Title: Just realised my contract states a higher wage than I expected and have been getting, am I entitled to the contract wage?

Question: Ok, so I'll start by saying I live in the UK. Ive been working for a company for nearly 2 years now, I started part time and moved to full time in July. The job is min wage (so £6.70 upto 25 and then £7.20) and I'm now 24. Now on my old contract it stated a salary of £6.70 (NMW) and It should be the same on my full time contract, but I have just realised the contract states a salary of £7.20 (NMW for me soon, but it states the amount without stating min wage). I've been getting £6.70 an hour tho, which is what I was expecting and what every other under 25 there gets. I'm just wondering that if my contract states £7.20 (most likely a mistake) even though I expected £6.70, and even tho it's been months, can I demand the contract wage and can I ask for it to be backdated to cover from the contract start?

Answer: Something similar happened to me.  I was given a raise but they put it in for the wrong work location but I never got it.  Contact payroll,  my company ended up giving me a retro check for what I should have been paid.


Title: [CO] I've been informed of a hit and run. Am I in any legal danger if I do not report it?

Question:
I've been informed that someone I know committed a hit and run involving 2 or 3 parked cars last night. No humans were involved in the accident to my knowledge. I was not in the car or even in the area when this happened. The driver was intoxicated and emotionally distraught. The driver sent me a few facebook messages where you might say an admission of guilt was made, but they didn't come right out and say anything incriminating. Further, I suppose it's worth noting that the driver is my roommate, so the car is registered to my/our address. Reportedly, there were at least a few people in the parking lot when the incident occurred, so it's possible (likely) that the license plate was written down.

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My questions: Am I legally obligated to report the incident? If not, am I opening myself up to any repercussions for ***not*** reporting it? Does this situation warrant me engaging a legal counsel? I do not have a lawyer as I fortunately have never needed one. In the event that a police officer shows up to my door looking for Roommate, what is my best course of action?

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A few notes: I don't want to "rat" on my friend. I 100% do not condone drinking & driving, or hit and runs. Lots of bad choices were made. I am trying to understand what liabilities I may have given the information that has been told to me.

&#x200B;

I am in Denver, Colorado.

Answer:
 According to CO rev stat 18-8-115 (2016)
It is the duty of every corporation or person who has reasonable grounds to believe that a crime has been committed to report promptly the suspected crime to law enforcement authorities.Answer #2: Personally I would first try to counsel your roommate to turn themself in. Like you said - several people witnessed the hit and run and between the color and model of your car and even just a couple digits of the license plate, it will probably come back to them anyway.Answer #3: Most cities have an anonymous tip line you can use. If you do tip him off, DONT TELL A SOUL. Dont tell anyone at all. People talk and you don't want your friend or others to be pissed at you for doing something right. A good person would confess. A bad person would hide it, and they deserve the karma that comes with it.


Title: Bought an ID and never got it, called twice and they said they sent it out each time. I really can't afford $25 right now, how can I get my ID?

Question:
I'm not sure what to do or who to call again. I really need an ID because I have a birthday check for $50 that I nees to cash and I just lost my job so it's all I have for money but I can't open a bank account without a valid ID.

Any advice would be so helpful. I'm in Boston MA.

Answer: Is this a state issued ID? You should be able to go to your local DMV/BMV and get a photocopy of what they have on file. They always give one so you have it until the real one comes in the mail.


Title: Trouble with Post Office

Question:
So, I have an issue with some headphones I ordered online. I have the current address and everything  (It's a p.o box, no physical mailbox). My parents go to check the p.o box daily. And apparently no slip of "hey we got a package for ya" ever was received in the 11 days I've been waiting. So I emailed the company I ordered them from, the customer service was nice enough to let me know that it's already been delivered, about 7 days ago. So it only took 4 days but I had no indication that it came in? The representative let me know that if i wanted it I'd  have to go in person to retrieve the package. But, the hours are extremely conflicting for me considering I'm still in high school (senior). The hours are 8 am-12 pm weekdays while the weekends are 8-11:45 AM. I would wait until then, but I know they might send it back until then. Is there anyway around this, other then being late or missing a day of school? (I live in the U.S, Arkansas specifically. Not my P.O Box, technically my mothers.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer: If you want to pick up your package, you need to pick it up during the business hours of the location of your PO Box.


Title: A coworker [M] of my fiance's [F23] is telling other employees of the company that the two had sex (they did not). Her boss doesn't want to investigate and HR respects that wish. Can we do anything?

Question: She works for a hospital, in patient care. She has reported this issue with this coworker once before and nothing was done. Her boss wants to just move on because she's afraid of negatively affecting the unit, so HR is doing nothing again. My fiance is afraid that if she says anything more on the subject, she'll be fired. Any advice?

Answer: Has she gone directly to HR instead of her manager? If not then she should report this and if on site HR won't do anything she should contact corporate HR if it is corporately owned.  That manager is a huge idiot for ignoring this.Answer #2: She should keep her head down and do her job as best she can.  If she's fired and she can prove it was because of his lies she can talk to an attorney about a defamation claim. Anything she does now to bring attention to the matter will just make it more visable.Answer #3: IANAL. Does this not constitute sexual harassment? I don’t see how that can be ignored.


Title: New Job, Co-worker asks if I'm Gay. I'm not, what should I do?

Question:
(Columbus, Ohio) My co-worker asked if I'm gay out of the blue, I'm not. She pressed on and kept asking, to which I had to say no.

I'm concerned she will ruin the relationships I've cultivated with my co-workers and make work stressing. Workplace advice please on what I should do?

Answer: Then... tell her you're not gay? I don't mean to make light of your potentially stressful situation but based solely on your post I have no idea what the actual problem is here


Title: [Austin, TX] My apartment overcharged me for rent, not responding to requests to resolve it.

Question:
My current lease ends on February 18th. I was charged the full amount for rent this month, instead of it being prorated to the 18th as it should have been. The problem is, I have it set up to auto-pay, so they already have my money. My rent is normally $1483 + $20 for my pet, which comes out to $1503 per month. I figured prorated to 18 days (with 28 in this month), it should be $966.21. I
should be owed a refund of $536.79.

I also have an outstanding bill of $54.86 for utilities which they didn't post until after the auto-pay went through, so that's why it hasn't been paid. I figure I shouldn't have to pay that amount since I've already overpaid $536.79. So the total I think I should be owed is $481.93.

The problem shouldn't be that they didn't know I was moving out. I submitted my notice to move out at the beginning of December (well over 60 days in advance), and within a couple days received a letter acknowledging that with move out instructions.

I emailed them through their website immediately when I noticed this on the 1st (I now realize that's probably a shitty way of fooling me into thinking I've submitted something, without me actually having a record to prove that if I need to). After that I immediately went to the office to discuss it, but there was only 1 person there, who didn't have the authority to help me.

I gave her my information, and she said her manager would contact me in the morning (which would have been yesterday). I haven't had any reply to the email that I sent, nor have they made any attempts to contact me yet (no emails, phone calls, no notices on my door or in my mailbox).

I'm hoping this will resolve itself on its own, but what should my next steps be? I was thinking I should email them directly from my personal account, so I have a record of having sent that to them. Anything else I should be doing to protect myself and get my money back?

TL;DR Shitty apartment complex ruined my cake day.
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer:
 Give them another couple days before you freak out.  It's only been two business days since you noticed the issue.

Visit again during business hours, try to talk to the manager.  If that doesn't pan out, you can send a letter laying out your position and requesting a refund.  You can do that now, if you really want to.  If none of that works, you'll have to sue them.


Title: my leasing office keeps "loosing" my packages and I don't know what to do about it. Should I call the cops?

Answer:
 INAL but, make sure that everything that ships to you is insured and requires a signature. If they lose anything after signing for it then put in an insurance claim and you may also be able to sue the signatory for the value of the "lost" package.

If you can prove that someone from the leasing office is just taking the packages, then you can file a police report for theft.Answer #2: How loose are these packages?


Title: I think my parents were ripped off by a "hotel", probably among many other scammed customers.

Question:
Edit: yup, this place is a total scam network. Found two reports online: [link#1](http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/wawa-realty-manhattan/new-york/wawa-realty-manhattan-khaled-salem-ahmed-scam-new-york-new-york-1343747) [link#2](http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/wawa-realty/brooklyn-new-york/wawa-realty-brooklyn-new-york-1353217)

Beware of Wawa Realty.

My parents are older, and have limited English. The red flags of this situation were apparent right away when my father explained what happened, but unfortunately they didn't understand what was going on and went with it unknowingly setting themselves up to lose over 400 dollars.

So, my parents live in MA. They travelled to Brooklyn, NY in the fall and booked a place for two nights through Hotels(dot)com. Upon arriving, they are greeted by this dude who rolls up in his mercedes, gives them a key, and a poorly typed "contract" of some sorts, stating that there will be a $400 cash deposit. The conditions of the refundable deposit are listed on this agreement, which my dad naively signs. He is told the deposit will be returned 3 months after his stay (long time?).

My parents check out early because they want to get their drive to DC started sooner than later. Everything goes well. They're old, clean-freaks: they didn't party or trash the place.

90 days passes and nothing. My dad calls, no answer. He calls again, gets a few words in about the deposit- gets hung up on. Sends an email- nothing in return. Called Hotels(dot)com, they say they can't help because the transaction was done outside of their site. That's understandable. But it's too bad they do business with shady "hotels".

Hotels is able to contact this business. The business claims the deposit was not returned because my parents "checked out late" and "lost the key". Both of these reasons are bullshit! Also, how unprofessional to not communicate this with your customer, my parents, even if its completely wrong? They aren't doing themselves a favor by having such horrible customer service skills to at least FAKE being a legit business.

My dad is very stubborn, and hates being lied to or cheated. He wants to do something about this, but isn't sure on how to proceed, since the company he rented from basically has been unreachable. In my opinion, he was a victim of a fraudulent hotel scam. And after looking up reviews of this place, seems like there were many others who have been in this exact boat.

He just wants his 400 dollars back. Can he file a case of some sorts? Also it would be great to stop these assholes from scamming more people.

Answer:
 I'm trying to understand what happened, so bear with me:

1. Did they rent the place through Hotels.com, then were required to pay an additional $400 cash as a deposit upon arrival?

If so, escalate this with Hotels.com and insist on an immediate refund of $400 or the entirety of the transaction rented through them.  You can also push for a chargeback on this amount through the credit card company.

2. This sounds like it wasn't actually a hotel, but an illegal sublet/rental.  If that is the case, you want to file complaints with NYC which can help you.  Within NYC call 311.  outside of NYC call 212-NEW-YORK (212-639-9675)

3. Finally, they can file a complaint with the NYC attorney general, which handles rental security issues https://ag.ny.gov/complaint-forms


Title: Fraternity Hazing Investigation by College

Question:
How should one go about answering questions/providing information during an investigation interview with the college, when their fraternity is being investigated by the college? The specifics about the hazing allegations were not provided by the college, and the questions that will be asked to members were not made clear/provided, so what should be expected?

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Basically just want to understand what's the best way to go about this interview, the do's and don'ts.

Answer: I would look to your colleges student handbook and see how they define hazing. They are going to ask the questions they need to to determine if the event in question matches their definition.


Title: [Quebec, Canada] I need to see a guidance counsellor at my school and I want them to sign a Confidentiality Agreement. How do I go about that?

Question:
I need to speak to a guidance counsellor at my school and I want everything that’s talked about to remain confidential. I know there is some sort of law that makes it confidential if you are over 14 years of age ( I am a 17 year old male)  but just to be safe id like to create and/or find a confidentiality agreement online that allows everything talked about to remain confidential. How can I go about doing this without a lawyer?

Location is Quebec, Canada.

All comments are welcome.
Topic:
Canada

Answer:
 Generally you don't.

There's no consideration you can offer with said agreement to make it binding, and nothing you could ask a counselor to sign is going to override any mandatory reporting duties they already have.

Also, no counselor is going to sign such an agreement when you present it. Instead they're going to tell you the conditions of their confidentiality and when it must be breached.


Title: Pulled over for not coming to a complete stop.

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 You didn't obey the traffic law
 Pay the fine for the offense and face the consequences of your actions.


Title: Roommate has left and stopped paying rent with 6 months left on lease

Question:
I'm in Canada.

&#x200B;

My roommate told me a couple weeks ago that its "not working out" for whatever her reasons are (irrelevant as I have done nothing outside of the lease or normal behaviour).  She has been staying elsewhere with family and I have not talked to her since then, although she came back a couple times to get stuff (all of her furniture, other stuff in her room etc. remains untouched).  It was implied that she realized this was a personal choice and she would have to figure out her living situation for the rest of the lease but clearly she is still signed on and legally obligated to pay her portion of rent.

&#x200B;

Well, tonight my landlord called and she has not yet paid her rent for November (it is the 19th) and I'm not sure what will happen if she just refuses to pay from here on out.  (Side note - she has been this late on rent various times before so I'm not sure if there is a correlation.. however she has not responded to any emails or calls from landlord this time - super unreliable, I know).  The reason I'm worried is because we signed the lease completely together and it does not differentiate between what I owe and what she owes, although we each transfer our half to the landlord online separately each month.  We are both students and therefore our dads both co-signed the lease as well, so I advised the landlord to contact her dad about rent.  However, if they still refuse to pay for any of the remaining months, am I/my family on the line for it?  I have always paid on time and been a good tenant.  Thanks in advance.

Answer: You're liable for the full amount to your landlord.  You can sue your former roommate for her portion of the rent.


Title: UPDATE: Taking a summer sublet- tenant is leaving to Korea and wants the money ($1500) up front before giving keys. [QC, Canada]

Question:
Hey there,

I put an original post here: http://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/37850d/taking_a_summer_sublet_tenant_is_leaving_to_korea/

So I texted the guy asking if we could just give him $300 for the mid-June rent and then the next two months' worth ($1200) when we get the keys.

He answered saying he's closing his bank account when he leaves and opening it up when he gets back (???) so he wants to pay it all at once so he doesn't have to think about hydro/etc.

This sounds super sketchy to me.

If we go through with this I guess we'll ask to see his lease, ID, and sign a sublet agreement. If he can produce these, should we trust him with our money?

Any advice is super appreciated.

Canada.

Answer:
 > He answered saying he's closing his bank account when he leaves and opening it up when he gets back

Yea that's stupid. There is no reason to do that. It's a scam.Answer #2: This is a scam, stop trying to prove to yourself that this is not a scam. Find a new place to liveAnswer #3: Scam.


Title: Was what happened theft? If so, should I file a police report?

Question:
Florida: Tonight I went food shopping and when coming back to my apartment, there was no parking by my building, but I could see there was a space in the next building. So I unloaded 6 bags of still frozen groceries and some other items on street right by the stairs of my building. It wasn't in a drivers way. I then parked my car and walked back to my building only to find all my stuff gone. I was gone 5 minutes at the most. I then heard some noise coming from the parking lot and found a guy carrying all of my stuff to his building across from mine. I confronted him and asked him why he had my stuff and he said he found it and since it was unattended in the street, he looked for someone, saw no one so decided to take it. I told him it was theft, that I had had to park in the next building, and he had no right to take someone's belongings. He argued with me that it was "abandonment". I asked him how he could think someone would buy 6 bags of groceries and abandon it still frozen. He kept arguing with me that he looked for 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes for someone. I said I now had to carry all this stuff even farther because of him and that it's still theft and if he didn't leave, I would call the police and file charges for theft. He continued to argue with me so I pulled out my phone and then he left. All of my stuff had grass all over it and the bags were broken and my food smushed (I don't even understand how). It took me ah extra 15 minutes to bring it up because of him. I have done this multiple times when there's no parking and never had an issue until tonight. Anyway, I know where he lives because I saw him go into his building. Should I report this to my apartment manager (who will probably do nothing) or to the police or let it go? If I report to my apartment manager should I do it via email or in person.

There is no way a normal person would ever truly think frozen food was "abandoned", and he definitely knew it was theft. Also, I am pretty sure in Florida, if you see abandoned property you can't just take it and have to report it to law enforcement.

Answer:
 You are correct that under Florida law you must report abandoned or lost property to law enforcement.

You are welcome to file a police report, but there is a near 99% certainty that law enforcement would not arrest him, because the food was returned. Your landlord won't have any reason to get involved with this.

In short: yes, let it go.


Title: [VA] My boss wants me to take photos from the internet and trace/color over them for our game's assets

Question:
Hi guys, I hope this is the right sub for this. I wanted to crosspost to a game development sub but I wasn't sure if that was against the rules or whether the community was big enough to give good advice. Crossposted to /r/relationships.

I work as an illustrator for a game design company. It's basically a dream job. I get a decent starting salary, my job covers my rent for me, I live very close to the office (within walking distance), and I literally get paid to draw all day. It's absolutely fantastic. I don't want to get into too many details about the company or the game but basically my job is to create assets for the game - buttons, backgrounds, and most importantly, character design and clothes for players to purchase.

I've been working here for about 5 months. A few weeks ago my coworker brought up that our boss is thinking of changing how we output the artwork. We often make use of reference images to more accurately draw things like jackets or shoes. Now, to speed up the output of our work, he literally wants us to find images from the internet, copy + paste them, and then "paint over" the photographs because he thinks that drawing/shading them ourselves takes too long.

This makes me super uncomfortable for a couple of reasons:

* if I quit and try to find another job after this one, I don't think I can put any of this stuff in my portfolio, right? Or I'll at least have to include some kind of disclaimer? I'm afraid this will damage my potential job opportunities in the future
* I don't know a whole lot about the game industry but as an illustrator I feel like this is pretty ethically dubious. Is this standard for the industry? I'm pretty sure our boss is engaging in some other questionable activities through the company but I didn't bother to question them because they don't really affect me unless the company shuts down, and then I guess I'd just leave and find another job
* I'm especially worried because he's pushing us to do this for the wardrobe items. We sell these items to players for real money. Isn't there some kind of copyright risk there?
* it devalues the work of the art, in my opinion. I asked my coworker if he would pay the same price for an original drawing versus a drawing that had been colored over and he admitted he wouldn't. No one would.
* the previous art director is gone for several months for a family emergency. He flatly refused to do this when our boss pitched it to him. It feels a little suspicious that our boss is suddenly deciding to bring this issue up again when I'm the acting lead artist. I feel like he's trying to take advantage of the fact that I'm young and inexperienced, although maybe I'm just being paranoid

He didn't fire the previous art director obviously, but our art director is a lot more talented than I am. I think I'm a pretty good artist but my coworker is warning me that my boss will get frustrated if I say no. I really don't want to quit, I really like this job, but this makes me super uncomfortable.

Artists' advice would be especially appreciated, is this normal in the industry? If it is, I don't mind doing it. I just don't want to make crappy work and then get screwed when I leave the company and have nothing to show for it.

\*\*TL;DR my boss is asking me to draw over existing photographs for assets. Just want to know if this is industry standard or not, and if not, how to handle it.\*\*
Topic:
Intellectual Property

Answer:
 This is straight-up, illegal, copyright infringement.  It's stealing someone else's work.  Don't do it.

EDIT: Based on OP's replies below, I'm not 100% sure if this is copyright infringement.  OP might not be making exact copies of one photo.


Title: Smoking in our cars at work

Question: I work at a call center in Michigan. We all just received an email reminding us their is no smoking on company property after one of my coworkers was smoking in her car in the open air parking lot. I am not a smoker but it just seems cruel to me that work can tell people not to smoke in their own cars during their lunch breaks. Is this legal?

Answer: Yes.  They aren't telling you can't smoke in your car, they are telling you that you can't smoke in your car *if the car is on their property.*


Title: US College student injured during class--do I have any options?

Question:
Hi all,

I hope this isn't too specific for this subreddit, but I was wondering if someone might be able to help me out with this.

18 months ago I was involved in a laboratory accident wherein I inhaled caustic chemicals causing lung damage. I went to the ER an hour or so after the event and was treated for the next 6 weeks outpatient.

Things (I think) I have going for me:

1) Accident was direct response of instructor not following lab protocol

2) Instructor was there when incident occurred and delayed my removing myself from the situation (told me to stay in the lab room, initially stopped me from dumping solution in hazardous waste bin, told me to complete my lab) although I mentioned having pain and did not want to fill incident report (this will work against me, I assume).

3) Hospital records indicating that I was treated for chemical irritation of my lungs within an hour of the incident.

4) Documentation of missed days of work

5) Recent records showing my lung function to be 40% what it should be and recent treatment involving numerous drugs..I will likely need further, more intensive, treatment however.

Things against me:
1) Past history of lung disorders (smoke inhalation, second hand smoke exposure, asthma)

2) The amount of time that has passed

3) Inadequate documentation (my doctor did not resume care following the initial 6 week period. I have only recently sought care again as I have significantly diminished lung function). I don't have documentation of my lung function before the incident...

4) It is likely I signed some form of a waiver before the course.

This has only come up now because I am now hindered in my everyday life by my decreased lung function. I cannot be near any smoke, chemicals, perfumes, or dust (meaning I cannot use any chemicals to clean at home, have to avoid smokers, have had to leave small rooms if someone sprayed perfume) and cannot be too active (at least not yet, I'm hoping the treatment will fix this part), walking results in severe shortness of breath, it is hard for me to sleep, etc.

I don't even know what I would want to do, to be honest, I just want to know if there are options for me to take some form of legal action.

Thank you for reading this, and please let me know if I messed up somewhere.

Answer: Get a consultation from a reputable personal injury attorney, they're usually free.Answer #2: Exactly which caustic chemical did you inhale?Answer #3: Unrelated to the legal aspect, but do you have records from a PFT work up for your lung disease from before your accident and after? You could definitely use this to help your case to show quantitatively how this event has effected your breathing. Otherwise I imagine it could be considered part of worsening pre-existing condition.


Title: I'm 19 living in ON, Canada. My ex-boss is overly paranoid and is filing a restraining order against me for no reason...what do I do?

Question:
I quit my job about two weeks ago and I haven't been there since. It was a hostile work environment. Basically my boss is threatened by a coworker of mine that I'm friends with and decided to file for a restraining order against me because of that? I don't care since I don't ever wanna go there anyway, but I'm just wondering if this is a criminal record or something? Do I just ignore it? Does it matter at all if I leave it be?
Also, I'll be leaving the country for about  3 months. If I have to do something, can I take care of it when I come back?
Thank you.

Another thing: I know it's not official yet but all my coworkers said he's doing it. When does it become official? Do I get something in the mail?

Answer:
 >Do I just ignore it?

Bit of life advice: never ignore a legal issue they can only spiral out of control.

I would personally have a chat with a lawyer and ignore the old employer in the meantime.


Title: Are text messages considered legal proof?(can be used in court)

Answer: A text message could be admissible evidence


Title: What would be the penalties if I, a native born US citizen, born in the US to US citizen parents, turned myself into ICE multiple times to slow down their deportation efforts?

Answer:
 Obstruction of justice, filing false reports, interference with the performance of law enforcement officers.

In sum, you will get to spend time in prison.


Title: Underaged sister is in a relationship with a man older than her? (state: NJ)

Question:
I have a 16 year old sister. She is currently in a relationship with a man who is 22 years old. It is a serious, committed relationship that has been going on for over one year... The problem is, according to my sister, that she has told him she is 18. They have not had sex, according to her as well. Their relationship is mostly online though they have met a couple of times.

I am afraid of what might happen if my parents or someone else found out, and went to the police. I don't want to get involved in this but I feel for my sister and the poor guy (I haven't met him but he seems like a decent dude). What are the consequences for their being together? Can they (or more like he) get arrested for statutory rape even if no sex has taken place? How can I inform my sister of the legal reprecussions of this relationship in a way she will understand? Like, she gets it's illegal but she seems to feel that as long as it's a secret, it's others' words against theirs.
Topic:
Juvenile and Youth Law

Answer:
 AOC in New Jersey is 16, so your sister's boyfriend won't get in trouble for having a sexual relationship with her. If he gets explicit photos from her that's still illegal.

Answer #2: > The problem is, according to my sister, that she has told him she is 18.

> (I haven't met him but he seems like a decent dude).

Not legal advice. Everyone else has that covered well. Dude thinks he is in a relationship with someone who is of age. If he really is a decent guy, you might want to try and figure out a way to let him know that he's dating a minor. If you don't want to tell him straight up, find some other way to do it. He's playing with fire, and has absolutely no idea, because your sister is lying to him with no understanding of how badly she could ruin his life based off her lies.


Title: Do I have any legal recouse for getting my last name back after a divorce

Question: [deleted]

Answer: No, you cannot force your ex to change her name back.


Title: Reasonable Entry - is 4 days too much?

Question:
Hello, WA state resident here. Received a notice that seems to overstep it's bounds a bit. This is the second or third time they've done this and there seems to be no recourse.

They have given us 48 hours notice that between the 26th and 29th from 8am to 5pm they can enter whether we are home or not to put earthquake straps on our water heater.

The problem I have with this is they also state "this cannot be rescheduled" and 4 days with 8 hours a day doesn't seem to fall under "Reasonable"

The RCW is here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=59.18.150

Am I wrong? IS this reasonable? I spoke with the sherrifs office, Attorney general, and several other places. They all say they don't handle these issues. The superior court won't give me "legal advice" or law clarification, and the tenant unions are all closed today.

Any advice appreciated. We have a dog and small children and it seems unreasonable to need to ensure that the dog is locked up for 8 hours a day for 4 days straight as the notice instructs us to either secure pets or remove them from the premises. We also have small children with nap schedules.

Answer:
 Yes, it's reasonable.  Reasonable in this case usually means "Enough time for you to prepare for them to show up".  They aren't saying they'll be in your house for 4 days.  They're saying that at some point in those 4 days, they'll be there for a few minutes to strap your water heater in.  It's pretty common in larger buildings when routine maintenance requires they enter 100 or more units and the schedule is unpredictable.

Have you considered calling the management company to ask if they can narrow the window down for your unit?


Title: [US] May have accidentally encountered Child Porn on the web. Did I do the right thing/what can(should) I do?

Question:
As the title states I may have accidentaly encountered Child Porn. I was on an adult chat site and started talking to some one who sent me a link (I know... stupid) that went to an image hosting site with nude photos of a girl/woman.

She appeared to look quite young so I immediately asked if she was 18. She said yes. I tried to carry on a conversation (carefully, still being quite suspicious) at this point with only a couple generic replies.

I went back to the image hosting site, which has its own sort of group chat feature and I immediately noticed the host said something along the lines of "Guess what? I'm 16." The image hosting site had a button on the top right to report illegal content. After seeing that I immediately reported it and closed the tab.

I didn't share the link or download anything only viewed it. Even though I reported it, can I still get in trouble just for viewing it, even though I wasn't seeking illegal content and even asked if the person was of age?

I really am not sure about the law on this situation and just want to be able to ask if I could get charged/what I should do. I have anxiety issues and the "what ifs" are driving me nuts. I am fairly certain given the situation I did the right thing, but I would really like a second opinion. This is as much therapy for me as it is a legal question.

Thank you in advance for your time.
Topic:
Computer and Internet

Answer:
 Here’s the thing, the people who are looking for people watching CP online are looking for people who are downloading large amounts of it, or visiting monitored websites. They can see how long you were on there and what you said, just by how she she said she was 18, and when you found out she was 16 you reported it and left the site, you’ll be ok. We all stumble across shit we shouldn’t see online, it’s how you react is what determines what will happen.Answer #2: It sounds like you did all you can do in that scenario. In the future, if you ever come across a website with that sort of thing on it you should forward it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.Answer #3: No you won't get in trouble, I'm sure it's actually quite common for this to happen on accident. Don't worry, I mean you reported the images so I'd imagine that it'd be taken down fast. (Any reputable porn site wouldn't wanna be hosting child porn as they'd be subject to criminal charges especially after reports). Answer #4: INAL
Something not yet mentioned here is that this kind of thing is a fairly common scam.  Sending illegal images (or allegedly illegal images) and then blackmailing you.

"You were looking at child porn and if you don't send me money i'll report you to the cops".

I don't know if that user has anyway to contact you in the future but if you get anything like that, feel free to ignore it.  It's a bluff.


Title: Keeping homework away from the other parent.

Question:
So. To put a long story short without blowing out my heart, I am the (future) stepdad of a 6 year old kindergartner and myself and her mother do not have a good relationship with her father.

Our little one started Kindergarten about 2 weeks ago now, and yesterday was her biological fathers' parenting time. We picked her up today and in her take home folder the homework of the week (Due on tuesday due to Labor day weekend) and her homework that she has been working on is now missing. He refuses to contact us through any written means and has verbally abused my girlfriend every time that they speak on the phone.

What I am seeking is the legality of his action. He does not have parenting time before Tuesday, and he has such kept her documents out of her hands, and unable to be turned in.

What do we do?

Answer:
 Unless the custody papers say something about homework or education rights then there is nothing illegal here.

Let her teacher know of the issues. That's about all you can do right now.


Title: Privacy Fence Question [MN]

Question:
So, I'm buying a house in the near future in SE MN (Winona, to be specific).  Because of reasons, I want to put up a privacy fence enclosing the back yard.  Is this a thing that I need to file a permit for?  How tall can I make it?

Also, since this might entirely be relevant to the "How high can/should I make it", the reason is that I have a few friends who are into pet play, and would absolutely have a great time being leashed in my back yard.  I'd like to be able to provide that for them, without, you know, neighbors seeing/complaining to the police/getting me citations in my local paper, because literally *everyone* would see that, as our police blotter is kinda the "no fucks given" type, making Winona look at least as crazy as Florida.

Answer:
 I know I am probably not into the new kinks but by pet play you mean pretending to be like a dog or cat crawling around and barking or do you mean beastiality?

I would choose some place more secluded for those types of activities. No fence in the world can keep out a 2nd floor neighbor from viewing these activities and if you are naked or sexual in the backyard there are lewdness and obscenity charges even if you have a fence.


Title: I own a piece of 2 World Trade Center

Question:
Background: I worked in 2 WTC from 1993 to 1998. While there Internet got installed and workers cut out circular cores from the cement of the floor so wiring could run.

They left behind these about 6 inch tail 4 inch diameter cylinders of reinforced concrete.  I took one home.

After 9/11 I realized I had something very special.

How can I
1) get it certified as to what it is, and
2) simultaneously protect my right to own or sell it?

Answer: It’s not that special to own a piece of a building that left a literal mountain of debris after it collapsed. Google tells me there were about [16000 truckloads or 1.2 million tons of debris](http://911encyclopedia.com/wiki/index.php/World_Trade_Center_Debris_Pile_Mass_and_Volume)


Title: License plate

Question: I recently wrote a review of a carwash that was not too favorable. The "owner" responded asking me to fill out a form on their wepage, and not to forget to include my license plate, then posted my plate number and state right next to it. How would I go about getting him to remove my plate number from the comment? Is this legal? He/she does it to every unfavorable review on their page. Thanks in advance.

Answer:
 > How would I go about getting him to remove my plate number from the comment?

Ask nicely.

> Is this legal?

Generally, yes.  A motor vehicle's tag or license plate number is not private, protected information.  In fact, it's very public, as you drive around advertising it to everyone on the street all the time.

Next time, don't offer up so much information about yourself or your car when the person you're writing the unfavorable review about asks you to.


Title: Kids Mom recently got job at tribal casino to dodge child support. What can we expect?

Question: She is not a member of any tribe. She's  from Spokane area. She was paying a whopping $125 a month CS. Then recently got a serving job at tribal casino. Been told they can suspend her license and garnish taxes and the CS just keeps stacking up. What else can we anticipate and is this common?

Answer:
 If she doesn't pay the court ordered child support each month she can and will lose her licence, go to jail, garnished taxes, leans on property, etc.  Getting a job in a tribal area doesn't remove her obligation.  If she doesn't report her wages to the state and IRS she can be charged with tax fraud. Answer #2: Not sure the complete history on it but tribal employers generally don't have to honor wage garnishments for child support. But there are other ways to make her pay and increasingly painful repercussions if she doesn't. Answer #3: Practically:  In WA, you will have to take her to court for contempt to have any practical action taken against her.

Once it hits (if I recall correctly) $5K, you start to be able to have some more leverage applied against her, like registry on the WA most wanted for child support site.

Otherwise... yea... the debt will be there forever.  And having that debt will sully her hands in any future litigation against you, depending on the nature of her claims.Answer #4: I'm not sure why you are doing this privately. Washington State provides free [child support enforcement](https://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/division-child-support). They'll do the work for you. They even have a subdivision that works closely with the [Tribes on their reservations](https://www.dshs.wa.gov/esa/division-child-support/tribal-relations).

Stop reinventing the wheel here and let your tax dollars work for you. The state will do this for you faster and better than any private attorney. Answer #5: It's not really a dodge. Maybe the employer won't withhold child support, but that doesn't mean that she doesn't have to pay it. SHE is court ordered to pay that child support to you, not her employer. If SHE doesn't meet her obligations then you take legal action.


Title: My ex is successfully destroying my life.

Question:
So I split with my girlfriend and she completely flipped on me and turned into my worst enemy. In the four days since I left with a bag of clothes, she has accused me of stealing her person data and keeping it hidden on some secret hard drive, accused me of cloning her phone, stealing her SIM cards, her kids SIM cards, tracking her friends phones, stealing her iMac, surveying her house, hacking her WiFi, and threatening her physical safety. She has since asked me to come home, told me to not come home (you pick the order), demanded I tell her where I am with photographic proof or she reports me. She has contacted family and friends to say she is worried about me. I am positive there is one individual she recsntly met that incouraged her tech paranoia. He too has called and harassed me. I have already been served with protective order papers. We shared a rental and I still need more things from the home, as well as two missing hard drives of mine. Am I without a paddle here. I feel like this is a, sorry you're fucked situation.

I am in Virginia.

UPDATE:
Saw a therapist with her. Therapist said women tend to look for reasons a relationship is falling apart when they sense the other person my be pulling away. I originally split with my girlfriend because of heated talks about marriage, and the effects her precious divorce has on our relationship now. That turned into the "secret hard drive" debacle out of nowhere.

The therapist told me I had to make a choice, to agree to marriage, in which case these problems can get fixed with time, "I promise" , or breaking away and cut all ties. We have been dating 4.5 years and she has 4 kids. I want to invest in helping her and I get to a better place, but I cannot promise and talk about marriage after the hell I had last week. I understand her fear and her troubled past and how it got her to panic the way she did,  but marriage seems like we are jumping a lot of parts in between. I guess this is more /mentalhealth and less /legaladvice

Second opinions?

Answer:
 If at all possible, consult a lawyer about the protective order.  Do not speak to her or contact her in any way while the petition is pending.

In the meantime, see if the local police or sheriff can provide you with an escort to get all the rest of your things.  Answer #2: Contact your local agencies non-emergency number and as for a Keep the Peace.

Officers will give you 75-30 minutes to grab stuff. However, it depends on your protective orders. Check them and see what the rules are (no contact vs no further family abuse.)

Are they ECOs or PPO? ECOs expire in 3 days. The PPO will be two weeks with a court date.

Keep all their texts and voicemails for the court. Don't contact them and only go to  the house with LEO. Remember that in domestic situations if one side has decided to be unreasonable you must protect yourself.

As unpleasant as it is, just because those orders are issued does not mean it is all over. They are easy to get. As long as you go to the court date and show your sanity while sharing her insanity you will make it through.Answer #3: Block and ignore.

What's your legal question?


Title: If I ship insulin from Australia to the US, am I breaking the law in either country?

Question:
I've noticed that Epi-Pens and insulin seem to cost an awful lot in the US. In Australia, they cost a pittance. If I buy them from Australian pharmacies and ship them to diabetics who live in the US, am I breaking the law?

* Am I breaking the law if I make a profit?

* Am I breaking the law if I do not make a profit, but the recipients pay my costs?

* Am I breaking the law if I receive no funds and all costs are paid out of my pocket?

Thanks for your time.

Answer:
 Legally, this is what's referred to as "super mega-illegal." Okay I'm not a lawyer, so that's probably not the technical term. It's illegal to import drugs to the US [even for personal use, except in a few circumstances.](https://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/transparency/basics/ucm194904.htm)

As far as selling those drugs, you'd be in more trouble than you really want to deal with. And putting yourself at an incredible liability risk.Answer #2: Insulin has to stay cold  I would not suggest sending it over sea with out looking in to the proper way to keep it cold.


Title: [CA] Can Bank of America freeze all of your accounts over a joke check memo?

Question:
e.g. writing "hookers n blow" when giving a friend $1000

How long can they keep your funds from you?

Answer: Sure! They could freeze your accounts, report you to whatever authorities they feel the need to, and even close your accounts. They'd have a certain amount of time to mail you a cashiers check for your balances, but I'm not sure on the exact timeline right off the top of my head. It's probably measured in weeks rather than days though.


Title: My friends boss makes her work standing all day with hardly a brake for lunch

Question: My friend (we'll call her Sam) is a key holder at one of the local Icing Accessories stores down here in Florida, and her boss (we'll call her Dianna) will maker her work alone from open to close, and insists that Sam stands even though nobody may come into the store for hours. Dianna says that "sitting on the job is 'unprofessional'" and refuses to supply even a tall stool to sit on when no one is in the store. I'm sure that there has to be some kind of labor law Dianna's infringing or something. Please let me know what you think, and thank you for your time.

Answer:
 Yes, there is a Florida law requiring employers provide seats!

> 448.05 Seats to be furnished for employees in stores; penalty.—If any merchant, storekeeper, employer of male or female clerks, salespeople, cash boys or cash girls, or other assistants, in mercantile or other business pursuits, requiring such employees to stand or walk during their active duties, neglect to furnish at his or her own cost or expense suitable chairs, stools or sliding seats attached to the counters or walls, for the use of such employees when not engaged in their active work, and not required to be on their feet in the proper performance of their several duties; or refuse to permit their said employees to make reasonable use of said seats during business hours, for purposes of necessary rest, and when such use will not interfere with humane or reasonable requirements of their employment, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

[Source
](http://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2012/Chapter448/All)


Title: [Tallahassee, FL] Signed a one year lease for an apartment. I no longer wish to move into the apartment, how can I cancel the lease?

Question:
So a couple months ago I signed a lease to move into an apartment complex a few minutes away from the college I planned to attend.

Due to personal reasons, I no longer wish to attend this college or move into the apartment. So I contacted the people there to ask how I can cancel the lease, and they said it would not be possible. I would have to either find a sub-leaser or pay off the entire lease.

Is there any possible way to cancel the lease without having to pay the whole thing? I am no longer able to afford to live there or go to college, and could really use some advice on how to get out of this situation.

Answer: I think they made it pretty clear. Find a tenant to replace you or pay the rent you agreed to pay.


Title: I created what I thought would be a small Pokemon Go gathering of MAYBE 50 people, but now the event has over 2,300 people 'going' and over 5,700 people 'interested' on Facebook. The local media is picking up on it. Looking for advice, please. [Grand Rapids, MI, USA]

Question:
Last Friday I put together an event and got maybe 30 or so people together. I put another event together for this upcoming Friday 7/15 thinking I'd get maybe 50 to 60 people this time. Maybe.

When I woke up yesterday, I had about 770 people interested, roughly 400 going. I'm looking at the event page, and right now we're at about 5.7k people interested and 2.3k going. The event is in 4 days and its going to keep growing, especially now that my local news stations are starting to pick up on it.

I have already contacted my local police department to let them know about the event. I have to fill out an application to send in for the event. They said I might not need permits.

I'm not paying to rent the venue. I'm not making money off the event. The event is mostly a "hey, we're gathering at this time on this date, do your own thing" type of deal. No special events or contests or anything is scheduled. No food or drink. No booze. No admission is being charged.

What do I need to prepare myself for? What kind of liability am I exposing myself for? I'm already looking into special event insurance for the day, if I need it. I am not looking to cancel the event, I am just trying to protect myself from any kind of liability I'm exposing myself to.

Answer: CA attorney here. It doesn't take a lawyer to tell you this but if you don't want this event to occur or want to discourage these randos from coming, you should use the same medium [you used that made it so popular] to cancel itAnswer #2: Honestly speaking, you're 'probably' not going to get anywhere near this amount of people, lots of people just press interested after looking at the title and never put in a second thought; you should notify that people should RSVP or something similar so you can get an idea of how many people are actually going to come; if there are truly a lot of people, just get the proper event licensing.


Title: Delta lost my baggage and refuses to compensate

Question:
Back in April, I flew with Delta from Rochester to JFK before getting on an international flight (that I purchased separately).  My baggage was supposed to be on the conveyor belt at JFK so I could then check in for my next flight.  I filed a claim with Delta within the time limit and called customer service many times to no avail.  They referred me to Air France and KLM claiming that since I'm an expat and my international flight was operated by Air France, they would fix it for me but I was referred back to Delta because Air France isn't actually liable given that my bags went missing before I got on the international flight.

At this point, what are my options ?

Answer: Did you have travel insurance? If not, check with your credit card company. They often have built-in insurance.Answer #2: Did you buy your Rochester flight as a codeshare on Air France KLM or did you book directly with Delta?Answer #3: Currently Delta has a joint venture agreement with AF/KL. Passengers of Delta who reside in Europe are handled by AF/KL and passengers of theirs who reside in North America are handled by Delta if that helps.


Title: Hypothetical, what would be legality of letting a stranded space alien stay with you?

Question: Sorry, read a sci fi thingy along these lines  Im curious how it would actually play out.

Answer:
 The law doesn't address that situation.Answer #2: Most places specifically define their laws to apply to "persons", which then is defined as human beings, plus some special cases like corporations.

Basically, the law doesn't account for space aliens.  I'd imagine that the military would be mad at you for hiding an extraterrestrial from them, but legally, there's no law that addresses this at all, one way or the other.


Title: Stray dog bite while waiting on animal control to arrive

Question:
My girlfriends mom lives very close and has a pit bull. A stray pit bull wandered in her yard and was malnourished and almost blind. She called animal control and explained it's symptoms and they asked her to keep it in her back yard until they arrived either later that evening or in the next morning. The next morning my girlfriend went back to her moms house animal control still hadn't picked up the stray dog. Her moms dog slipped by her to go outside and went to smell the stray dog and then they started fighting my girlfriend and her mom were trying to break up the dogs the stray bit my girlfriend and locked onto her wrist she screamed several times because her brother in law and twin sister were inside and they heard the screams and ran outside between the four of them they got the dogs apart and off my girlfriend the neighbors heard the screams and they called 911 and came over to see what happened after that the dogs owner showed up then the paramedics showed up my girlfriend got checked out a little bit then her sister drove her to the hospital where I met them and she was there from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm

Who's fault is this?

Answer: Holy run-on sentence, Batman!


Title: [FL] Bought house at foreclosure auction (at the courthouse), started rehab work, and now the (former) owner sought to reverse the foreclosure.

Question:
We purchased a home (to flip) at the county courthouse foreclosure auction and we were issued a Certificate of Sale.  The former owner's family members stopped by a couple of times to take some of their personal belongings out of the home and what was left we discarded.  We then began some rehab work (painting, removing broken tiles, etc) approximately $5K worth of rehab done so far.

Three weeks later ...

We received notice in the mail yesterday that the former owners were seeking to reverse the foreclosure.  I'm summarizing here, but they apparently paid the balance of what was owed to the banks and the foreclosure was reversed; therefore we were told we would be refunded the entire amount that we paid to purchase the property and a Certificate of Title was canceled (or not issued).

We've never been in this position.  What happens next?  Where do we go from here?

Answer:
 So you have a claim for unjust enrichment.  Stop all work, and consult with your attorney, but probably the new/old owners will have to pay you for the value of the improvements. You may also have a claim for detrimental reliance against the bank if they went through with the foreclosure even after they were paid the balance. Answer #2: Were you doing the work yourself? Was the $5000 just for materials? When you're making claims of losses (which, clearly, you have), don't forget labor - cleaning up the site, installing new cabinets, mowing the lawn, etc.Answer #3: Who told you that you would get a refund? The Bank? Court? Or prior owner?

The owner did have a right to redeem the property up and until the point that the certificate of sale was issued. After that their right of redemption is up. This may be what happened. Why you got such late notice I do not know.

Either way, the other user Zantcmao gave you sound advice. And in the meantime, I would hold off on spending money on properties purchased in foreclosures until you have certificate of title in hand. As technically you are not the owner until you hold title. You can't collect rent, evict tenants etc until you have title


Title: Help! Neighbor funneling smoke into my apartment!

Question:
So when i cook, my exhaust gets sent to my neighbors house. I like to cook with onions and peppers frequently. This neighbor just moved in so hes not used to it yet.

Now that hes found the exhaust gets interchanged, hes been burning paper and smoking up my entire apartment when im not cooking out of spite because he doesnt like my cooking.

What do i do?
Topic:
Landlord Tenant Housing

Answer: Complain to your landlord. Answer #2: You have a ventilation issue not legal issue. There might be a HVAC specialist here but this is the wrong sub regardless.Answer #3: What us state or Canadian province are you located in? This matters as to what obligations your landlord will have.


Title: How to get a patent for this specific idea?

Question:
Hi there,

I [Michigan] have an idea but it's not for a product. It's a type of contest/event and as far as my research goes there is nothing like it. I'm very concerned of it being stolen since (of course I think) it's a really good idea. However, I'm not really sure under what patent type (if at all) it would fall under or if it's even possible to put some type of patent on a contest/event.

I'd really appreciate your opinion. I'm not really made for this smart stuff, I'm the brawn of society so I'd love your help!

Answer: You can't patent an idea.


Title: Reported sexual harassment at work, head of the firm covered it up. [WI]

Question:
This started off as a post on r/lawschool because I was contemplating leaving my new firm due to an awful work environment. Post history is here: http://reddit.com/r/LawSchool/comments/7hrq2m/update_when_is_it_acceptable_to_leave_a_new_firm/.

The gist of my situation is that I’m a new attorney at a law firm. I was originally looking for a new job because of some issues with other attorneys but I found out that we are merging with another firm at the end of the year. I decided to stick it out and hope the new firm was better.

Last week, I mentioned to my boss that another attorney had said some truly disgusting things to me, and he suggested I report it to HR. I won’t include the comments here because I don’t want to be identified, but it’s safe to say that anyone in their right mind would know this was sexual harassment. I spoke with our HR person several times, and she assured me she would look into it. On Friday, my boss told me that the head of our firm told HR to end their investigation and send the attorney a letter stating that if we weren’t merging, they would have docked his pay because of this, but since we are merging, they won’t do anything to punish him. In addition, they would not be telling our new firm, which they had originally told me they would do if they found evidence of sexual harassment.

If this were the only time this guy had been reported, then maybe I could understand their decision. But this guy had been reported for sexual harassment more than 10 times during his about 5 year tenure at this firm. He has also lost us business because he grabbed a female client’s butt while they were out for drinks! He has such a bad reputation that he has also lost us 1-2 other clients. Th above mentioned client sent an email to our firm, and I know it’s in his employment file.

Basically, I’m not satisfied with this investigation. I think it’s wrong that they aren’t Informing our new firm that any of this has happened. I am concerned that my firm will destroy his employment file at the end of the year because the head of the firm is so hell bent on covering this up to save his reputation. My questions are:
* What should I do next?
* Is it illegal for me to inform the new firm that this is going on?
* Is there any way I can request a copy of his employment file?
* Should I report this to the bar?

Thanks for any advice. I’m so frustrated with my firm here, and I just want this guy to stop harassing me.

Answer: It sounds like it's time for you to talk to a lawyer -- one OUTSIDE your firm who specializes in sexual harassment.


Title: [UK] Legality of essay writing services and what can one do if being blackmailed by one?

Question:
Hi guys,

I'm curious whether essay writing services are legal specifically in the UK (I assume they are since there are loads and nobody is doing anything about them) and what can one do if they are being blackmailed by one? For example, they threaten to tell your school / university or to sue if you don't pay them something? It's my first time trying to use one, but I attempted to back out before they can deliver as I realised they are clearly scammers and I'm better off doing it myself.

Reporting blackmail to the police would be something I'd consider, except I'm not sure about the legality of this in the first place or if they will treat this with discretion?

Thanks
Topic:
School Related Issues

Answer:
 This is not legal advice:

You haven’t broken any laws nor have you committed plagiarism yet. If you do not turn in a fake essay then you have not compromised your integrity in the schools eyes. Don’t, it’s not worth it. Here are some options that I think are viable depending on how you want to handle it:

1) Not call the cops, and cut off communication with the blackmailers entirely, they probably won’t follow through with blackmail because as you mentioned they are scammers and their time is better spent finding people that will actually pay them.

2) Report it to the cops. This would mean there is a record of this and they likely will not investigate and almost certainly will not take any action. Your under no obligation to report this to the school if you file a police report, but depending on your university it’s not out of the question they would find out.

3) No matter what you choose to do about this situation (including paying them) prepare for your academic integrity to be in question. This is obviously the worst case scenario— especially since you havnt done anything wrong— but if they do contact your university then it could bring into question all of your past academic work. There may not be any physical evidence because you haven’t done anything but you still may have to sit through a disciplinary hearing and defend yourself.

Please don’t give them any money. Good luck!


Title: [US - Seattle, WA] Girlfriend's work making her stay in a 2BR Airbnb with two guys for two months

Question:
Girlfriend is working a two month assignment in Portland, OR with two male co-workers.  While this assignment has been known for months, their managers gave them zero information until 6/19 that they'd be leaving on 6/21.

After getting down there and going through a day of training (with no breaks), the manager gave them an address and key and then left to return to Seattle.  They discovered the address was a house being rented out through Airbnb.

The house only has two usable bedrooms, and two cots. She has some health issues that make it difficult for her to stay with people not accustomed to it. She's not comfortable sharing a house with male co-workers. There's religious paraphernalia everywhere, which caused one of the co-workers to leave and find his a place due to his own views.  She's not too thrilled with it, but could otherwise put up with it.

They contacted their manager and he basically told them there's nothing he can do since it's paid for. None of them are in a stable enough financial position to tell management to piss off.

I'm looking for any info I can pass along to her.

Thanks
Topic:
Employment Law

Answer:
 There's nothing illegal about this. She is free to rent her own separate place if she wants to. Answer #2: I don't understand.   One of the men has already left (because he can't sleep in the same building as a picture of jesus!?).   So it's two people in a two bedroom home.   That sounds VERY normal and acceptable to me.

If her medical condition complicates this seriously, she could have her physician write her employer a letter explaining what accommodations she requires and see if HR will treat it as a real disability.  Depending on the diagnosis, they may or may not be required to.  I'm having trouble imagining what medical condition makes it hard to share a living room with someone, so long as she has her own bedroom and the bathroom has a door?  There may well be one.  I just can't figure out what it is.

If the employer was expecting opposite sex employees to share a bed room, or same sex employees to share a bed, I'd throw a fit.  As it is, I'd enjoy the paid vacation.


Title: Woman stole my FaceBook photo and is posting it to a fictional FB account claiming I assisted in her rape. FB will not take it down and I need help.

Question:
I've known this woman since we were in high school, the long and short of it is that she had sex with my then boyfriend and claimed it was rape when I cut her off. When that didn't reel me back in to friendship with her the story changed to it being me holding her down while he raped her. We are now almost 29, this happened when we were 17.

Over the years I had heard a bit about her but dismissed it. Recently she started a Facebook page about her life story, and I was linked back to it when she started pulling photos of our high school class off of their Facebook pages.  When she put mine up I attempted to have Facebook remove it but was unsuccessful. I have children, I don't know what recourse I have here, I just know that I can't let my photo be up on this crazy woman's page as an accomplice to a sex crime that never happened.

ETA: Location - We are from  Salt Lake City, Utah. I currently reside in Central NJ.

-Update, sort of: I DID speak to an attorney today and he said he would be happy to send a cease and desist letter, that I should gather all of my media and then call back to schedule a time to come in. I don't feel terribly encouraged though, he seemed rather blasé about the matter. I did also do a DMCA takedown request, and hopefully THAT yields better results.

-Update two: The DMCA takedown worked, however; I am still going to proceed with a cease and desist letter, and whatever may come after. Thank you everyone.

Answer: The fastest way might be to send a DMCA "takedown" request to facebook.  Who took the picture?  Answer #2: If it were me, I would talk to an attorney and have them write a strongly worded letter about what you are going to do legally if she continues to make false allegations. But that is me. Answer #3: Get a lawyer to write up a cease and desist letter threatening a possible defamation suit if the picture and any mention of you about the rape aren't removed within an X amount of time. Answer #4: If you didn't feel the lawyer you talked with was taking you serious enough, contact other lawyers until you find someone you feel comfortable with.  Don't settle for paying someone you don't think has your best interest in mind.


Title: Can't afford alimony and can't afford lawyer

Question:
Long story short: I agreed to payments that were too high.  I really wanted to be done with her and just "get out" of an abusive marriage.  I'm not exaggerating when I say abusive (both physically and emotionally).  Any way, I'm about to enter into a period of four months where I won't have work and I only have enough saved up to pay for one month of the support.  I don't know what to do.  Part of the problem is that I also had to go to another country to find work (so I can't just head over to the courthouse).

Any advice would be appreciated.

The divorce took place in Idaho and I work in Singapore.  She has sole custody of our two children (9 and 14 years old).

Answer: You have to go back to family court and file a motion for modification. In it, you basically say "The support payment needs to be lowered because I don't, won't, and can't have that much money. It was more money before because of reasons that don't apply now."


Title: Bit Into A Bolt In My Baskin Robbins

Question: Just bit into a bolt in my Baskin Robbins in Louisville,KY and chipped a tooth. The employees admitted to having “lost two bolts” and finding one. Spoke with the owner on the phone who said he would pay for my dental fees. Do I have any other restitution?

Answer:
 Get it in writing. Is also add a clause about any further dental issues related to the tooth they are also libale forAnswer #2: Do you have other damages?

Contrary to what many people think, most personal injury suits are about paying medical bills and covering some incidental damages.

Where there is evidence that the injury  was the result of an ongoing condition that the defendant knew about and knew would sooner or later cause an injury, punitive damages generally don't exist.

Answer #3: Sounds like he's being accommodating. Get it in writing, and ask him to pay for any work you miss for appointments. But you could always contact a lawyer for a consultation.


Title: [Texas] - Free Legal advice from a redneck; what lawyers are REALLY looking for in a lawsuit.

Question:
Hi.  I've been licensed in Texas for about 20 years.  I am not selling anything.  I practice in many areas of civil law, which for me, has covered everything from immigration and adoptions to probate, with a lot of car wrecks and commercial litigation thrown in.

In law school, we learn about the "elements" of a cause of action.  Whether it's breach of contract or negligence, it usually follows some form of the following:

1. Duty;
2.  Breach of that Duty;
3.  That proximately causes;
4.  Harm - to be compensated by money (aka "damages").

This is all well and good, but it's a bit esoteric.  In the real world, there needs to be a pot at the end of that elemental rainbow.  A pot of cash.

I noticed a thread from yesterday that bothered me.  It was the one where a tenant was (probably) wrongfully evicted.  I saw 1,000 comments about how AWESOME that lawsuit was and how lawyers would be stupid not to jump all over it.  Well, I respectfully disagreed about the star-spangled awesomeness of that lawsuit, because it is missing the pot of cash.

Civil attorneys in the States take cases in two large, basic ways.  (There are many, but two BROAD ways).  The first is hourly, and the second is on a contingency (i.e., on a cut) - sometimes a blend of the two, but mostly it's one or the other.

When I take a case on a contingency/cut/percentage, I have some important decisions to make immediately, because not only am I going to be spending my time on that case, I'm also going to be fronting the money for it.  So think of what I'm looking for kinda' like a barstool with 3 legs.  I may have four elements, but I NEED 3 legs.

1.  **Somebody fucked up.**  This is not generally the way it is described in legal textbooks, but that's what it is.  Either somebody didn't pay, or somebody didn't pay attention, or somebody intentionally did something bad.  (This is known as liability).  I want CLEAR liability, at least at the start.  If I have questions myself when all I've heard is the story from the client, then I KNOW a jury is going to have questions after some defense attorney gets ahold of it.

2.  **Somebody got fucked up**...the worse the damage, the more I want the case.

3.  **The person who fucked up the person who got fucked up can pay for the harm** - either directly, or through insurance.

Keeping these lofty principals in mind, here's why I don't want the poor OP who got kicked out of her apartment.  He/she just wasn't fucked up enough.  What are the real damages there?  A lost TV and having to find a new place to live?  There are some moderate statutory penalties in most states for not following the eviction process properly, but it's not enough to make me want to commit my time and resources to a case.

Rule of thumb - if in your wildest imagination, you cannot put together more than $20,000 in damages from whomever harmed you, don't bother calling a lawyer.  Take them to small claims court and call the lawyer after you get a judgment to see if he can help you collect it.

Oh, and when it comes to calculating that number, please don't make up a fantasy number for **"mental anguish."**  Mental anguish is a valid damage, but it's not what most people think it is.  If the lady at Arby's was rude to you when she handed you your beef and cheddar, I don't care how pissed off it made you, it is not reasonable for you to claim "mental anguish" in that situation.

If you see your 7 year old child run over right in front of you, that is an image that will haunt your dreams and your waking hours for a very long time.  If that child dies, it's worse.  THAT is a valid mental anguish claim, and it will likely be supported by a mountain of therapy bills.   But most of the bullshit that people call lawyers about is just normal, aggravating, typical life stuff.  It is not worthy of a lawsuit.

The truth is, we lawyers get a bad rap for "frivolous" lawsuits, but we spend a HUGE amount of our time talking people OUT of filing lawsuits.  We don't do it because we're awesome humanitarians - we do it because we have a financial disincentive to filing bullshit lawsuits.  Why would we want to spend and risk our own money on cases that suck???  We don't get that money back, kids.  I'm not saying the tenant has no case - I'm saying it's one I probably wouldn't take, and I wouldn't be alone in that assessment.

This was probably too long for anybody to read, but I wanted to get a small amount of incredulity off of my chest.

**tl;dr - It's not enough that somebody did something egregious - Lawsuits need a fuckup, a fuckupee who lost a lot, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, somebody who can pay for the fuckup.**

Answer:
 Well put.

One thing to add to this.  NEVER let emotion stand in the way of a legal battle.

IANAL

I had a business partnership go bad.  Being a bit naive, but with a rock-solid shareholders agreement, I hired a fancy downtown lawyer at $600/hr.  He was very good.  The entire process took 2 months (of hell) and involved nothing more than a string of e-mails between the two parties' lawyers coming up with a way to resolve this amicably.  It never went to court and my ex partner ultimately had to give me a very large settlement cheque.

Where things got stupid was when we both started to get emotional about being wrongly treated, minute details worth very little, the sorts of things that really were completely pointless, but they were dealt with professionally by both lawyers.  What knocked me on my ass was when I came to realize that I was paying a lawyer $600/hr to write letters about a fucking desk or list of contacts that I had anyway.  The final bill for the settlement was 5 figures, which at the end of the day was less than 10% of the settlement, but if I had kept emotion out of it and dealt strictly with the cash settlement, I could have easily squeaked the same deal out for half of that bill.


Title: If I die, will all my debt die with me?

Answer:
 Any assets you have would be used to pay the debts, otherwise they get written off by the creditor if they can't go after anyone else (co-signers for example).

But besides that - are you alright there OP?Answer #2: Generally speaking, yes, unless someone else has co-signed for debt.

With that said, are you ok? Financial problems are fixable things, being dead, not so much.


Title: I am the manager of a retail/food store and just figured out that my company is closing all of our stores on Wednesday. None of us have been notified and we will be offered little to no severance package. What can I do?

Question:
I work for a company in Chicago, IL. We have three retail locations in the city, where we sell healthy prepared food and supplements. I am the general manager of one of the locations.

I will try to keep this short, but you do need to know that my company does not have the best reputation. It does not take care of its employees, has extremely high turnover, and has overall issues on the corporate level. I knew this walking into the position, but it is a great salary for easy work, and the perks of having a flexible schedule and free food is a no-brainer.

Over the past month, the Chicago market of the company has been feeling significantly more neglected than usual. (Most stores are in the southwest.) The company has introduced a handful of new products to our menu for the fall season, and the Chicago market was excluded from the distribution.  When submitting orders to our distributor, I have received emails saying we are not authorized to order certain items. We have also been out of stock of some important things in our inventory, and they haven't been replenished in months. Any time an issue arises, our district manager insists that he is speaking to the higher-ups to get answers, but nothing ever seems to be resolved. Even when we try to reach out to the direct contacts, we always run into an obstacle.

Today at work, I received an email about a huge flash sale going on tomorrow, only in the Chicago market, 40% off everything in the store. I showed my coworker, and she immediately asked if they were shutting down our market. She had worked for the company around this time last year, when they closed our 4th retail location. She said they did the same thing then-- a huge flash sale... So we put the pieces together; suddenly sooooo many things over the past month made sense. I called my district manager and firmly asked him, "Are you guys closing our store?" He was silent and then said, "I'm not gunna lie to you..." and proceeded to tell me that they were. They are coming on Wednesday: him, his boss, and HR, to shut down the 3 stores. ON WEDNESDAY. IN TWO DAYS. They will be splitting up between the three stores, and closing our doors at 1pm. He explained that it was inevitable, our stores weren't doing well (which is bullshit, statistically), and that we would suffer in winter.

I asked him more questions about severance pay, etc, and he said that it would only be offered to those who have worked for the company for more than a year. My coworker told me that when they closed our other store, those who were employed over a year got ONE WEEK OF PAY as a severance package. In a city like Chicago? What?! These people have bills to pay!!! Additionally, my district manager told me not to tell the other employees!!! He practically begged me not to tell them, as to not ensue panic and cause people to "jump ship." Unbelievable. They are planning to just walk in, kick my employees out in the middle of a shift, and tell them they are done. My salaried coworkers and friends deserve to know that they are going to be out of a job IN TWO DAYS.

I am outraged. As a manager, I feel so guilty having to be the one to tell these hard workers that they will not have a job in 48 hours. And I only have this much time because I put the pieces together! Had my coworker and I not figured it out from the flash sale, we would not have known until Wednesday when these strangers from corporate walk into my store and shut us down!!! I feel utterly betrayed by my own employer. It does not seem right. There has to be something I can do about the severance pay and the legality of this.

TL;DR (Chicago, IL) The shitty company I work for is coming in on Wednesday to shut down all our stores in Chicago. Little to no severance pay is being offered. What can I do?

Is this as unlawful as I think it is? Have we been fired? Are we eligible for unemployment? What is the best way to break this to my employees who thought they would be coming into work on Thursday??? Can I report this to the Better Business Bureau, or otherwise bring attention to it?

Will it hurt me to put this company as a reference on a resume? How honest can I be about how fucked up this is, when my district manager tries to sit us all down and have a nice little meeting about it after he locks my doors and takes my keys???

Answer: Severance isn't required unless you somehow have a contract.  File for unemployment on your last day.


Title: Threatening to kick us out of a motel

Question: My family (Me, husband, 2 teen girls & a 19month old baby/toddler) and I are staying in a motel (Oregon) for the weekend, Friday/Saturday/Sunday night, checking out Monday.  About midnight a drunk man came up to our window and said he's the manager and if we didn't quiet down he was calling the cops and kicking us out.  Said he's buddies with them and we better watch out.  We had the TV on at a low volume and the kids were talking normally (not loud or crazy), but we did have the windows open, none of us had been able to sleep due to other drunk people slamming doors, and actually being loud outside and around us.  The manager guy was slurring his words very heavily (I had to ask him 3 times what he was saying).  Now I'm stressed he's going to come back and yell or threaten more (when I don't think we even did anything wrong, I think he had been hearing loud people and when he came out we were the easy target).  What rights do we have here?  The baby wasn't even crying or yelling, now were all sitting in the dark (TV off now) and my anxiety is in overdrive.  In addition to this I have asthma and I booked here because it said it's an entirely non-smoking property, and 3 different employees smoke here, the office lady right outside my window which has caused some breathing problems for me.  Needless to say we won't be staying here again but I don't have the money to switch places and nearly everything is booked (beach town).  Any advice on how to proceed?  I have noted down each time they smoke outside my room and the time & what the guy said to us.  My kids were crying and afraid the drunk manager guy was going to yell again

Answer:
 It wasn't the manager, it was just some drunk guy.

Turn the TV back on and ignore him.


Title: Bomb Threat 18-year-old (2 years of court/ have a final date on Dec 18)

Question: (I am almost 20 now) Throughout my life I have always been a nice kid, everyone's family loved me when I came over, I was said to be incredibly smart. On my 18th birthday, my parents kicked me out of the house cause they found weed under my bed and would not tolerate it.  I was then currently homeless for 2 days and decided to sleep in the YMCA I was lifeguarding at the time. Some friends wanted to get out of tests at school and I was in a very bad situation mentally. With the opportunity of being cool and fitting in for once, I "supposedly" called in a bomb threat at the local high school. I knew what I was doing was bad but not once did I realize exactly what I just did. The same "friends" went to the school cops, denied any relationship to me or the situation and got me arrested. I then spent the next year away from my hometown, was placed in a year-long drug rehab, and 2 years later I am still going through court. My latest offer was 2 years in prison, 2 years house arrest, and 5 years probation. I am currently 20 in February. This court case has lasted almost 2 years and I have not been able to go to college because of it. I am back home with my parents and I have not been allowed to further pursue my life. I'm not looking for sympathy, because in no way do I deserve sympathy but they are pushing 2 years of prison time and a whole bunch of other stipulations. I don't have any prior convictions and I'm just a regular teenager. These last 2 years of going to court have mentally made me base crazy. I can't hold any conversations, friends that I had left me, all of my county is making fun of me (even now). I have the best lawyer in the city and still looking like I may spend years in prison. I am not ready for prison, and the 6 days I spent in jail before bond I got sexually abused. I'm not sure what to do. I've put a pause on my life and I might go to prison. Any positivity from fellow Reddit users?

Answer:
 >Any positivity from fellow Reddit users?

I understand that you want support, but /r/legaladvice isn't really the place to make you feel better.

You have a lawyer, if the best that can get you is 2 to serve + house arrest + probation, then that might be the best you can get.

We cannot tell you to take the deal nor can we tell you to go to trial.  Only you can make that decision, with help from your lawyer.


Title: Made a purchase and wasn’t given the product

Question:
So I made an agreement with a family friend who told me if I were to make monthly payments on an engagement ring he’d sell it to me. Mind you, he runs his own jewelry store. There’s no signed documents, but there are text messages and payments equaling 8 grand. He is now claiming he never agreed to this.

Do I have a leg to stand on legally?

Answer: In addition to what was said above, if you have records of payments, whether it be credit card statements or bank withdrawals matching the amount paid each month, that is also evidence.


Title: Cali: Ex told judge in open court that he planned to file for bankruptcy instead of paying spousal support arrers. Got transcript of him sayin it. What do I do??

Question:
Cali. Getting divorced, no kids, no lawyer.

During a pretrial hearing, my ex declared he would be filing bankruptcy at the end of a cpurt hearing.

The judge said, "This is not discharging your obligation. Have you already filed banktuptcy?"
Ex said no. The judge recommended he consult an attorney.

I'm no lawyer... but Im fairly sure filling for bankruptcy to avoid making court ordered payments is a crime of some sort. Especially when he CAN make the payments ordered.

What do I do with this information?

How do I find out if he really HAS fied for bk?

What happens with this divorce?? My understanding of BK is that it fucks up the divorce process because the bankruptcy cpurt needs to do its thing before the divorce closes out.

Any places you can point me? I have access to 2 university law libraries near to me.

 (I am not a law school student and I do not have checkout privoleges though because I am not a law school student.... the university just lets me make photocopies and allows me to sit in on 2 preselected classes a month on divorce related topics for free.)

Answer:
 Judge told him to get a lawyer because he clearly has no understanding of how the law works. Neither child or spousal support obligations are discharged by bankruptcy and he cannot avoid paying by claiming bankruptcy, which is what the judge told him. Should he choose to file for bankruptcy, the other debt that does get discharged will actually free up more money to pay his arrears.

It is not a crime to file for bankruptcy, or to make stupid statements, even on record.

If you have unsettled property matters, him filing for bankruptcy will likely have an impact on the process.Answer #2: Yea, there’s a high correlation between broke dudes and dudes that owe support of some kind,  bankruptcy doesn’t discharge family law debt.Answer #3: Bankruptcy does NOT affect domestic support obligations.

EDIT: Left out key word, NOT.


Title: (US - Virginia) Grandmother passed away, aunt is will executor and telling family that they cannot enter house, divide up possessions

Question:
Hi Reddit,
My grandmother passed away this week, and my aunt is the executor of her will. The will states that the possessions in the house should be divided up equally, with a few items being promised for certain people. My other family (mom, other aunt and an uncle) are planning to go to the house to go through some of the stuff, but my aunt who is the executor is telling them that they cannot go to the house and she will call the police on them. We're trying to consult with some lawyers but we are worried that she will go to the house and throw things away without consulting anyone, possibly change the locks, etc. Will we get in trouble if we go to the house? We're not planning on necessarily removing anything, we just want to assess what's there. We're just unsure of how much power a will executor holds.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Topic:
Wills Trusts and Estates

Answer:
 Your aunt is obligated to settle your grandmother's affairs as the executor. She's responsible for distributing the assets according to the will. You should not try to take items yourself. Doesn't sound like it's even been a full week, so you folks need to chill out re: possessions.

Here's more info on the executor's role: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-does-executor-do-30236.html


Title: [North Carolina] Gave 10k to adoption agency, and they do not email us back - options?

Question:
We are always SUPER nice in our emails and when speaking to anyone (lol, even like at the grocery store and stuff!). We do not "over-email" them or anything either - maybe 1 email every 2 weeks on average.

We feel slighted that we send our agency emails and go many days without a response. When we do get a response it is often short, curt, and uninformative. We are not materialistic at all, but we have spent the bulk of our savings with this agency, so it   seems remarkably unfair when they do not at least respond to us when we reach out.

So, the biggest question we have is if there is any way to get any (or all) of our money back so we can switch to a better agency?
But also, if anyone has been in a similar position, how did you handle this and how did it work out? Does anyone have any ideas about what we might be able to do to get better help from them?

This is causing just an unbelievable amount of stress, so we would really appreciate any help or stories so so so much. (Also, I guess it might be worth noting that we both see doctors for anxiety, and the uncertainty and frustration associated with not hearing anything back very much exacerbates this condition.)

Thanks so much!

Answer:
 Sounds like you might have been scammed.

You should probably contact your local police.


Title: [WA] Brother is getting sued for child support (that he's already paid) again

Question:
Hi all, this is a really odd circumstance so some background.

My brother and his ex/current wife were married back in Russia in mid 2000's, had a child and got divorced. Since they got married and divorced in Russia, he had court documents from Russia stating he had to pay 25% of his salary as child support. So he did, he worked in the US, as he had a greencard, and sent money via Western Union. He then got another document after 4 years stating that he owed no more child support. Fast forward to about 2 years ago, he decided that he wanted to bring his daughter do the US to give her a better opportunity and education, but he couldn't without marrying his ex-wife, so he got married, and one thing led to another, and they are in the process of getting a divorce again.

Now here's where the advice is needed. As part of their divorce proceedings, she sued him for child support, claiming he never paid the child support in Russia, even though he did. This was brought up to a Judge in Washington state, where they live, and the judge looked at the documents from Russia and decided to hear the case. However, she decided to only accept the document that said he owed her 25% of his salary, and not the document that said that he has already paid it all. And after some deliberation, she found him responsible for child support, but for an amount that is way OVER the 25% of what he earned in those 4 years.

Is there anything he can do? How would one appeal this? What right does the Judge even have in hearing a matter that was open and closed in another country over 10 years ago, and does she have the right to accept 1 document but ignore another document?

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Answer:
 This is too complicated for internet advice, and your brother should retain an attorney in the Washington support case.

Are you saying that the judge ordered *retroactive* child support payments covering a time that the child was in Russia?  Because that would be fairly hard to believe.  The judge would not, however, be bound to the 25% finding in Russia going *forward*.  The judge would instead enter an order consistent with Washington guidelines.


Title: [MN] Swim club merged with the only other club in the area, and is now noticeably raising prices. Is there anything I can do?

Question:
There used to 2 swim team in our area, one with around 250 swimmers and another with around 75, until around 1 year ago when they merged. Membership to that team used to be around $2700 a year, but now it has been raised to $3000. In addition, they only have year long memberships, which means that if you join swimming with your high school, about 1/4th of the year, they only reduce the price by 10%, while before they used to not charge at all during that time.

All of this is starting to become pretty outrageous and I'm starting to wonder if there is anything, legally, we can do about this. Is this considered some sort of monopoly or anything?
Topic:
Other Civil Matters

Answer:
 Yes, if $3,000/year is an excessively high price for a swim club, you can take advantage of that business opportunity and start a competing swim club that offers the same services at a lower price.

No, nobody has an obligation to provide you a service at a price you find fair.


Title: Russian Etsy Seller is refusing to cooperate

Question: [deleted]

Answer:
 Not a lawyer, but I am an Etsy seller (finally, I'm relevant!). Open up a case with etsy. If you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the phone cases do not match up with the advertised product, they should side with you and refund you the money, and go after the seller for it themselves (probably charge back their linked account, and potentially close their shop if they've received enough complaints).

Hope this helps!


Title: I am a manager for my company and I think I'm being shafted on my pay. Do I have any legal recourse to demand more pay?

Question:
I currently live in Seattle, WA where the minimum wage is (as of the beginning of this year) $15.45 an hr. My salaried, overtime-exempt wage is listed as 31,200 a year (exactly the previous year's $15 an hr minimum wage for 40 hrs a week for 52 weeks a year) though in actuality I am paid $120 per day.

Staff policies define the workweek as Monday through Friday with weekends "as needed" but I am expected to work 6 days a week by my regional director. So, for example, if I work Sunday through Thursday and for whatever reason do not work on Friday, I would only be paid $480 that week rather than the expected $600 even though I worked five days that week.

On top of this, my usual workday is much longer than 8 hours and in the summer I have worked 12 hour days with no change in pay.

There is also some lack of clarity as to whether my position meets the duties test for overtime-exemption as 50% of my weekly work duties are the exact same as my employees.

Do I have any legal recourse to demand either more pay or pay commensurate with my hours worked?

Answer:
 If you are salaried, you are supposed to be paid *by the week*, not the day, and you should get the same weekly wages during any week in which you work any hours. So that “no pay on Friday” thing is illegal.

[Fourth paragraph](http://www.askamanager.org/exempt-and-non-exempt)