Never paid for work, looking for labor lawyers - Hamburg

Hello everyone! Here's to hoping someone can offer me advice, or the name of an English speaking Labor lawyer...

I was a resident of Hamburg last year, and worked for several language schools. Most of them were professional, and really excellent. I got on with all of them well, and generally had a great relationship with the owners and managers. I experienced very little problems, and they even went out of their way to help me in certain respects. That was until I left.

As a freelancer, I am allowed to come and go as I please - that's the name of the game...I don't have to give notice - I have to do nothing - if I feel like leaving, I can leave...that's my right, and one of the few privileges of being a freelancer.

Now, when I left, I gave them a minimum of a week's notice, which is a nice thing to do. Many freelancers don't even give that. I came to their office to do my last lesson, and to give back the books and other materials they had given me, but no-one showed up, so the student was upset at their level of professionalism, and I was upset because I had to leave the material with a neighbor. I had worked for them, and put in quite a few hours, and of course because I had done the work, I expected to be paid. They had me sign a contract when I started stating that I would take the classes assigned me for the whole duration, which I later found out to be invalid. I was ignorant of my rights then, but now I know them.

So, with all that said, what can I do? I have threatened them with a lawsuit, and also making sure that everyone was aware of their business practices. They threatened me back, saying they would sue me for slander. I didn't push it further because I felt I wasn't in the right, but after having my German friend call a labor lawyer, and explaining the situation, I learned that I was very much owed that money.

Any suggestions, or the contact info for a lawyer specializing in labor law would be perfect. Also, does anyone know German law as it pertains to making the other side pay my legal costs if I win?

Thanks for taking the time to read this - I really appreciate it.

Josh

This might be complete rubbish, but have you seen this website? http://www.working-in-germany.com/index.html

Good luck with your money - short notice or no, you worked, they owe you the money. It seems pretty straightforward to me.

Cheers for the link...Looked through it, and couldn't find anything! I just wish I could find some other teachers who got screwed from some school, and ask them what they did. I really want to go after them, but I just don't know the law...I guess I have to just hit the yellow pages and find some labor lawyers who speak English!

Josh

Guten Abend. This does not sound like a labor issue to me, but more like a breach of contract. A labor lawyer is more into labor laws, while your case must be basic skills for any kind of lawyer permitted to enter a court house.

A big question is which side can prove what claims, so if you can back up having lived up to your part of the contract, and the other one did not pay, you should have good chances in a lawsuit - unless the other party went entirely out of business, not to be ruled out in dire times like 2009.

Be sure to know about the costs for a lawyer before you contract one, they are not cheap here. A possible alternative solution could be to send the bill to your cheating language school party, then send a Mahnung by registered letter Einschreiben mit Rueckschein setting a final date for payment, and afterwards quickly get a Gerichtsbeschluss zur Vollstreckung (or similar - any law student can help you here for little money). In this case you have to conclusively prove that your receivables are valid and correct, and then the law works in your favor, and the other party has to step in to get the law bureaucracy stopped. If he does not pay upon the Gerichtstitel, his assets can and will be impounded without much additional action from your side. And getting the Gerichtstitel is comparatively cheap, can be done without a lawyer if you know how to do it (I don't know it in real life, but read about this way as a good and cheap possibility to recover one's receivables, otherwise I'd tell you in better detail, sorry). A friendly local with skills in the law business of course would be best to get things done this way.

1. Who was the lawyer who advised you on this?

2. Leaving the school and class sitting on a week's notice in highly unprofessional conduct freelance or no freelance.

3. It's going to cost you more to get the money than you have earned.

4. If you were working on an invalid contract then... you didn't have a contract so they owe you nothing?

I sent you a PM, but thought I'd add this information here. Good for everyone to know. Having recently had to deal with a Labor lawyer myself, she nicely explained this law to us with a short sentence: It doesn't apply to Labor law.

The only thing the loosing party would have to pay for you would Judge costs, that is, if you ever have to appear in front of a Judge. But both parties pay their own laywers. Good news is, the prices for lawyers in Labor law (not certain about other sectors) is categorized by how much money you earned. Its meant to be so that everyone can have access to justice. So if you didn't earn a lot of money, your lawyer fees will be less than someone who earned loads.

Mind there are some fixed fees, such as consultation fees.

I don't claim to be an expert, this is just a recent personal experience.

Ignore all the other random speculation* in this thread , and get your friend to call this guy again. If you can't retain him, ask him to recommend someone. He should be able and happy to do so, as a professional courtesy.

But HAL was right. You should have given better notice. That would also have been a professional courtesy.

*(Contract or Labor law? Costs? How can anyone who's not a qualified and experienced practitioner (and not a student FFS) possibly give reliable advice on subjects like these on an internet forum?)

Yeah, I mean how can anyone possibly know anything without having studied years at university! Woah! How dumb was I to think that giving friendly advice by repeating what a lawyer told me (and sending this lawyer's info as PM) and clearly stating that this isn't coming from a professional, would be welcomed.

...

sheesh. Not big on people helping people, eh? I'd rather people don't think they can potentially got to a lawyer for free when they have legal problems with their jobs, than only learning it when they receive the bill. If it turns out my Labor Lawyer was wrong, I apologize in advance.

Postmans advice is the best. You did the work and i am sure they found another teacher so the show went on.
It is the only way to get a reaction
Robert

Hello everyone!

Thanks for the responses - I have gotten several private messages as well, and truly appreciate the help that everyone has offered...

I am probably going to send a mahnung, and wait for their response. If that fails, I will likely involve a lawyer of some kind. Through a colleague where I currently work, I have access to someone who just passed their bar exam, and so while not exactly a lawyer, he's close enough. If that doesn't work, there are more options still.

As for the critics saying that I didn't give enough notice - Well, as a freelance employee that is one of our rights. According to my current employer, it is perfectly acceptable to do that, and I even went above what others have done, (just walked away),and yet still expecting to be paid. It wasn't like I just decided to say, well, done here, piss off - it was because there were a number of factors against me in preventing my stay there. The lease on my flat was ending, I was offered a different position - a better paying one - in a different country, I was ill, and had to have specialized care in this other country, and the list goes on.

It's not a sap story, it's reality. That's why I am a freelancer - because I can come and go as I please. It could even be possible that because they made me sign the contract saying I would take these classes until they were finished, that they offered me a contracted job, which must include benefits - vacation time, retirement account, health insurance - the works. BUT, that would have been illegal, as I only had a freelance visa. So, either way, as it could potentially be, I am owed.

Thanks again everyone!

Josh

Being a freelancer may have the so-called "advantage" of being able to come and go as you please but your attitude towards this seems to be rather pompous and wrong and by doing so you are giving "freelancing" a bad name. It's not about the law; it's about being a good person and not leaving others in a difficult position. One week notice is rather pathetic especially given that it is teaching and having a teacher complete a fall cycle is better for everyone.

I hope they fight you on this one and that you learn that being a freelancer doesn't give you the right to do whatever you want, when you want. It's about pride, dignity and being a good and loyal person. It seems you're more interested in the quick buck anyway so you should stay away from teaching which requires a certain level of passion.

imightbesmiling

I must disagree. You have a responsibility to your class and this situation did not appear out of the blue. You got yourself into it and knew your lease was up. Apart from that if you knew you were ill how could you work. It all appears very bad in a professional sense so I must agree with Shadowvane.

A one-week notice is more than fair for English teaching in Hamburg. 24-hour notice is common for a school to cancel on a teacher, leaving the teacher with an empty spot that is nearly impossible to fill the following day. Conversely, when I needed to call off due to illness I felt that I was somehow in the wrong, that I was putting the school in a horrible position by me not going to my class that day. I don't think the schools realize that missing one class makes me lose a much larger percentage of my income than theirs.