Unofficial Legal Advice concerning Employment

[Brutal]

I just wanted to get the opinions of some other people on a matter as I am fairly confused. I have been working for an online company for almost a year now, and really didn't have any issues until lately. Basically I am doing support/sales Monday - Friday night, working about 40 hours a week, getting paid on the first of every month. I wasn't paid for the last two months, and the owner kept telling me that it was just a mixup involving the company he had hired to start sending out checks (originally it was just paypal). Now the owner just seems to be ignoring me, as I see him online but am getting no communication back from here regarding this.

Obviously it is time to start looking for a new job, but I would like to warn people to stay away from this company. I signed an NDA when I started saying I would not talk about the company, but since I have not been paid in two months, I am just assuming that would count as my contract being terminated and I have just been working free of charge.

So...

1) Would the NDA still apply despite me not being paid for over 2 months now? My last paycheck came towards the end of August, and that was to pay me for July.

2) Would it be worth it to pursue any sort of legal action towards the months of employment that I was not paid? He is based in Canada and I am in America so I am not sure if there is even anything I can do about it.

[betajaen]

You really need to talk to a lawyer about this, or at least the American version of a Citizens Advice Bureau.

For anyone else who is tempted to reply and put in their opinion or advice, unless your a qualified American or Canadian Lawyer - Don't.

[jacmoe]

You are temping me!

Whatever you do:
Don't do anything illegal, like breaking the NDA.
Just because they're misbehavin' doesn't mean you're entitled to the same.
I would probably consult a legal adviser.

[Brutal]

I've been hesitant to contact a lawyer as my two experiences with them involving child support were...sub-par to put it lightly. First one basically got me stuck with a 500$ child support when I was an unemployed student, and the second one took 4000$ and did nothing. I suppose in this case it might be worth contacting one just to hear what they recommend though, thanks.

[chaosavy]

some colleges may have a "Free legal advice for students" department.

[Brutal]

Very good point, someone recommended that to me for something else a while back and I forgot about it. Thank you!

[reptor]

Can you prove that you have had a contract with the guy? It should be a priority for you to make sure that you can prove it.

I guess you may have communicated by e-mail with the person. You need to make sure your e-mails are safe - with their meta data! Make sure the communication can be traced somehow between you and your employer.

I know that in my country the Internet Service Providers (and I think this must concern e-mails as well, I know it is true for phone calls and the network addresses I have accessed at least) are required to keep records of the traffic for some number of years. So if you want to take action you must take it before the trail of evidence disappears from the servers by automatic deletion. I don't know how that is in your country but in my country it is several years until they can delete the records. This is something you should be aware of if you try to prove that something happened over electronic communication networks.