Petty Employer

I was helping a friend to start a small business, my first mistake, i know! I was working for him as a foreman of a landscape crew, which meant i kept track of everyones time. So i was starting our time when we left the shop in the morning, which was a 20 min. drive to our job site.

I had been working for him for around 4 months, with 3 employees, including myself. I called him one morning to lay out the days plan... he tells me to go home and read my e-mail. So he sends me an e-mail telling me that i am being fired, out of the blue, for time theft.

He said that i should have not been starting our time until i got to the job site, and that my last 2 paychecks would go to re-pay my so called theft. He not only said i owed for about 35 hours, but was charging me the time that i paid the other 2 employees, which was around 35 hours each also.

So this comes to around 105 hours that he says i owe him, which totals about $1680.00.

Is it legal for him to fire me by e-mail, and charge me for the other employees time like he did?

No that is not likely to hold up in court.

Based on what you say here, you could file suit against him (or at least threaten to do so) in small claims court or in regular court; filing in small claims court is easier and requires no attorney...you could try to collect all of the costs and damages that you suffered due to his behavior