getting the shaft by boss 2

[techmaximus]

I am an engineering tech (civil, geo, cmt) with a major engineering firm and I need advice on a problem I see coming in the near future. The deal is our company is working on a large industrial construction project that is located only 4 miles from my house but 60 miles from our office. My manager had this idea and sold our client on this idea of us setting up a temporary concrete testing lab at the job or a rented space near the job to facilitate and speed testing and the reporting of results. I saw an opportunity and made a deal with my manager to lease space in my garage for the lab. I have the whole ASTM compliant concrete testing lab setup with water tanks for curing, a Forney machine for compression tests, etc. So I confirmed the details of the agreement in an email with my manager: $X/month for 10 months minimum/12months maximum. I did not get an actual signed contract but we had a "meeting of the minds" with a confirming email. I did NOT want to lease the space without a minimum/maximum number of months and we agreed on 10 minimum and 12 maximum at the agreed upon price. If they needed more than 12 months then we were to re-negotiate. So that was the deal: 10 MONTHS for so much money per month. How simple is that?! They occupied the space for 3 months before I ever got a nickel. At one point accounting claimed that they could not pay employees for this kind of service but the deal was with my wife’s home-based business. I rented them the space through my wife’s business so eventually they paid-up. And now just after the 4th month, I am hearing rumors that he wants to move the lab to a con-ex box at the job. I guess this means that he does not expect to pay for the remaining months on his lease! I’ve been with this company for nearly 13 years and I see small claims court is in our future. Can I get fired if I sue my own company? FYI, in our state one can NOT bring a lawyer to small claims court; it’s man vs. man. The idea is to sue the branch manager or CEO as they would have to come down in person without a lawyer and defend the case. Somebody would have some serious explaining to do. If I’m told by my manager that he is contemplating breaking his agreement should I warn him of the consequences and how far I’m willing to go? And should I be willing to go that far, court? If I threaten and then don’t follow up I’ll be in even worse shape because he’ll run over me at will in the future. Is my career over at this company?

Techmaximus

 

[Heckler]

First, you personally wouldn't be suing your firm. It would be your wife's home based business that holds the lease. The way I see it is a verbal agreement is just as good as a signed contract plus you have documents stating the facts of the lease. But ultimately it would put you in a sticky situation with your company. tough call nonetheless.

 

[Roadbridge]

First you have to ask your self who much realy is this contract worth?.Is it your pride talking now, you saw an oppertunity to make a few extra bucks on the side now it looks like it's going to fall through.

Your talking about the samll claims court "Judge Judy land" If your going to push this bring on the lawyers.

I think you should just let it slide and think of the long run.

 

[SacreBleu]

I think you got royally screwed, but look at the big picture: it happens all the time, and yours is not the worst case...no sense getting a stroke over this. Since you have been with your employer 13 years, no sense crumbling the cookie. Give it another 9 months to one year, and see if you need to switch employers. If you go the small claims court, I am worried you will be black-listed.

 

[BJC]

You shouldn't be looking for legal advise in an engineering forum, even some of the engineering advise is shakey. Having said that send the company a bill, one for every month they owe and if and when they move out send them a bill for the remainder.
This is were you need a lawyer. IF they don't pay you can file a lean on them or maby on the project. If it's on the project it may have to be paid to get an occupancy permit.
You can take an unpaid bill to small claims court. document every thing you did, which tests and when take pictures etc. The fact that you did work and the company accepted it validates your agreement.
If your wifes in any kind of business you need an attorney, it might have cost you a $1 or 200 up front just to get advice and an agreement drawn up but not it may cost you your job.

 

[svanels]

Does your company pay his bills in time? Never heard a complaint of any customer etc..? What are the authorization lines?

In some companies it is prohibited to buy/deal from/with employers, it is called conflict of interests. In goverments they call this corruption

 

[TheTick]

If I was on your boss's end, I would have avoided this entanglement all together. Too much twisted personal involvement with an employee. There is no win for you no matter what. Just bail. Is it really worth it?

At least you learned some valuable things about how your company operates.

Spend the time you would have spent in court brushing up on paragraph construction.

 

[Beggar]

In California, small-claims court is limited to $5,000. Presuming the same or similar in your jurisdiction, it's hard to see how the bad-will is worth the money. If you're talking about an extra zero then it might be worth it. Now you're talking lawyers, depositions, and $$$.

Were I in your position, I'd let it drop. It's just not worth it.

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

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[vonbad]

Reading this reminds me of 'don't do business with family'. As anything bad may happen can result in years of bitterness.

IMO, enjoy the extra money that you received and let it go. Otherwise, fight it and update your resume'.

 

[PSE]

If the rumor turns out to be correct and they move out of the rented space, your wife's business could continue to send bills for rent perhaps including a copy of the rental agreement. If sent directly to the accounting department, it could keep your direct boss out of the issue.

Good luck.

 

[Roadbridge]

Techmaxius.

It has been over a week since your post has there been any developments to your situation?

 

[techmaximus]

Yes. I decided to go with the advice given here and not buck the move if it were desired. When my manager spoke to me about the situation he actually asked if the client wanted the lab moved to job would I be OK with that. What was I going to say, “Screw the client I want my rent money!” Since we will be within a couple of months of the agreed rental term anyhow, since the consensus was to go with the flow, and since I am in apparent desperate need of practicing paragraph construction I figured I should just let it ride. Additionaly, the wife is kinda tired of all junk being in the garage.

Interestingly enough, a section of the job has some serious foundation installation challenges so the concrete work in that area has been delayed. We had expected a serious up-tick of concrete work and subsequent cylinders that have not materialized and may not materialize for another couple of months. The delayed deep foundation system supports three stories of PT slabs that the contractor will be under the gun to stress at 18 hours after placement. The client is apparently concerned that if the initial 18 hour field breaks are low how he will get additional breaks later in the day. While I believe that the on-site concrete tech can simply drive over the lab and make any needed additional breaks, the contractor thinks that this 4 minute drive will hamper productivity. I suspect that the contractor just wants the break machine right there on-site so that he can order its use at will. I suggested that if the timing is that critical for PT stressing and formwork removal that we install the inteli-rock devices (often mentioned by concreteguru) and this idea is now being given serious consideration. This seems like an instance where these inteli-rock devices might actually be useful and cost effective.



Techmaximus

 

[techmaximus]

TheTick was right on with, “I would have avoided this entanglement all together.”

I should have avoided the entanglement; however, I really thought that I was doing a service to the company. I fully expected to get a letter of commendation or something. I mean warehouse space would have cost a fortune compared to what my little space cost them plus they didn’t have to pay for connecting and disconnecting all the utilities like phone, water, electricity to operate the lab. Also they didn’t have to be concerned with security of the equipment and I did ALL of the lab work that the concrete tech assigned to job was supposed to have done. I really came through for these guys.

In the end my boss bailed on 2 months (1/5) of the original 10 month deal and I decided to be OK with that. But of late he is trying like heck to rub me raw over this. He occupied the space for half of this month (June) but has sent signals that he doesn’t want to pay for this month. He said, “I’m not paying for June.” How’s that for a signal? He said, “You have been well compensated so I feel I don’t have to pay for June.” I said look I’m letting you off on the last two months of the deal which I am clearly owed but the space was occupied in June even if was only two weeks so you have to pay for June. I mean this is not about “feelings”. It’s about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. At the end of a $15 haircut you don’t tell the guy, well you have a full waiting room so I feel you are being well compensated here’s $11. I mean what is that? So then he calculates how many days are in June and how much the rent per month was and comes up with an offer based on a daily rate. I said unfortunately you don’t have a day-to-day lease so plan on getting an invoice for June and just be glad I don’t add on July and August. Morally, ethically, and probably legally he must know I’m right, but being “in the zone” on the project management side of this thing has skewed his thought process.


Techmaximus

 

[atilashorse]

I see you have an enteprenurial mind. You see an opportunity and try to take advantage of it. I think you should try and go fly solo, when you are ready. My 2 cents of advise: when you make a deal, do it in a plain field. Almost always doing business with your employer is a bad idea because they have the upper hand.

 

[14159]

Another vote for Ramcode's idea.

If I really thought I got screwed by my employer, then I'd be looking elsewhere if at all possible anyway.

BTW, I run my own thing now partially because I thought I was getting the shaft. My shaft was far less obvious than yours but it was enough for me. At this point, I bill about 20 hours/week and make more money than I made working for somebody else. For those with the initiative, there's nothing like running your own show. It's scarier for sure, but worth it, for me anyway. Some people are just born to work for others, but some are not. It seems to me like you're not.

DES