Legal Question in Employment Law in New York
Not getting paid amount agreed upon...
I have a few questions regarding my fiance's work situation. There are a few things that have been bothering me about it, but she is easily intimidated and is afraid to speak her mind as she does not wish to be terminated.
1)Her Boss Told her that she must keep a log of daily activities, and if he does not think that she did enough, he will not pay her.
2)Her Boss Implemented a dress code. He told her that her dress was inappropriate the other day, but then proceeded to tell her that she smelled good.
3)She was told by her dept. manager that she would be receiving a certain wage, but has been receiving an amount less than that which was originally verbally agreed upon. *He may have been in error when telling her the stated amount, but stated that she would be getting payed at that rate nevertheless. Also note that she discovered this after looking at her pay stub. Upon bringing this to her manager's attention, he did nothing to remedy the situation. P.S. Her manager has made this error with other employees as well.
4)Part of her pay is comission. Yet, all of her and her co-worker's comission have been put in her manager's pay check. They have yet to see a dime of it.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Not getting paid amount agreed upon...
Hmm, that's a bunch of questions.
First consideration is keeping one's job. I assume there's no union, and no written employment agreement. So, under NY law, it's probably terminable at will. Although employer is not supposed to fire someone who asserts their rights to be paid properly, it's usually nicer having a job and a paycheck, than no job, no paycheck, but a big lawsuit. So much for the practical advice.
If there was an initial agreement to pay X dollars per week, but the employer pays less, and the employee continues to work there, it establishes a new amended agreement for the lesser wage. An "at will" employee under NY law has two choices, either accept the pay or quit (or threaten to quit and negotiate).
If there is a provable agreement to receive commissions at some point, and the employer fails to pay those commissions, this is probably actionable. But the big question again is, if the employee stays and accepts the non-payment, does this give rise to an agreement to work for no commission. It really depends upon when the commissions are payable.
I don't know about the dress code and smells.
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