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so many of you have read about my recent dealings with dcm and not paying me. Is it worth going to court over or do I just take it as a lesson learned?
Do I have the right to withold their receipt until the outstanding amount is paid?
Do I have the right to withold the child's belongings?
I kinda think its just better to let it go, what have you done if money was owing?
That depends on two things:
1) how much they owe you
2) do you feel like pulling in all that time and effort.
For me if they own my $500 or less I would go to a collection agency.
if its more then $500 then I would go to court. But my contract has me covered, The family pays my costs.
You and your family are the only ones who can truly decides if going to court is worth it.
Since you are the one that terminated, the parent could clearly argue in court that she felt bringing her child back to care during that time would not be in the best interest of the child.
As far as the payment goes this is a somewhat grey area in the sense that we give notice according to the required amount of time for legal reasons. In effect we are telling the parents it is over but that we have to make ourselves available for the notice period. If a family decides not to use the notice period I'm not sure if you would be entitled to payment or not. Certainly the parent would argue against it.
The notice period would be business days not the days the child normally attends and you have payment for the last week so you are only out one week of notice and not providing care. Personally I would let it go.
The reason for letting the family go is because of the hours. I don't know how long the family looked before they found you but it may be very difficult for them to find a new provider in the short space of time given anyways and I can understand if the family is upset since if I remember correctly you were just going to let them go with no warnings that you were having issues with the times etc. meaning they have a right to feel blindsided and angry you weren't upfront with them.
To recover money for services not rendered when you are the one that severed ties may be difficult even if it is covered in the contract.
I agree, they were blindsided and I expressed my understanding and offered to help them locate another provider as I know many people in the area. They have no reason to think that X wouldnt be safe in my care I have been polite and respectful even offering to extend the notice period if they were stuck. Its her emails that are rude and disrespectful yet I reply in a professional manner. Its only now that I have copied her hubby on everything that the tone has changed in our communication.
What is the point of a contract if they dont respect it and if its not worth while going to court. There were no angry words until I corrected her on the amount that was due. She is her own worst enemy. As it turns out I was speaking to a fellow provider today who knows of a couple people who have already turned her down because of the hours.
As for being upfront with them, they knew that the mornings were hard. I had never outright said i may not be able to continue but it did come up in conversation. I was trying to make it work. I dont really think that I am obligated to give them warning. I am going to let it go because I already feel so much better today just having that weight off my shoulders.
The contract is there to help protect you. But it only helps you if you stand up and enforce it. In your case court might not be the best option. But there are times when going to court is the right and only thing to do. Like so many times in our lives we need to pick our battles. Some battles are won, not by standing up, but by walking away, others on the other hand, need to be fought. You are the only one who can decide which type of battle this is.
My contract states "receipts are provided on or before February 28th for the previous year or given on the last day contracted of fully paid terminated care."
So with this clause you could withhold the receipt.
Just wanted to add that you cannot legally withhold a receipt for what they have paid. They have the right to claim the money they have paid you and you have to claim it as income, so you do not have the right to not issue a receipt. Even if you do not issue a receipt, they can still claim the costs. I have to say, I agree with the others on this...I would walk away as it's not worth the tiem and effort.
I do believe that you have until the end of Feb of the following year to give it to them. ex: this years fees, give receipt in Feb 2014. Last years fees (2012), need to give receipt by the end of Feb 2013. So you can hold on to the receipt for this years fees until Feb next year.Quote:
Just wanted to add that you cannot legally withhold a receipt for what they have paid. They have the right to claim the money they have paid you and you have to claim it as income, so you do not have the right to not issue a receipt. Even if you do not issue a receipt, they can still claim the costs. I have to say, I agree with the others on this...I would walk away as it's not worth the tiem and effort.
Yes, BlueRose, that is true. Considering these clients were likely in care in 2012, they should have a 2012 receipt issued before the end if this month. I just meant that you cannot withhold a receipt because fees are not paid for a certain period. Whether they pay or not, a receipt will have to be issued for any money paid.
I personally would walk away ~ because A) if it was me who initiated the termination of service I would not feel comfortable forcing them to stay on even if there was no 'reason' for their concern in your mind IME the minute you terminate because something is not working (even just the hours of care) the mama bears sensitive protection mode goes up and worry sets in for them founded or not it is still 'real' for them and B) if I remember correctly it is 'one week' difference in pay that they owe you because you had the one week security deposit but require 'two weeks notice' for terminating the contract on your part which is what you gave and they've now bolted owing you the 'one week' so to speak ... IMO it will cost you more in disrupting your current clients who will have to find alternative care for court dates and even if you get awarded the 'lost income' of the week plus any court costs or lost income and so forth .... your clients are still inconvenienced :(
With the collection agency ... it has been a while since I have used one but do they not charge something like 30% of what they hope to collect for you and there is no guarantee they WILL collect so you will be out even more money having paid them the 30% and than if they are not able to get the person to pay you are out that money too ...seems a large risk for a weeks income specially since you did not provide the actual 'service' to them ... if I had actually WORKED and got stiffed I might be more inclined to do it just on the principle but for the 'notice period' not so much.
A contract is there to protect both the provider and the client by setting clear expectations for service and payment but it is not totally FAIL SAFE that just because you have something in the contract that the court will 'uphold' that for you if things go sour .... cause from all the court shows I have watched over the years regardless of what your contract says IMO you are going to have a hard time finding a judge who will award you $$ for service not actually rendered to the client for whatever reason.
IMO the same goes with saying in a contract 'all court costs will be paid by the client' sadly you cannot 'enforce' that unless the court orders it so if the client did take you to court and you 'lost' the client is not voluntarily going to pay you the court costs you would have to get 'awarded' that by the courts ... heck even if you WON unless the settlement awarded you 'court costs and lost income' in the total no one is going to 'volunteer' to pay those just cause it says so in the contract .... so what that policy is basically doing is informing clients that you would indeed consider taking a client to court if they messed with your financial end of the deal ~ which might work to scare anyone from messing with ya but it does not 'guarantee' that you would get your court costs covered ;)
Best way to avoid situations like this is that if you want X weeks notice than make sure to get the $$ = to X weeks upfront when care starts because chasing them after the fact for said notice will be hard ... keeping the deposit on hand until the END of care notice period still gives you the option if you just want a client GONE to waive your non refundable policy and refund it in lieu of notice on your part or meet them in the middle and refund a portion or what not to make them just go away peacefully ... it keeps the control in the providers hands to do what feels right and ethical in each scenario.
As well as a deposit always get paid 'in advance of care' so that you are never in the position of having offered a service you do not get paid for and have to choose to either 'sue or suck it up' ... it is sad that for the very small % of asshats in the world everyone has to suffer with strict financial policies!
Basically IMO a contract will not stop you from getting sued and it will not guarantee that you get everything you feel you are entitled to under the contract in the court of law should you actually get sued ... going in front of a Judge is often a 50-50 crap shoot of who will 'win' the judgement depending on which judge and their thinking being pro customer is always right thinking or pro business has a right to protect itself thinking!
thanks everyone. I'm done with this whole thing. Reggio, mom was fine returning to care for the next three weeks, she just didnt want to pay for it all. I will definately make sure my ass is covered next time.
Well-said Reggio! No matter what we put in our contracts, there is no guarantee a court would side with us and award it to us. They often go with some sort of compromise in the middle somewhere depending on the situation. And I have to agree, that it would be hard to get a judge to agree to make them pay for services not rendered, especially since the provider is the one who terminated service and the clients have not done anything wrong....they have not broken policies to get themselves terminated...it is simply that the hours are not working for the provider. I think the judge would likely not look kindly on this although, of course you have every right to change your hours or terminate care.
The receipt for 2012 would be due as she was in good standing as of Dec 31. If you choose to not give a receipt next year to cover January 2013 that is your choice. I wouldn't unless she specifically contacts me. However I would still be claiming any fees I had been paid.