H1-Not paid, H1-F1 transfer trouble. pls. suggest.

[acrobat]

Hi,

I'm on H1-B since October 2008. I havent received any pay till now, have been on bench.

I was serving with my college professor, and he paid me through the consultant for a v.short time, and i was working from home all the time. My consultant paid me in cash for about 60 hours that i worked with the professor. he has that contract, but obv. its not active now.

No pay stubbs nothing, he couldnt get me a project and is now asking me to leave the country. as a solution, he said that i should transfer visa back to F1.

I dont know what the best solution is at this point, am thinking of complaining the DOL. pls. suggest how productive it will be, i dont have any offer letter but i do have the H1-approval receit. If i go to F1, can i complain DOL after applying for change of status? or should i do it right away. and if i do it now, will i be able to go to F1.

pls. suggest.

thanks.
purav.

[snathan]

Originally Posted by acrobat

Hi,

I'm on H1-B since October 2008. I havent received any pay till now, have been on bench.

I was serving with my college professor, and he paid me through the consultant for a v.short time, and i was working from home all the time. My consultant paid me in cash for about 60 hours that i worked with the professor. he has that contract, but obv. its not active now.

No pay stubbs nothing, he couldnt get me a project and is now asking me to leave the country. as a solution, he said that i should transfer visa back to F1.

I dont know what the best solution is at this point, am thinking of complaining the DOL. pls. suggest how productive it will be, i dont have any offer letter but i do have the H1-approval receit. If i go to F1, can i complain DOL after applying for change of status? or should i do it right away. and if i do it now, will i be able to go to F1.

pls. suggest.

thanks.
purav.

When you apply for COS to F1 you need to prove you are in status. For that you have to provide the pay stub. When you are in H1B you must get paid. No matter if you are in bench or in project. So you should negotiate with the employer to run the pay roll and get the pay slip. That’s the only option. Otherwise you are accumulation unlawful presence. Or you may try to get into F1. But you might get RFE for pay stubs and W2.

You can file complaint to DOL. But it will take time. Once you file the complaint you might get the whistle blower protection. Google for the same and you might get more info.

[hpandey]

I am assuming that you have been here on F1 for a fairly long period of time and know all the rules and regulations of different kinds of visas. You must be knowing that if you are going to go on H1 then you have to work and get paid . Why did you wait for 10 months being unemployed and now bringing this up.

Why did you take your pay in cash. Did you insist on getting paid through check and get the paystubs. Did your employer deduct state and federal taxes ? No right.

I am pretty sure when your employer paid you in cash you knew he was breaking the law but you didn't mind since you were getting the money .

Your employer is certainly at fault but you are equally to blame.

You have no offer letter , no way to verify that you were ever employed. Did you ever report to the employers office to say that I am available for work ( since you say that even the 60 hours of work you did was from HOME )

A person who has worked for a long time consistently and then gets laid off and his consulting company does not pay him while not being on a project has a valid case to complain to DOL.

Your case seems dubious since your employer can very easily say that you do not report for work and hence do not get paid.