'Boss wouldn't pay me the money I earned, so I had his company shut down': Plumber gets toxic boss fined $50,000 after boss refuses to pay multiple paychecks

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 24, 2023 5:00 PM EDT

This boss was surprisingly candid about how he felt about his employee. All and it cost him was $50,000! 

Plumbers can make great money in their professions. It's one of those fields that will always be a necessity, since many people can't fix clogged pipes or water leakages on their own. This guy shared that they began working for a plumbing company near them, expecting to make a decent wage. But within a few months, they realized that their boss was paying them on commission, as well as just being an incredibly toxic manager. 

The OP, u/itstinyrick86, writes that their boss said some pretty terrible things to them. At one point, the OP was left in a frigid van with no heat. Even though it was -14 degrees outside, the OP was left shivering, because their boss told them to go buy their own blanket. He then told the OP he couldn't afford to do any repairs. Oh, and the kicker is that he told the OP that from sunny Florida, as he was soaking up the sun on vacation. It's no wonder the OP quit as soon as they could, and started upon their plan of getting their boss back. 

Check out the entire tale below. Then, this system administrator was forced to train their own replacement, so they decided to let the company crumble to the ground without them. 

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  • 01
    Green - wwwwwwwwww 'When I left, I asked for my checks (I was owed 3 of them for the weeks I worked) but my boss wasn't ready to give them up yet.' NOTE ON
    via Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Boss wouldn't pay me the money I earned, so I had his company shut down (and other moments) you Last year I started working for a local plumbing company that seemed promising. Would pay top dollar to employees for good old fashioned labor. So I signed my W- 2 and went on my way. Seems legit, right?
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 03
    Font - I started out making an hourly wage, was given my own work van and was offered a work cellphone. However, if you used your personal cellphone, the owner of the company would pay your bill because you're using your own phone! How neat is that?
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 04
    Font - Fast forward a month or two. I was forced to make commission based off of every job and I didn't have a say in this. But 20% of every job you go to? He that's a lot of money in plumbing! So I was none the wiser. Eventually I found out that my paychecks weren't having any taxes taken out of them. So I asked my boss "Why am I not having taxes taken out of my check?"
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 05
    Font - To which he replied: "When we switched you to commission, you're a subcontractor now. You're 1099! You're gonna be making so much bank now, bro." Didn't sign a 1099 form but ok.
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 06
    Font - As the time went on, I started working 90 hour weeks with no break. If my phone was turned off and the office folk tried to reach me and couldn't, they would take money out of my paycheck. The phone bill? Never got paid. There would be days where I wouldn't make a single dime because the boss would mess something up in our system. We also had no heat in our vans and when it got to -14° outside his words to us were "Go buy a f blanket. I can't afford repairs like this right now" while he i
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 07
    Font - When I left, I asked for my checks (I was owed 3 of them for the weeks I worked) but my boss wasn't ready to give them up yet. "You f me over, and now I'm going to f you over." He said when I asked why he wasn't going to pay me. I offered multiple times for him to just meet me so this wouldn't have to go any further. He refused.
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 08
    Font - I took to r/legaladvice (bless them) and asked what I should do. The responses led me to LARA (Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) to file a wage claim to get my money. But on top of that, I filed a report with them stating the company doesn't pull permits (which is required to do) when replacing people's plumbing. So they sent over an investigator to check these claims out. I then went to the IRS to find out about this whole tax ordeal. I filed the proper paperwork to have th
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 09
    Font - Now at this point I see on my phone that I still have their email address linked to my Google account. So I do some snooping. It turns out they haven't paid city taxes in over 6 years and that the office manager (a woman who has verbally abused me time and time again) collects disability through the state but still collects a 1.5k paycheck from the company every week. You can bet as I sent that in with the IRS. Screenshots included in my email. This is how it all unfolded.
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 10
    Font - I have a friend that still works (or rather worked for them at the time) and he told me about the investigators coming in. LARA fined them upwards of $50,000 for failing to produce the proper permits for work that was performed. They also paid me what the company owed me WITH INTEREST since I waited over a month for those checks. On top of all of this, the IRS made them pay for my taxes at the end of the year, took away the office manager's disability, audited them because they haven't pa
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 11
    Font - When he asked me why I did all of this my response was simply: "You fed me over, so I fu ed you over."
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 12
    Font - EDIT: I did sign a W-2 but they never gave me any tax forms at the end of the year and told me to fill out a 1099 instead of giving me my W-2 EDIT 2: I'm not the best with tax form names. I signed one when I first started that stated I would be receiving a W-2 at the end of the year. Sorry for the confusion!
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 13
    Font - jessica_says This was great. It must have been a satisfying moment to answer him when he had the bs to ask why you did all this. 2.6k Reply Share itstinyrick86 OP. It was an extremely satisfying moment. I had been stressing out for a whole month because I had 0 income and had bills to pay.
    via u/jessica_says
  • 14
    Rectangle - EraYaN F even once. with the IRS, not
    via u/EraYaN
  • 15
    Font - [deleted] You f up not hiring an employment attorney if ur in the US. You wouldn't have gotten back pay plus interest, you'd have gotten double back pay, plus interest and attorney's fees. A+ for the rest of it though. Source: Practiced labor law in US.
    via u/deleted
  • 16
    Font - itstinyrick86 OP. I know, but I honestly just want to move on with my life. This company has ruined me physically and mentally for a long time and I just wanted to get out and let the investigators do their thing
    via u/itstinyrick86
  • 17
    Font - 1Cinnamonster It's not like you even fed them over, you just made them actually obey the law. Losing an unfair advantage is not oppression/being fed over. Good for you, I'm glad they shut down.
    via u/1Cinnamonster

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pro revenge boss workplace-stories jobs job bosses work coworkers workplace plumber plumbing toxic-workplace taxes cell phone toxic-boss toxic-work-environment
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