Michigan Employment Contracts Legal Questions

You need an employment law attorney for this you can call 800 968 0738 for the attorney referal service of the state bar. Because you are working in a medical field, I do not see you having much of a claim. their defense will be this is health care and we can mandate health safety. So even though there are many who believe masks don't do much, the fact is they can argue it comforts patients and probably win. ... Read More

There is no such thing as a standard yearly raise for all businesses, in all industries.  Absent a contract which so provides, you have no right to a raise, annually or at any other time (unless your wages fall below the minimum wage requirements, or you are being discriminated against for unlawful reasons, i.e. all men in the same position got a raise but women did not.)  I know many people whose compensation has decreased over time as conditions in their businesses have changed.... Read More

There is nothing illegal about paying someone in cash per se.  However, usually the reason employers pay in cash is to cheat the taxing authorities, either so the employer will not have to pay various costs (such as unemployment insurance, etc.) and/or so that the taxing authorities will not know that the employee has earned income and the employee will not have to declare it or pay income tax on it.  If your employer did not properly report, and pay the necessary charges on, the money he paid you and others, he broke the law, and you may be able to get him in trouble by reporting him to the IRS, state taxing authority, and/or local Department of Labor.  Sometimes the IRS pays a reward to a whistleblower who reports a tax cheat. However, I don't believe that you can sue your employer personally, because you were not damaged by being paid in cash.  Moreover, you may want to think about whether your own house is in order before you take any action - did you declare and pay taxes on the cash you received from your former employer?... Read More

Being a college student has nothing to do with whether you were an employee or an independent contractor.  That distinction turns on the amount of discretion and authority you had in doing the work.  If the slumlord told you what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and when to do it, you are properly classified as an employee; if he told you what he wanted done and the details were left to you, you were properly classified as an independent contractor.  For example, if my client tells me he wants me to negotiate a contract for him to sell his house, I am an independent contractor; the client doesn't tell me what to say to the other side's attorney, when to call, what specific language to include.  However, if I work for a law firm, which tells me where my office is, what cases I have to work on, when I have to be in the office, etc., I am an employee of the firm. The lines are not always clear.  For example, you say that you were an employee, but, if so, there should have been taxes withheld from your compensation.  It may be that you thought you were being paid "off the books", and didn't plan on reporting the income, but that's probably not what you want to tell the IRS. The slumlord wants to classify you as an independent ocntractor because, if you are a contractor rather than en employee, there are certain taxes he does not have to pay.  However, just because he has an incentive to classify you that way doesn't mean that he is wrong. As to whether you can sue the slumlord, you can challenge the classification, but I don't think you have any basis to sue the slumlord for damages because, as of now, you have not suffered any; if the classification stood it might affect the amount of social security you receive in the future, but, again, you can take care of that by challenging the classification (honestly, I'm not sure what forum you would mount such a challenge in in Michigan, possibly in the Department of Labor.  Giving you a 1099 may force you to pay taxes, but you were supposed to pay them anyway sou you can't claim that as damages.... Read More

You can't use any trade secrets belonging to your former employer in your new job.  Whether or not particular information constitutes a trade secret, however, is always debatable.  It depends on such factors as the degree to which the information is secret (information which is publicly available or can be readily ascertained is not a trade secret), the amount of time and/or money which the employer expended to develop the information, the effort expended to keep the information secret, the degree to which the employer derives a competitive advantage from the confidentiality of the information, etc.  Thus, for example, a customer list which anyone can derive just from looking in the yellow pages or buying a list of subscribers to a trade publication is not a trade secret, while one which a business has compiled over a period of many years, at great expenditure of time and money, which the business goes to great lengths to keep secret by limiting access to only high level employees, and which is not readily ascertainable by others, probably will be considered a trade secret.... Read More

Do you hae a contract (could be oral, could arise out of an employee handbook) which limits your employer's right to fire you?  It could either say that you will be employed for a stated duration (i.e. 6 month employment contract) and/or that you can only be fired for given reasons (i.e. will not be terminated except for good cause which is defined as ... .")  If not, do you believe that you are being discriminated against for some statutorily prohibited reason, i.e. because of your race, gender, religion, ethnicity, etc.?  If not, your employer can fire you at any time, for any reason (other than race, religion, etc.)... Read More

Assuming that you do not have an employment contract which limits the reasons why you can be fired, or provides for procedural protections if your employer wants to fire you (e.g. requires a termination hearing, or that an arbitrator finds that there was good cause to terminate your employment, etc.), the answer is probably yes.  In most states, employees are employed "at will", meaning that they can be fired at any time for any reason, unless he or she has a contract (sometimes this contract can be created by an employee handbook) which says otherwise, or there is a statute which prohibits it (such as statutes which prohibit discrimination in employment based on race or gender, or which protects whistleblowers). ... Read More

As a general matter, an employer must deal with its employers in good faith. Your employer's failure to disclose a material fact regarding your election to accept or reject its early retirement offer may be actionable. My suggestion is that you consult with an attorney who specializes in employment and ERISA matters to discuss the specific facts of the situation. Good luck.... Read More