Is that reason for termination? Shouldn't my employer have had adequate insurance coverage for employees using their own vehicles to deliver material and from job sites? This happened while his company was benefiting from work I was doing. Surely this case has red flags all over the place. As a previous employee , can't I file a claim against his bond to start the ball rolling? Any positive feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading...
My statement of events are exactly how they happened.
On 3/24/2017 at time of me being hired I was given my hourly rate and told I'd be paid mileage for delivering materials to and from job sites. I was hired to install wood flooring around the So Cal area. Traveling around in my vehicle was what was expected of me. 3/28/17 the 2nd day of work I shared a conversation with another employee about compensation and length of work. This employee had been there for 5 yrs and barely making over the minimum wage. I shared my rate w/ him which was double that. That afternoon the owner calls me and tells me not to share my compensation with them..He says, we don't usually start people out that much. On 3/31/17 just 3 days later while at a the same job, I return from lunch as usual 11:30a. After 40 min into laying floor 12:10, the co worker begins screaming at me. They spoke broken English at best so at times it was a challenge understanding them. I jumped up and ran to the entry way of the home.. I noticed my truck on fire and proceeded to extinguish the truck but it was too late. I now had just lost my paid off truck and thousands of dollars in tools.. The fire dept came out and helped me finish extinguishing the fully engulfed truck. Then the fire fighters made a relatively speedy investigation. The report shows undetermined across the board for the cause. He did say it was an extremely hot fire due to the damage it had caused. That following Monday 4/3/17 I returned to work and shared a conversation w/ the co-worker at lunch time. He said there could have been rags soaked in paint thinner used to clean up glue off the flooring thrown away. Along with the rags were multiple bags of dry flooring which was tossed in my truck bed to be properly disposed of. My first question was, who throws away soaked rags in paint thinner? My 2nd was how would he know that? That very night after work I looked through the burned wreckage and sure enough I found evidence of burned up rags still smelling of paint thinner on them. I took several photos of the rags. I asked him if would write his statement down and date and sign it to protect myself. He never did. On 4/6/17 2 days later I was asked into the office to fill my w4. I showed up at 3p to fill out my paperwork. I sat with the owner and not once did he show any concerns about my well being or my situation. I began explaining to him how I had just lost everything, my paid off truck and thousands of dollars in tools I use to complete jobs asked of me. His response was,"WHAT HAVE YOU LOST? His next words were, I'm letting you go for being unethical and immoral by asking his employee to sign a statement... WOW! Now I'm out my vehicle, tools and a job. My insurance thru Geico carried liability only and Im sure my employer failed to cover his employees with proper insurance coverage. It wouldn't be a surprise one bit if he also hired illegal aliens to perform contract work.. Which I feel is really why he fired me. In any event I'm now at a complete loss to provide for my family.. I've estimated the loss in damages to be around 20k and accumulating as my truck continues to sit and be charged daily for storage fees. I am also looking for lost wages as a result of wrongfully terminating me. Is that reason for termination? Shouldn't my employer have had adequate insurance coverage for employees using their own vehicles to deliver material and from job sites? This happened while his company was benefiting from work I was doing. Surely this case has red flags all over the place. As a previous employee , can't I file a claim against his bond to start the ball rolling? Any positive feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading...
