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Can I sue my employer for violating a verbal employment contract?
Anonymous3 views1 answers
We are "Work Campers" at a campground in northern MN. Our land owner who "pays" us in free rent and utilities refuses to sign a written contract with us stating he's a "hand shake kind of a guy." The land owner has stated he is going to begin charging us for utilities which is counter to our "hand shake contract." At this point we have no option of another place to go, and would NOT have done this this winter if we had to pay utilities. He is saying we have to pay utilities because we refuse to pay for a plow for our pickup truck and plow his property for him. This was never discussed out side of him asking if we would plow this winter, to which I said I would given a plow.
Do I have any standing in this matter?
Thank you in advance.
Anyone can sue anyone for anything, and this isn't a question of "standing." The right way to think of this question is, is there a meritorious cause of action here?
Oral contracts can be enforceable, and there can also be a claim for "promissory estoppel," where a party has changed their position to their detriment based on the promise of another, so it sounds like you may have a viable claim.
The elements of a breach of contract claim are 1) a contract, 2) a breach 3) no legal excuse for the breach and 4) damages.
The problem with oral contracts like this one is that they're harder to prove than written ones, and here you really needed one. How do you prove that utilities were included, are there months of this employer paying them? How do you prove he promised to provide the plow? You obviously agreed to this employment using oral terms, and oral contracts can generally be amended orally, too, so even if the original contract was one thing, it could be amended --but not unilaterally.
I know not much is at stake and you'd rather not hire a lawyer, but I'm going to recommend you do so anyway, for at least a consultation, and organization of your Small Claims suit, if you've got a viable one. You've already made the mistake of not getting one when you needed one, so don't keep making the same mistake.
