I'm here on behalf of my friends/neighbors, who don't have one extra second in the day to do this stuff.

My neighbors (I'll call them Fred and Ginger) have 3 children and for the moment rely solely on Fred's income. At this point he has 2 full-time jobs and they're barely making ends meet. (These are not extravagant people -- Ginger worked up until the birth of their last child and, because of his hours, she's been unable to go back to work so far. He makes more $$ so it makes sense to rely on his income and they'd spend her whole income on daycare/childcare if she went back to work right now.)

Anyway, he has gotten royally cheated by one of his employers. One is great -- better than he ever expected. He loves that job and has a chance to move into management, but not in the very near future. And the other has done the following: (1) Not paid for agree-upon paid vacation time; (2) one of his paychecks bounced (last week -- employer finally made good on it and the fees for THEIR bounced checks) and (3) he didn't get paid yesterday when he should have (automatic payments from their account will likely now bounce). These employers have the money to put into the accounts, they just don't -- shady as the day is long as far as I'm concerned.

We've checked labor laws. I know that he can't file a dispute until 10 days after this last incident. He finally filed a dispute about the vacation time (which he took to take his son for surgery in another state) but the NC labor board made it very clear they have no power to enforce it and he has to hire a lawyer (or go pro se to small claims court) to remedy this. He was reluctant to even file and did so only as a last resort.

We suspect that the employer is now being vindictive because he filed a complaint and is trying to get him to quit.

I've skimmed the statutes. Are there no employee rights in NC? (I know about the Fed laws....OSHA, etc) What am I missing? Does a NC employee not have any remedies to his employer failing to pay wages or paying with a bad check other than taking time he doesn't have to go to court and money he doesn't have to hire a lawyer? I know he could file a complaint about the bad check, but that won't remedy the situation. Until he can find a job to replace this one, he needs the income. Believe me, he's looking for another job!

Any light bulbs going off for anyone?

Thanks in advance for your help....or at least reading and shaking your head. :D

Vacation, in NC, is not wages. The fact that the DOL would not enforce a dispute about vacation is not proof that they will not enforce wage and hour laws.

I'm not unsympathetic to Fred and Ginger (because I've been in that situation before, and I'm not very far from it now), but it's their responsibility to make sure they have funds in their bank accounts for the automatic payments to be made. The bank really doesn't care that Fred's paycheck was late. That's why I don't like automatic payments.

I'm not unsympathetic to Fred and Ginger (because I've been in that situation before, and I'm not very far from it now), but it's their responsibility to make sure they have funds in their bank accounts for the automatic payments to be made. The bank really doesn't care that Fred's paycheck was late. That's why I don't like automatic payments.

I realize that and they realize that. But truthfully, how many people in this country live paycheck-to-paycheck these days? It is not they who broke the law, it was his employer. Had Fred been paid on payday as the law requires (I found the labor laws I was looking for), their payment would be covered. And remember, he already lost one week's pay, so they were stretched because of it. How would you do if you lost a week's or a couple of weeks pay through nothing but having a sleazy boss? Maybe you can say you'd be okay and could pay all of your bills -- lucky you. According to one article I read, about 67% of Americans today would be in their shoes if their employer failed to pay them on payday. Yeah, there are people who overspend and over-consume, but there are probably just as many who don't and are still in the same fix.


I have great empathy for what is happening to people in this country right now (more than in many previous generations) -- I wish more people did. I'm lucky -- I was able to retire a little early, pay cash for my modest house, and hopefully keep enough to sustain me (within a reasonable budget) for the rest of my life. My pension plan didn't go broke, it wasn't stolen by corporations like Enron, and I was able to make a steady living working one job that provided generous health care benefits. I'm very glad I don't have to start raising a young family right now. This couple do the right thing, they DO pay their bills and have money in their checking account when automatic payments come up unless a boss stiffs them for wages! They were getting their health insurance though the company that began stiffing him -- it was lousy insurance but it was something. Then the company broke their word and they lost that -- 2 hospitalizations later and they're paying monthly payments on those huge bills. Welcome to the world of about 1/3 of Americans these days (look at most recent stats for the past couple of years). Believe me, there are millions of people in their shoes right now who would be in the same bind. I don't look down on them or judge them -- they're mostly doing the right things, and working hard to do so much of the time. I'm grateful I'm not in their shoes and will do my best to help them find information that will help them.

Rather than judge them, I started babysitting for them 2 days a week so Ginger could work those days. And believe me, I'm not a kid person! But now that there is a new(ish) baby I just can't do it -- I don't have the energy to do it for more than a few hours at a time. But, like I said, I'd rather jump in and do the practical things I can to help and have compassion for them.

While I agree with you that many people live paycheck to paycheck, it just isn't smart to have automatic deductions when you don't have a cushion in your bank account. For example, just like the last paycheck bounced, he should have expected problems again. Therefore, don't pay the bills until the money is in the bank. Because, legally, the employer isn't responsible for those bounced check fees due to his anticipation of his paycheck.

He should start to look for other employment. Maybe his wife, since she is a stay at home mom, she can start looking for another job for him, and send out resumes on his behalf.

OP - I hear you but as the other posters mentioned, it is a person's responsibility to have the money in their bank acct. for auto. deductions or either don't have them.

While I agree with you that many people live paycheck to paycheck, it just isn't smart to have automatic deductions when you don't have a cushion in your bank account. For example, just like the last paycheck bounced, he should have expected problems again. Therefore, don't pay the bills until the money is in the bank. Because, legally, the employer isn't responsible for those bounced check fees due to his anticipation of his paycheck.

He should start to look for other employment. Maybe his wife, since she is a stay at home mom, she can start looking for another job for him, and send out resumes on his behalf.

As I mentioned before, he IS looking for a new job and has been for awhile. There's lots of competition out there -- lots of people looking for work in this area! And she, too, has been looking for work when they think they can work out the schedule. Who is supposed to look after their kids if they're both working at the same time? Fortunately, she does work that allows her to look for odd hours but she also doesn't make enough in her line of work to make it worth it to work if they have to use childcare -- they end up breaking even by spending her entire income in childcare.

All I did was offer a suggestion. You said that he works 2 jobs, which doesn't give him much time to look for another. I simply gave a suggestion.