Hello Everyone
This is Inderjeet here from Delhi. It's a long post so please bear with me.
I was a student of 3D Design and joined a small company called Sketchfull Kreations in Feb 2017 at Laxmi Nagar (East Delhi) for a salary of 7,000.
Now I worked for them for 10 days for the month of Feb and the rest of the month I was asked to take leave as they were shifting their office to a new area i.e Priyadarshini Vihar. I was paid Rs. 5000 as salary for the month of Feb.
Due to the ill-health of my father I had to leave this office on 30th of March. I spoke with my boss about this and he assured me that he will call within 7 days and give me my cheque and asked to handover the office keys as I was the first one to come and open the office. Few days later I joined another office but recieved no calls from my ex-boss. On 15th April I called him and he asked me to come to office and take my cheque. He paid me 5000, deducting money for the leaves I had taken and also deducting 400 Rs. extra for which he provided no explanation. I didn't argue with him and deposited the cheque which bounced two days later. I informed him about this and he said he'll issue me a new cheque. I requested him to give me cash as I was in dire need of money and he refused saying he'll only give me cheque.
SInce then he never responded back. On 10th May I called him and he said he is busy and will talk to me later. He never called back. He doesn't pick my calls nor responds to my messages or emails I send him.
There were a total of 4 persons working in this company including myself. I tried to get some information from the other persons but they all refused to tell me where he is or why he is not responding.
Today I spoke to the female employee of our office who handles clients and she said the office has closed since they were running it out of a residential area without proper papers and the land-lady told them to leave. She said my boss works out of his home, doesn't respond to anyone and has changed his residential address so she cannot provide me any help whatsover. She also chastised me as I left the organisation within 2 months but I reminded her that I had not signed any contract bounding me to a service of any amount of time/month.
Now since this is a very small company, no papers were signed during my employment, and no joining letter was provided. The only proof I have of my employment there are the bank transactions showing my boss paid me an amount for the salary of Feb., the bounced cheque that I have clearly mentioning his account number and numeruos Whatsapp Conversations where he provide me design details related to work.
Now since no documents were signed, my boss can simply deny I ever worked for him. If he never intended to pay me for the month of March, then what was the point of calling me to his office and giving me a cheque only for it to bounce later on.
All my family members are advising me that there is nothing can be done, and for recovering an amount of rs. 5000 legally I would have to shell out more than that.
My entire month would be wasted, my hardwork and time would go to waste just because someone decided that I should not be paid because I left their organisation.
Is there any thing at all that can be done? Or should I just forget my money and move on....