Company Won't Pay

First let me say sorry for the long winded thread.... But I need to explain the situation to you.

I have recently signed on with a small operation from a Craigslist add local to me. This company is ran by two individuals who work out of their home. I have been with this company for about six weeks as of today. I was told that I would begin receiving payments on my third week as they hold 2 weeks of pay opposed to an escrow account.

I did receive my first check on time, minus out 2 weeks of trailer payments and 3 weeks of payments towards my plate which left me with about 1100.00 net, mind you I have floated my own fuel.

The following week I received my second check minus the final plate fee and 2 more trailer payment, again it was another small check for around 1200.00 and still floating my own fuel.

Now comes the third week, the check was never received and I was told it was mailed out and returned becuae they forgot to add the zipcode, (I have received to other peices of mail and they dont even put thier own return address on) so I dont think the check was mailed at all whic was due on Monday Dec 14th. I called yesterday and they are now telling me that I dont get paid for 21 days after they receive my paperwork whic means your check is a month behind. this check is small about 1500.00 for one load which does not worry me too much. But the check I was supposed to receive this Monday was for 5700.00.

I got into an argument with the owners as I was depending on these checks for OVER 7,000.00 as I have completly tapped myself out paying for fuel over the last six weeks. During the argument they said that a load I dropped off was a pallet short and they have to file a claim with thier insurance, and that if the broker CH Robbinson does not pay them I would not be paid as well for that load. This to me is wrong, this is one of the reasons they get 20%, Its not my job to collect from the broker, I did my part and I should be paid.

During the arguement they fired me which was now the 4th time and told me basicly that they wont pay me the money and were going to call the trailer in as stolen, and that they were going to sue me for the missing pallet??? Mind you that I just completed this week which adds another 4,000.00 to the almost 7,500.00 they owe me. I literly dont have any money now...

So he calls back several times then says Im not fired, and they would pay me the 1500.00 early which is actually almost a week late. I am afrtaid to leave becuase I dont know if they will pay me what I worked for and I scared to work cause they lie and make threats about holding my money.

I have all copies of the signed shippers, receipts etc. Do I have any recourse if they do not pay? I looked up thier info and found that this company was just started in November of this year and thier DOT only shows 1 truck and 1 driver... ME. I was told they were in business for 2 years and had 13 O/O working for them... And lastly, I have still not received my plate which I payed for, as I need to transfer it to my company ASAP....

 

Do you think I will even be able to collect? I cant afford an attorney now, they have all my money....

 

Anyone have any more information on this statute? I was just looking on the mi.gov site and I can't even file a wage complaint.... Its specific to self employeed and owner/operators.

 

Thank you RickG and everyone else. Any additional help is still greatly appreciated.