Worked but did not pay can u sue

Question

the problem is that i worked but then the person did not pay

we waited 1month we left a voice mail for why he didn't pay us..

he never called its about 5 months now he owe us atlest 2500 dollars

can we sue him for more money or that amount

also whats the chance that we can win this

Answer 1

You can sue in small claims court.  That chances of winning are about 100%.  The only real question is, can you collect the award?  If the guy who owes you is a deadbeat you could have enormous problems collecting.

Answer 2

You don't need to sue him, since you can file a complaint with either the federal or state department of labor.  If you are an employee, this is clearly a violation of minimum wage laws, laws concerning how quickly you have to be paid for your work, as well as a violation of his verbal contract with you.  You can collect penalties in addition to the wages you are owed.  

I would keep the small claims court as the last resort, as long as you were an employee, not a consultant or an independent contractor.  In the small claims court, you won't be able to collect penalties as you would from a complaint to the department of labor and you won't have the weight of the government on your side to help you collect what you are owed.  You will just be trying to enforce the verbal contract you had that he would pay you for doing the work.

Answer 3

You can contact the US department of Labor to find out what you can do legally and how to get them to comply with federal laws to protect your rights as an employee. check out the link below.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/olms/regs/complia...