Budgets Are Sexy

WE WON! WE WON!!!  The judge has ruled, and we officially beat our ex-employer! :)  7 months of waiting and wondering, and the “little guys” come out victorious – W00T!

And guess what?  It WAS exactly like the movies!!! Haha… seriously, it was wild.  I got called up to the stand and everything.  Hawk up, shirt and tie on, it felt pretty good.  Even had a little audience going on!  I was nervous as $hit, of course, but once I was up there and talking it got easier as the time went on… though I did make a fool of myself and try to move the chair I was in, only to realize it was bolted down! Haha… man I felt like an idiot.. (Strike it from the court!)

There was something else stupid I did too — I had calculated all my numbers wrong!  This entire process I had it in my head that I was owed $2,100 or whatever when I was REALLY owed almost $3,000!  I was so used to looking at my net earned on my paycheck, that I forgot I needed to be paying attention to the GROSS amount – d’uh.  My lawyer should have caught it, of course, but we’re not exactly her biggest clients ;)  And LUCKILY I realized it an hour before go-time so we got it all squared away before I had to hit the stands… but boy was I flustered for a while.  If we didn’t get to talk I didn’t know what I was supposed to say up there??  Do I keep my original number and LIE on the stand??  Or do I revise it and then confuse/make my attorney look bad?  I’m SOOOO glad it didn’t come down to that. But it all goes to show the devil’s in the details…

So, what happens now?  Well, two things.

1. I’m owed DOUBLE my money now :)  Awww yeahhhh!!!  My original $3,000 turned to $6,000 when my ex-CEO decided to let all that time pass in between (and act like a jackass all the while).  Apparently there’s some law that allows penalties to accrue for every day late, up to the maximum of what you’re suing for, so legally I’m owed 6 grand now.
2. BUT, we now have to go FIND the money :(  Which is both exciting, and maddening, at the same time.  Yes, the court filed a judgement against them, but it only really matters IF they still have any money, and more importantly, IF we know where to look for it!! (the right bank accounts, etc) And any smart man trying to wiggle out of responsibilities can easily hit that xfer button and do their best to try and lose us… at least from my understanding of it so far.  It’s all jacked up.

Regardless of how it pans out, though, our mission of sticking it to him was successful and we can now move on :)  We went there and did what we had to do, and now it’s up to the good ol’ money Gods to see if we can collect.  Anything from this point forward is really icing on the cake. It’s time to lock this one up, and concentrate on the future.  I’m done messing with jokers ;)

————–
PS: Some of you were asking about how much it cost to do all this stuff.  Which is a very valid question!  So far we’ve only paid $100 each – which covered little fees here and there to get everything submitted and on track. The money to our attorney relates back to whether we COLLECT in the end or not. If we get our hands on it, she takes a BIG cut for helping us get it: 40%, I believe (it’s been a few months since I’ve looked).  But if not, she gets paid squat.  A pretty hefty risk on her side, but a nice payoff if it all comes through in the end.  And so far,  she’s made the right call ;)

(Photo by greggoconnell)

Originally published at budgetsaresexy.com.