Fired employee without saying it, money owed

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Question

Country: United States of America
State: Texas

My employer has just basically fired me without coming out and saying it. About 3 years ago we signed an agreement stating that he would give me 2 raises that year. These two raises where a certain percentage of the previous years pay. He gave me one of the raises but not the other. He told me that he just could'nt do it. The money was more than he anticipated it was going to be. Do I have any recourse with this now? I didn't know if I could take this to small claims court or if my window of time was over. I'm part-time now and he's letting me go because of a new girl he wants to hire. He offered me a contract labor job-I'm hourly now. He told me if I didn't take this then that would be it. I'm not planning on quiting, he's going to have to fire me first.

Answer

Based on what you say here, you could probably 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...you could try to collect the amount of the raise as it was basically a bonus--but he can fire you and you can quit at any time unless your agreement says otherwise-