Fired and being accused of stealing. Any recourse?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you have a contract? Are you paid legally (i.e. above-board with taxes withheld)?

We have a list of rules a regulations but no, I wasn't paid above the table so I guess i'm pretty screwed.

You can still file for unemployment. The state will go after the family for not paying nanny taxes, and regardless of a contract you can still claim it.

Yes, okay, she can do that.

The question is, is the hassle worth it? In most cases it won't be. Filing for unemployment when you're paid legally is reasonably straightforward - pursuing it when your employers have been dodging taxes - and also being liable for your own unpaid taxes - is a much nastier process. OP, you do have the right to pursue it but it may not be worth the time and expense (did you save up enough to pay back the taxes you'll owe?) to do so.

You would also be now liable for back state and federal taxes and ss/medicare tax from Jan to Sept of this year - may cost you more than you'd make in unemployment benefits.

[Anonymous]

Most folks don't pay federal and state income taxes. Or they lay them but get 100%+ back when they file. Likely this nanny is in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got a $1500 refund the year I filed unemployment after bring paid off the books. I owed the state $190.

How long had you been working under the table?
How much were you paid weekly?
Which state were you in?

And finally, how much did you owe the feds? You say you owed $190 in state taxes but obviously you had to pay federal taxes too...

10:29 is just mad. She doesn't think employers should be held accountable. Too bad. Nannies should collect every dime they are owed.

Excuse me? I AM a nanny but I would like the full story so as to better educate myself on this subject. I've always been paid legally so have no direct experience with it but someone giving half the details offers no benefit to anyone. I think you're
just mad that you're too dumb to appreciate the importance of having all the facts before making an informed decision.

Why does weekly income make any difference to you?

Why no answer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most folks don't pay federal and state income taxes. Or they lay them but get 100%+ back when they file. Likely this nanny is in the same boat.

Not sure how that is possible unless you earn less than the personal exemption in a year. Even if you are only making 15/hr (as all the nannies here insist you must) that's still over 30K per year and your tax bill would be almost 2800 assuming single and no dependents. That doesn't include state or the 7.5% in ssi/medicare tax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most folks don't pay federal and state income taxes. Or they lay them but get 100%+ back when they file. Likely this nanny is in the same boat.

Not sure how that is possible unless you earn less than the personal exemption in a year. Even if you are only making 15/hr (as all the nannies here insist you must) that's still over 30K per year and your tax bill would be almost 2800 assuming single and no dependents. That doesn't include state or the 7.5% in ssi/medicare tax.

What? "All the nannies here insist you must" what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got a $1500 refund the year I filed unemployment after bring paid off the books. I owed the state $190.

How long had you been working under the table?
How much were you paid weekly?
Which state were you in?

And finally, how much did you owe the feds? You say you owed $190 in state taxes but obviously you had to pay federal taxes too...

10:29 is just mad. She doesn't think employers should be held accountable. Too bad. Nannies should collect every dime they are owed.

Excuse me? I AM a nanny but I would like the full story so as to better educate myself on this subject. I've always been paid legally so have no direct experience with it but someone giving half the details offers no benefit to anyone. I think you're
just mad that you're too dumb to appreciate the importance of having all the facts before making an informed decision.

Why does weekly income make any difference to you?

Why no answer?

Uh, apologies, I've been busy and hadn't been back to the forum.

Let me explain: OP wants to know if she should claim unemployment, thereby reporting her employers for failing to pay their share of her taxes. She doesn't indicate but we can assume she has not been paying her share of the taxes either, in which case she will certainly owe money to the govt before qualifying for unemployment, which is only a percentage of her current income anyway.

If all of the above is true it is safe to assume OP will save more money by NOT claiming unemployment.

However, if our assumption is wrong and she has been paying taxes on her income, PP has shared that when she reported her employers and the govt went after them for employer's tax that she received a refund of $1500. How much you earn determines how much you'd pay in taxes and therefore how much of a refund you're entitled to. If OP makes and pays taxes on an income of only $600/week while it was PP's $1500/wk paycheck that entitled her to such a large refund, OP would need to know that in order to estimate what her refund might be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, since you were working "off the books," I would just cut my losses and move on.

Sure it sucks, especially to be accused of doing something like being a thief, but at least it was only a few months. You probably do not need them as a reference anyway.

Try to find another job and screw this family.
Karma will bite them in the butt.

Karma is a myth

Stand up for your rights and stop being a doormat, unless you like footprints on your face

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most folks don't pay federal and state income taxes. Or they lay them but get 100%+ back when they file. Likely this nanny is in the same boat.

Not sure how that is possible unless you earn less than the personal exemption in a year. Even if you are only making 15/hr (as all the nannies here insist you must) that's still over 30K per year and your tax bill would be almost 2800 assuming single and no dependents. That doesn't include state or the 7.5% in ssi/medicare tax.

What? "All the nannies here insist you must" what?

She was talking about how most of us nannies tell others that they should be working above board and paying taxes, not under the table and not reporting your income.

[Anonymous]

No, 3:03, that's not at all what she said. You aren't reading clearly. Here it is:

"Even if you are only making 15/hr (as all the nannies here insist you must)...."

The truth is that absolutely NO ONE here "insists that all nannies must be making 15/hr."

It appears her writing is confused, or it's actually you trying to convince OP not to collect the money that is rightfully hers, although you're going about it in an odd way.

OP should in fact collect the money that is rightfully hers, even if you don't approve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I got a $1500 refund the year I filed unemployment after bring paid off the books. I owed the state $190.

Good example. Thank you.

If you got a refund, then you must have been paying your taxes. It isn't clear that OP has been paying her taxes. If she hasn't, they will go after her as well as the family for all taxes owed.

No, there are credits that make it possible to get a refund without having paid any through the year. I didn't have taxes withheld when I was within the limits for earned income credit and got a $1K+ refund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got a $1500 refund the year I filed unemployment after bring paid off the books. I owed the state $190.

Did you pay Federal back taxes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I got a $1500 refund the year I filed unemployment after bring paid off the books. I owed the state $190.

Did you pay Federal back taxes?

no. I got a refund. Presumably because i was on unemployement during the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, 3:03, that's not at all what she said. You aren't reading clearly. Here it is:

"Even if you are only making 15/hr (as all the nannies here insist you must)...."

The truth is that absolutely NO ONE here "insists that all nannies must be making 15/hr."

It appears her writing is confused, or it's actually you trying to convince OP not to collect the money that is rightfully hers, although you're going about it in an odd way.

OP should in fact collect the money that is rightfully hers, even if you don't approve.

Sorry, my mistake. I was really tired and read that wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, 3:03, that's not at all what she said. You aren't reading clearly. Here it is:

"Even if you are only making 15/hr (as all the nannies here insist you must)...."

The truth is that absolutely NO ONE here "insists that all nannies must be making 15/hr."

It appears her writing is confused, or it's actually you trying to convince OP not to collect the money that is rightfully hers, although you're going about it in an odd way.

OP should in fact collect the money that is rightfully hers, even if you don't approve.

Sorry, my mistake. I was really tired and read that wrong.

Also, I am not trying to convince the OP to not collect. I think at some point I told her that if she hadn't been working above board in her previous positions that she might not want to, because she would have to prove her work income for the previous 18 months and might end up owing more for all of that than she could even get from unemployment (if she got it). But I think whatever she does is totally up to her, she should just think things through really good before (research what it could mean for her with pros and cons). I don't know who she is and have no opinion of what she should do, my "approval" would mean nothing to her anyway.

[Anonymous]

I don't know the PP's full story of how she got a refund when she claimed unemployment, however, I would not file for unemployment if you haven't been paying taxes. Yes, the family will likely have to pay back taxes, but so will you. Federal tax, state tax, possibly county tax, social security, medicare plus penalties for not paying when you were suppose to (and possibly legal fees), would probably cost a lot more than you'd get on unemployment.

I also think it's curious that OP says she was accused of stealing something, but they have no proof. She didn't state that she didn't steal anything- just that the employers had no evidence.