WESLACO – A Rio Grande Valley woman said her husband is owed money from his former employer. She claims her attempts to get paid have been ignored.

Angelica Almendarez is her family's money manager. She has to stay on top of the income her husband, Jose, brings in as a handyman.

"I don't have any income at the moment. So, we've been basically surviving just by gigs that we've been trying to find," she said.

Almendarez told CHANNEL 5 NEWS her husband took a job with a handyman service. She said he finished the first assignment and was invited to work on an early July project at a small business in San Benito.

She said he negotiated for $60 a day for two days of work. The deal was done with a handshake. 

She and her husband then asked when they would receive the $120.

"Can you give me a time when you'll pay?  'Three weeks, give me three weeks.' And this was the first week of July. July 4th week and we're already first week of September," she said.

Almendarez said she and her husband have called the owner of the handyman service at least once a week since July.

"He either wouldn't answer or when he did answer, it was, 'I don't have anything yet. Give me a little more time,’" she said.

CHANNEL FIVE NEWS reached out to the handyman business Almendarez said her husband worked for. The owner said he knew about the situation but declined to talk to us about the matter.

Almendarez said she just wants the $120 payment in her hands.

Dolores Salinas with the South Texas Better Business Bureau advices a handshake deal is never valid. She said it does not hold up because there is nothing in writing to state what the contractor or employer can expect.

Salinas said if someone feels they have not been paid their share in a handshake deal, they can take it to court. But they would end up paying more to have their case heard.