Question:
I need some info:
what are the rules of a collection agency trying to collect some money
from me from a company I used to work for.
The case in question is that a company I used to work for after
leaving the company payed twice a bonus they owed me for staying on
with the compay until an IT project I was working on was completed,
after I was told that the position I had would be moved to another
city.
The company made the payment by direct deposit to my bank Jan 2001
(first payment was by a cheque they mailed me) and I was willing to
return the money until I started having problems with them on money
they owed me for vacation days and lieu days that was owned to me.
So I withheld repayment of the money util I worked things out with
them , a person in their accounting department started negotiating
with me on the amount I should pay back to them (via email) and after
a few emails an offer was made to me on what I should pay back, the
amount was considerably less than what I thought they owed me so I
replied back that it was not enough, I never heard from them and I
never bothered to contact them back this was in May 2001.
The money I was arguing before my last email to them was mainly money
owed to me from lieu days that I was not paid for and they say I had
no records, the companies unofficial policy was to give time off for
lieu days instead of paying so there was never an official record kept
of the lieu days , only record was by emails sent to the IT director
(no longer with the company (fired).
It seems that all of the people in Human resources and, the accounting
people (including 2 persons I was negotiating with, I have emails
fromthem to prove this) and the IT director that was working there at
the time are gone and my only proof of the lie time is my record of a
couple of emails send to the IT director at the time , but I also have
kept in contact with people in the it department who were well aware
of my extended overtime work.
Can I withhold the money until I get what they owe me ?
Can they take me to court ? the amount in question is $13000 I have
figured out I actually owe them about $6000 after I take out the money
they owe me, (the last offer a peron in their accounting department
made to me was to repay $10600 which I was not happy with)
Can I get any thoughs on this on what to do or any links to
information on rules, laws concerning this or referals to a
collection advisor or a lawyer, would be greatly appreciated.
Answer:
Well obviously you are trying to steal money that doesn;t belong to you.
I doubt you will, you have probably spent the money thinking you would get away
with it, but you SHOULD immediately return the amount you agree you owe them.
You are the thief here. With luck you may not go to jail, although you should.
And for $13,000 you would be looking at several years in a hard time pen.
