Help! Argentine boss not paying me, owes me 2,000 pesos.

[citygirl]

Do you have a bank account here? How are you planning on cashing the check? there are also fees associated with a check.

I would call him back and tell him if you don't have the cash in hand by the end of the day, the next call to him will be from a lawyer. followed by some papers.

I'm not in favor of suing but you may want to have a lawyer step up if this guy doesn't come through today with the cash.

 

[SylviaM]

He did also ask me for my bank account information to transfer me the money. I can´t tell whether he is lying or not. Either way that money will probably take time to process, am I right?

 

[citygirl]

Well, if he can transfer the cash into your bank account, he can get it out of an ATM. Period.

I sure as hell wouldn't accept a check from someone that had been late in paying me. I'm guessing he has cash flow problems and that's why he is late on paying you. Which doesn't exactly inspire confidence that the funds will be there when you deposit a check (which again, I'm assuming you have a local account?)

Tell him you will only accept cash. And if he says the banks are closed, tell him to go to an ATM. Go with a friend this evening. Preferably a male friend. Even more preferable - a porteño.

 

[Davidglen77]

Don't accept a check for deposit. Only accept a check that you can cash. If he gives you a check and even if it doesn't have funds he´s then legally liable to pay you that money, plus interest, it's kind of an indisputable IOU here.
When he gives you the check make sure it's dated for today and that on the upper left hand corner there are no lines drawn in ink, 2 diagonally crossed lines on a check here mean it can only be deposited, (which will cost you about 2% of the total of the check.) Get the check try and cash it and then sue him!

 

[Napoleon]

The check can be cashed at HIS bank. (eg at Banco Frances, Galicia Bank, Citibank...)

I was payed by check in 2007 and cashed it at the bank of the person who wrote me the check. That was AFTER waiting in line for 37 minutes.

F'ing bank lines!!

 

[starlucia]

He did also ask me for my bank account information to transfer me the money. I can´t tell whether he is lying or not. Either way that money will probably take time to process, am I right?

Christ, this is getting so sketch. Don't accept anything but cash from this creep. If he tries to stall, give him a deadline, after which you'll take legal action. And at this point, maybe you should consider revealing the name of this company, in order to prevent any other job-seekers from ending up in your situation.

 

[MizzMarr]

Sooo.... what happened? Did you get the check and then go cash it at the issuing branch? I might start to get concerned if we haven't heard back from the OP soon. Hopefully everything worked out ok.

 

[Mano Negra]

The internet is your best defence. Explain that if you don't get cash now you will undermine all his marketing efforts and ensure his organisation gets a very bad name. This is easy to do, simply by posting warnings wherever he posts adverts, and is very effective. Explain that you will also post repeated warnings on every expat forum. Completely ignore any defamation suit threats. That is just an indication that he realises that kind of activity will effect him adversely. Explain to him that you can leave the country any time you like, have no assets here and can continue your campaign against him from anywhere in the world. I guarantee that if you explain this in enough detail and with enough conviction, you will get your money.

I helped a couple of girls whose landlord was witholding the deposit they were owed and when they explained the consequences to the guy (he had multiple apartments to let) he paid up very rapidly.

 

[sesamosinsal]

Tell your boss to google "Florencia Marina Daud"...

 

[ben]

Perry, you mean that people who was hiring somebody evading his tax and retirement obligations is being sued. What´s the complain? That this is not India?

Bajocero, I generally find your posts highly informative and useful, and look forward to reading what you write. But this last comment is disappointing.

I can totally relate to what you are saying in this particular case, when there's a rotten SOB trying to cheat an unwitting foreigner out of money that they agreed on and she already worked for. But to extrapolate from this case to any case where anyone who "who was hiring somebody evading his tax and retirement obligations" can be sued just for that, is a stretch, which I find a bit disingenuous.

We are discussing a deal made by two consenting adults, who decided to bypass the system, each for his/her own respective motives. Why should one side be able to leverage that as blackmail against the other?

Between 40 and 60 percent of this country's workforce is in negro, for reasons that run beyond the scope of one forum post. The market realities assume a cost of labor that reflects this. For any worker to be able to turn around and sue, is just absurd. It's also unfair.

Presumably, the employee willingly stepped into this work agreement; we are not discussing coerced labor. It is eminently possible, to say the least, that he is taking home more in cash, in exchange for his employer paying no legally-mandated overhead. He effectively colluded with the employer to cheat the gov't out of taxes. Why, when there is a disagreement, is it right for the full force of the law to come down on his side?

I understand the reality of how things work when the system is bypassed, and that this "extra-system system" seems to heavily favor employees. This is the reality, and must be accepted as such; indeed, in cases such as the OP, whose employer is clearly exploiting (or hopefully, "was exploiting"; what happened in the end?), it actually works out for the good. However, to blanket-defend such a one-sided "extra-system system" as just and right, just seems wrong, Indeed, as Perry suggested, an environment in which one is tempted to sue "because they can", does nothing but further worsen a business climate which is not world-renowned to start with.