At exactly 12:15, my phone rang again. It was a conference call. The caller ID displayed the main line for Mr. Vance’s downtown law firm. I accepted the call and put it on speakerphone.
Hello, I said, keeping my posture straight, even though I was alone in the room. Elizabeth, this is Gregory Vance. The smooth, polished voice of the attorney filled the quiet apartment. I have your father on the line as well. We are calling to resolve this unfortunate domestic dispute.
Richard is prepared to forget this entire incident and welcome you back home, provided you immediately restore access to the restaurant servers. If you refuse, I have a draft for an emergency injunction ready to file with the county courthouse. We will pursue damages for lost revenue and business interference. Mr. Vance spoke with the practiced cadence of a predator.
He was trying to sound reasonable while subtly wrapping a legal noose around my neck. I am declining the offer to return home, Miss Vance, I replied. Furthermore, you cannot file an injunction to seize intellectual property that was built and maintained by an uncompensated minor. I assume you received the email I sent to your office this morning. There was a brief pause on the line.
I heard the rustling of paper. Yes, the attorney said, his tone dropping its friendly facade. I reviewed your spreadsheet. It is a very creative piece of fiction, Elizabeth, but typing numbers into an Excel document does not constitute legal proof of employment. You were a child helping your parents.
Family chores are not regulated by the state labor board. They are not chores, Mr. Vance, I corrected him, my voice sharpening. Chores involve taking out the trash, or folding laundry. Reconciling corporate tax documents, managing commercial vendor accounts, and securing digital payment gateways for a multi-million dollar enterprise constitutes skilled labor.
I heard Richard scoff loudly in the background. Stop indulging her, Greg. Just file the paperwork and drag her into court. She has no money for a defense lawyer. She will fold in a day.
I ignored my father and addressed the attorney directly. Mr. Vance, if you look at the second tab of the spreadsheet, you will see a detailed log of the state and federal labor laws my parents violated. The Fair Labor Standards Act is very clear regarding the employment of minors. My parents routinely forced me to work past midnight on school nights to supervise the loading dock inventory.
They failed to keep accurate timekeeping records, which is a severe compliance violation. They bypassed the minimum wage requirements entirely. That is circumstantial, the attorney countered, though his voice lacked its previous confident bite. You have no physical evidence to support those claims. I have the digital access logs for the last 10 years, I stated.
