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Texas Work Force Commission (TWC) & a False Wage Claim.?

Hello Forum - I would appreciate any "helpful comments" you might be able to offer me concerning a situation I am currently dealing with. I had owned a rather short-lived restaurant in the Dallas, Texas area during 2008/2009. I hired a consultant, who turned out to be a fraud. He did not have the experience he claimed to have had, put together a fraudulent Franchise agreement and to top it off, I later learned he had other money judgements against him for the exact same thing in another state. Note that I paid him extremely well. Since my firing of the said consultant, his daughter has now contacted the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and has made a wage claim against my FORMER company. (I am now out of business, have let my corporate filings in the State of Delaware slide and do not plan on renewing them- I am done and broke.) She states that we owe her $3,800. for past wages. I received correspondence from a Labor Law Investigator two-three months ago stating that claim of owed money and I wrote the Labor Law Investigator back and said, "that the claim against us was false and was meant to cause harm to innocent and hard working people" in-addition to the underlined comments below. A short time had passed and tonight I received a letter from the TWC called, "Notice of Texas Payday Law Hearing." I have a phone hearing scheduled next month at noon-time, in which I am to call in and I presume to decide the final outcome of this ridiculous ordeal. The "Daughters" involvement in my business was this: She was never a hired employee of our company, contracted by us, or promised any wage for any work or service preformed. "The daughter" came into the restaurant for a short time and "helped her dad out." She was there and did in-fact work, but it was to help out her father for his obvious short comings, ie., create manuals that supposedly went with the "Franchise, train employees with "their methods and procedures" and assist some in the kitchen. Again, I never hired her, promised her anything, never had her fill out an I-9, w4, never reported her on our Employer's Quarterly Report, which was filed to the TWC. I've learned my expensive lesson, now what do I do to make this go away? Thank you.

Public Comments

1. You could bring two things at the table of the hearing: The background claim on the daddy that fraudulent on other states. So If the daughter claimed she was a employee, YOU DEMAND AND REQUEST HER PROOF FACE to FACE , you may bring your witness with you. You just said if she claim she was a employee. Bring herself in with proofs and you will pay her on the spot. I bet She will not show up. You have nothing to lose anyway Or the best of thing, you can counter claim the daddy if the daddy show up. I would suprise they show up
2. I'm in the state of Texas. According to #5 of the pdf below: "An Employee may act as a foreman for the employer but, if so, helpers are paid with the employer’s funds. Independent Contractors select, hire, pay and supervise any helpers used and are responsible for the results of the helpers’ labor." The dad was a consultant (aka independent contractor) and he "hired" his daughter to help him. Based on the paragraph above you are NOT responsible for the daughter's missing $3,800 in wages, her dad is. All you need to do is prove that the dad was an independent contractor and that you never, in any capacity, formally hired the daughter. However, it is possible you might be responsible for wages for hours spent helping in the kitchen. You can contact the TWC office to find that out as well as finding out if you can submit copies of your documentation for the hearing. I included a few links below that might be of some help. Good luck! I hope you win! btw...I dislike people, like the daughter, who lie and cheat to get money they don't deserve. IMO, both the dad and the daughter are unethical and unprofessional.