I would call the local branch of either the North Carolina Department of Revenue or the North Carolina Dept of Labor.
First, the employer can NOT retain any net pay owed to you beyond or past your USUAL and ROUTINE pay date for any reason under the NC General Statutes. I am not an attorney but I am a CFO and dealt with wage and hour disputes for close to 20 years in North Carolina. The Department of Labor can give you precise rules on this.
I have had CPA audits, Federal (IRS) audits, insurance audits and there was nothing more difficult than dealing the auditors from the North Carolina Dept of Revenue. They have offices all over the State (www.dornc.com) and if you report that you don’t believe that your employer has been withholding tax from your pay and not remitting it to the State, they will be all over this like a dog on a bone.
If you apply for unemployment, which you should do, then the Employment Security Commission will have your record of employment through the end of the first quarter (3/31/09) and WILL send your former employer a notice to confirm your earnings to which the employer must respond within ten working days. \\\
Your employer is also responible to pay State Unemployment Insurance tax on the first $16,700 that you earn in a given year based on the employer’s experience rating.
BUT
Something is puzzling me here. Why are you calculating your own time sheets, deductions and FICA and presenting the boss with amount that becomes your net pay?
That makes no sense to me.
The employer is required to tell you how many hours that you are paid for, the hourly rate, any time at premium rate (over 40 hours in a given pay period or over 80 hours (in NC) in a two week pay period if that is STANDARD within your company. The employer is also required to specify all withholding and deductions whether for taxes, insurance, uniforms, or anything else that is pay of your employment arrangement.
So if you have worked 40 hours for $9.00 per hour you are entitled to a statement that tells you that you earned $360 and 6.2% was deducted for Social Security and 1.45% for medicare and withholding etc.
You also should have filled out a W-4 and an NC-4 to tell your employer how much to witthold.
I am in Wilmington NC in the SE part of the state. Send me a private comment and if you are in this part of the state I can tell you to whom you should speak.
SRM