leonwright
New Member
Hello,
My wife and I worked for a small cafe/kitchen business. I was hired and began working for the company before my wife did. Back in February of this year, the owners asked me to enter into a sweat equity agreement with them and help them expand, based on my previous experiences with developing and implementing systems and techniques that would solve their problems. I signed an agreement on February 28, 2009 for a salary of $600 per week for 30 hrs per week of work, either in the cafe, in the newly created central kitchen or in developing systems for their use in expanding the business.
Long story short, the owner decided 2 weeks ago that he no longer wanted to expand the business based on some bad moves he made that cost him lots of money. He wanted me to take over a portion of the business immediately, but had no term for me to base a decision on. In order to get me to make a decision, he withheld my wife's paycheck to "get a reaction" from me to produce cash to buy into his business, instead of using the sweat equity I had earned. Since I refused, he has terminated my wife, "closed" the portion of the business he wanted me to buy into and is refusing to honor the sweat equity agreement, stating that I had took the risk of doing business with them and that it is the "price you pay when you invest in a start up business" and that he has "no idea where the money is coming from, I have no money." This may be the case, however, I now see new furniture, renovations and a new location opening up! How can it be that he thinks he can dismiss my wife and not honor our agreement, but make large cash purchases to increase and renovate his business? I have attached the agreement here. So, am I not entitled to be reimbursed for the time I spent helping them? Is this true that he can just say "no, I am not going to pay you?"
My wife and I worked for a small cafe/kitchen business. I was hired and began working for the company before my wife did. Back in February of this year, the owners asked me to enter into a sweat equity agreement with them and help them expand, based on my previous experiences with developing and implementing systems and techniques that would solve their problems. I signed an agreement on February 28, 2009 for a salary of $600 per week for 30 hrs per week of work, either in the cafe, in the newly created central kitchen or in developing systems for their use in expanding the business.
Long story short, the owner decided 2 weeks ago that he no longer wanted to expand the business based on some bad moves he made that cost him lots of money. He wanted me to take over a portion of the business immediately, but had no term for me to base a decision on. In order to get me to make a decision, he withheld my wife's paycheck to "get a reaction" from me to produce cash to buy into his business, instead of using the sweat equity I had earned. Since I refused, he has terminated my wife, "closed" the portion of the business he wanted me to buy into and is refusing to honor the sweat equity agreement, stating that I had took the risk of doing business with them and that it is the "price you pay when you invest in a start up business" and that he has "no idea where the money is coming from, I have no money." This may be the case, however, I now see new furniture, renovations and a new location opening up! How can it be that he thinks he can dismiss my wife and not honor our agreement, but make large cash purchases to increase and renovate his business? I have attached the agreement here. So, am I not entitled to be reimbursed for the time I spent helping them? Is this true that he can just say "no, I am not going to pay you?"
