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what would you react in a situation like this?
 

Hello,

thank you in advance here for reading my post.

Well, I recently started a contract job. But this female accountant is trying to cause trouble.
She changed my time stampt/time card. There was one Tuesday, I came in 9:45 and left about 5. I clocked in, but I forgot to clock out. However, I always said goodbye with the owner and all other coworkers when I was leaving.

This woman changed the time stamp for that day as 1:16pm(in) and 2:16(out).
I got very angry when she showed me the time card printout. I told her the machine didn't tell her the truth and I took her to the owner to dispute about this issue.

The owner agreed with me on the time I put down on my own written record which I kept for my self on a paper(a standard form from this company).
and the owner told me the accountant is the only one having access to the time card machine.

Then, the next day I asked the woman about the new hours she came up with. She said the owner is taking care of it. So I thought I could trust him better then stopped asking for the final draft for the total hours.

Then, Thursday afternoon, this woman gave me the check in a sealed envolop. I opened later at home and found out she didn't pay me for 3 days of work.

Friday morning, I came in and showed the check to the owner and told him the fact the check didn't pay the hours from Aug 4-6. He asked me to talk to the accountant saying he is not dealing with payment.

I pinpointed the "mistake" she made, she pretended she didn't understand, then eventually said "oh, I put on the wrong number here, it supposed to be 11.07, but I put on 1.07 instead"

I tried to be friendly saying "oh, well, it's ok, everybody makes mistakes". she didn't apologize for it.

The thing is I am very pissed off on this. She did it on purpose, that is for sure. From the moment, she changed my time stamp, I knew she tried to cause trouble.

This is the second time I work for this little business as a contractor and the owner really liked my work so asked me for more help with their web site.

The pay sucks, much lower than when I had my last full time job.

Anyway, I've heard this woman had problem with my precedent regarding wage payment as well. I don't personally like her either, straight/unhappy face all the time while I always come in with a warm greeting to everybody and very passionate on what I do.

(She and the owner(a 50s something guy) very close and been here in the company for a few years.)
Is it illegal to change contractor's time card? Is there a chance I can take her to court for this? Is is too narrow minded thinking of doing something like this?
I know the owner likes me and she felt a little envious, but I don't plan to join the business.

please advise, I appreciate any tip regarding this. Or you may just tell me that I am wrong or I am an idiot whatever, just tell me what would you do if you are in a situation like this.
:surrender:
waiting for your precious tips online now:ranger:

Oh this is my realm! I'm in Human Resources and deal specifically with employment laws on the federal and state level. You have had some major federal violations that occurred. I will PM you when it's not like 209 am and I'm half dead!