Ok, This is going to be sort of long, so hold on.
In Jan of this year, i began working as an independent contractor for an insurance processors to re-program (im a computer programmer) one of their processing systems (a massive insurance processing system). We signed a written contract for hourly payment at my going rate (payed the 15th and 30th), and i went to work on the planning stages.
The planning stages involved, for me, to learn about the industry, and more importantly, figure out what exactly the large program i would be re-writting does. However, it took the company a couple weeks to get me the information i needed to do this (I was never given the program itself, so i couldnt run it, and the source code i was given was incomplete). Even though i was missing peices, the company wanted me to continue, and i did. I made a huge flow chart in visio and and eventually on a white board, in order to figure the program out. Around the time i finished with the flow chart, i recieved an email with a contract amendum.
The ammedum wanted to set a flat budget for the completion of the new program. I did not think the amount bugeted was enough, and thought there was much more planning to be done before i could give a proper estimate. I did not agree to the amount specified.. I did, however, verbally agree on the phone for them to stop paying me hourly and start paying me in chunks of about 2400 dollars every two weeks, which would be about the same as if i was working hourly. I think they wanted to deduct this from the budget, and i told them it might not be enough (it was only 10 weeks worth at that rate), and they mentioned renegotiation later. Regarless of this whole deal, they said they needed me to start right away on another, supposedly smaller project. They got rid of the company that started it because they got nothing done after a year, but told me it would take about a week. I told them i would look at it and get to work.
AS i looked at the code that had been written byt he previous company, i found that not much had been done. The program was suppossed to send insurance claims to a processing company. In order to do so, one has to work with the company to become certified (so you can send live claims). The certification process is very complex, and requires a lot of detailed data entry and testing. As i discovered this, i stared telling my client that the endevor was larger than expected, and that there were a lot of technical problems. Essentially i told them, and continued to tell them as we moved forward, that we kept running into issues and it was taking longer than expected. However, i was making progress (even though my client couldnt undestand the technical nature of this progress). After about 5 weeks, i became certified, and went to show them what i had.
Now, for more background. As i moved through the project, i pretty much begged my client to let me do a proper estimate, because they kept talking about being over-budget. I knew the budget was not sufficient, and told them this, and they told me to just keep working. I did and got the job done (though the software is not complete, it is certified).
They would not give me the time to do the estimate, they just wanted the program finished. However, come early april, when i visitied them, i enquired to my paycheck (which i had not recieved on the 30th, about 9 days earlier). They gave me a check for 1000 dollars (1400 below my rate agreed on), saying that that amount, combined with my check from the 15, is all they could pay me because they were over-budget. I was not told of this drop in pay before-hand, nor did i agree to go onto a project-based contract.
Things got heated later that day, and i demanded they pay me what i was due (if you total the amount, as of the day i terminated service, i was owed 5000 dollars). I exchanged emails with them for about a week, and they avoided the issue (and demanded what code i had already produced), so i terminated the contract and demanded payment for the services i had performed. I only sent them what i had done up until they stopped paying me (around march 5th), and kept the rest of my work. The next week, the respnded that they wouldnt be paying me anything. I called a collections agency, who could do nothing but contact them, get nowhere, and tell me they were planning on suing me for overpayment (because i had not showed them all that i had done, i guess).
My question is, do they have any legal basis to be suing me? I sent them everything i could, including emails and code, up to the date when my payment ended (by my calculations). The threat of being a defendant when i worked for a month without pay erks me. Any advice would be appreciated.
Edit: This is in california, btw
In Jan of this year, i began working as an independent contractor for an insurance processors to re-program (im a computer programmer) one of their processing systems (a massive insurance processing system). We signed a written contract for hourly payment at my going rate (payed the 15th and 30th), and i went to work on the planning stages.
The planning stages involved, for me, to learn about the industry, and more importantly, figure out what exactly the large program i would be re-writting does. However, it took the company a couple weeks to get me the information i needed to do this (I was never given the program itself, so i couldnt run it, and the source code i was given was incomplete). Even though i was missing peices, the company wanted me to continue, and i did. I made a huge flow chart in visio and and eventually on a white board, in order to figure the program out. Around the time i finished with the flow chart, i recieved an email with a contract amendum.
The ammedum wanted to set a flat budget for the completion of the new program. I did not think the amount bugeted was enough, and thought there was much more planning to be done before i could give a proper estimate. I did not agree to the amount specified.. I did, however, verbally agree on the phone for them to stop paying me hourly and start paying me in chunks of about 2400 dollars every two weeks, which would be about the same as if i was working hourly. I think they wanted to deduct this from the budget, and i told them it might not be enough (it was only 10 weeks worth at that rate), and they mentioned renegotiation later. Regarless of this whole deal, they said they needed me to start right away on another, supposedly smaller project. They got rid of the company that started it because they got nothing done after a year, but told me it would take about a week. I told them i would look at it and get to work.
AS i looked at the code that had been written byt he previous company, i found that not much had been done. The program was suppossed to send insurance claims to a processing company. In order to do so, one has to work with the company to become certified (so you can send live claims). The certification process is very complex, and requires a lot of detailed data entry and testing. As i discovered this, i stared telling my client that the endevor was larger than expected, and that there were a lot of technical problems. Essentially i told them, and continued to tell them as we moved forward, that we kept running into issues and it was taking longer than expected. However, i was making progress (even though my client couldnt undestand the technical nature of this progress). After about 5 weeks, i became certified, and went to show them what i had.
Now, for more background. As i moved through the project, i pretty much begged my client to let me do a proper estimate, because they kept talking about being over-budget. I knew the budget was not sufficient, and told them this, and they told me to just keep working. I did and got the job done (though the software is not complete, it is certified).
They would not give me the time to do the estimate, they just wanted the program finished. However, come early april, when i visitied them, i enquired to my paycheck (which i had not recieved on the 30th, about 9 days earlier). They gave me a check for 1000 dollars (1400 below my rate agreed on), saying that that amount, combined with my check from the 15, is all they could pay me because they were over-budget. I was not told of this drop in pay before-hand, nor did i agree to go onto a project-based contract.
Things got heated later that day, and i demanded they pay me what i was due (if you total the amount, as of the day i terminated service, i was owed 5000 dollars). I exchanged emails with them for about a week, and they avoided the issue (and demanded what code i had already produced), so i terminated the contract and demanded payment for the services i had performed. I only sent them what i had done up until they stopped paying me (around march 5th), and kept the rest of my work. The next week, the respnded that they wouldnt be paying me anything. I called a collections agency, who could do nothing but contact them, get nowhere, and tell me they were planning on suing me for overpayment (because i had not showed them all that i had done, i guess).
My question is, do they have any legal basis to be suing me? I sent them everything i could, including emails and code, up to the date when my payment ended (by my calculations). The threat of being a defendant when i worked for a month without pay erks me. Any advice would be appreciated.
Edit: This is in california, btw
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