First of all, this will be pretty long. I have to tell the complete story for most people to understand, I will will just get it over with! I started working for a Heavy Duty Towing Company based in West Seneca NY. During the initial interview I was told of the job requirements for a "tow Truck Driver". 1) There was a two person weekly rotation for being "on call" starting Sunday of every week, through Saturday. 2) I will work 8AM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday, every week, working in the garage on cars, and trucks. Throughout the day, if a tow call came in, I would be dispatched on the tow, or service call. During normal business hours I would be compensated by my normal hourly rate of 16.00 per hour. If/when I got a service call or a tow call after 4:30PM, I would be paid a commission rate of 35% of all labor billed to the customer. The normal rate for a service call was 85.00/hour, so that would be 29.75/hour for me. On a tow the normal hourly rate was 135.00/hour so that would of been 47.25/hour for me! 3) There was a 2 week training period (even though I had experience) for me to get use to the equipment and paperwork, and I was supposed to be compensated at my normal starting rate of 16.00/hour regardless of the time! Great... not that that's out of the way! I started this job on Monday April 14th 2008, and worked 45 hrs that week... was paid for that weeks work, 4/13 to 4/26 on Friday April 25th 2008. I got my first pay check and was disappointed because the book keeper used the rate for an in-experienced driver. I spoke to the owner of the company that day I got my pay check, and he assured me it would be corrected the following week, and he would pay me the additional 6.00/hour. (I was paid 12.00/hour x 40 and 18/hour for OT. Total was 570.00 - taxes.... I should of been paid 760.00 - taxes. A total of 190.00 short!) I worked 48 hours the week of 4/20 to 4/26. Unfortunately the following Friday May 2nd, at 5pm (got real busy and worked OT that day) and was dispatched on my first call by myself, and I was to be "on call" until Sunday morning. The person I was picking up was in Jamestown NY (about 1hr drive). I asked the owner of the company (my boss) and he told me I would be paid on commission being it was after 4:30, and I was told to just turn in the company copy of the bill, with my totals! This tow was billed hrs labor @ $135/hour. (my pay was going to be $189.) That day I did not get back home to the shop until after 10pm so I was not able to get my pay check, and that Saturday, the shop was going to be closed, so I would not be paid until Monday May 5th. Saturday night I was dispatched to a call in the same area as the last one, and it took just about the same amount of time 4hours. (another $189.) On Monday morning I reported to work at 8AM as usual, and my pay check was there! Unfortunately, the pay rate was never corrected, and it was still at 12.00/hour. I waited until the boss came in that afternoon, and confronted him about it. He was shocked that the book keeper STILL did not have my rate corrected! I told him that I was not going to be able to work on the clock until I had a check in my hand with the 6.00/hour difference. He was upset, but agreed upon that he would do the same thing. So next Friday came along, May 9th, and I went in for my check, excited that I would finally get back to work at the pay rate promised, and compensated for my past-time on the clock. Once I got to the shop that day, the owner wasn't there yet, so I left and came back at 4PM. Once I talked to the owner, he told me the book keeper corrected my pay, but mailed it to my home address the prior day because I didn't tell him I was coming for it, but I did let him know on the prior Monday I would be in on Friday to pick it up, and to get the keys for the "on call" truck because that Sunday would of been my start day for my on call time! So I went back home. I gave it until Tuesday, still no check. I contacted the owner Tuesday afternoon, and we got into a spat on the phone regarding my check, and he fired me for not being there Sunday for a call. On Wednesday morning, May 14th?? I contacted the Department of Labor. They contacted the company, and the check was in the mail the following day! I was disappointed to see my pay check... It was a total of 40/hours and my pay rate was dropped to 7.25/hour. I was missing 1 hours of overtime, 2 4 hour commission calls, and ALL of the money from prior weeks!
Pay checks
4/25 for week 4/13 to 4/19 (45hrs) was 570.00 Should have been 760.00)
5/5 for week 4/20 to 4/26 (48hrs) was 624.00 should have been 832.00)
5/9 for week 4/27 to 5/3 (41hrs + 2 4hr two calls) was 290.00 should have been 1042.00)
Total I was shorted 1150.00
I think i may have screwed something up in the description... Somewhere... Found it easier to do it this way. I guess the reason i wrote all this is to find out if there is anything I can do to get this money owed to me? Sorry this statement was so long. I'm sure there were some ways to shorten it up, but it's easier to just get it all out, so there aren't any questions going back and forth... Please let me know if there is anything I can do about this according to NY state law
Pay checks
4/25 for week 4/13 to 4/19 (45hrs) was 570.00 Should have been 760.00)
5/5 for week 4/20 to 4/26 (48hrs) was 624.00 should have been 832.00)
5/9 for week 4/27 to 5/3 (41hrs + 2 4hr two calls) was 290.00 should have been 1042.00)
Total I was shorted 1150.00
I think i may have screwed something up in the description... Somewhere... Found it easier to do it this way. I guess the reason i wrote all this is to find out if there is anything I can do to get this money owed to me? Sorry this statement was so long. I'm sure there were some ways to shorten it up, but it's easier to just get it all out, so there aren't any questions going back and forth... Please let me know if there is anything I can do about this according to NY state law
