Christopher Telesca seeks $5,000 after being fired by Lee on Sept. 7, just 11 days after being hired on Aug. 27.

Telesca was hired to organize door-to-door campaigning and would have been paid $6,000 had he worked the duration of his contract which lasted until Nov. 8, he says.

Instead, Telesca filed the claim against Lee on Wednesday which cited misrepresentation, fraud, breach of contract, and loss of commerce as cause for the lawsuit.

“Candidates and elected officials shouldn’t be treated as special. They have to pay their bills like everyone else,” said Telesca, who says he has worked as a precinct chair in Raleigh for the Wake County Democratic Party since 2003.

Telesca says Lee misrepresented the nature of his job by not telling him that some local Democrats, such as N.C. Rep. Darren Jackson, weren’t supporters of Lee – which made Telesca’s job harder, he says.

Telesca also said Lee changed the terms of their contract without his knowledge. He claims that Lee altered the contract so that he would only need to provide Telesca with two days notice before termination instead of 15 days.

Lee denies that he altered Telesca’s work contract, adding: “I do not know him personally. This is not a Jun Lee issue. This is a Committee to Elect Jun Lee issue.”

“There is a disagreement about contract terms and settlement negotiations were not successful. I do not agree with the tremendous amount to which Mr. Telesca believes he is entitled,” Lee said in an email. “Further, I will not be forced into an unfair settlement because Mr. Telesca has chosen to take this matter to small claims court six days before election day.”

Lee says Telesca didn’t show up for work and is using the upcoming election to scare Lee into paying Telesca money that “he isn’t owed.”

Telesca’s lawsuit is the fourth civil suit filed against Lee this year and the eleventh in the last three years. It’s the only lawsuit filed against Lee in his role as a candidate.

Cases filed in 2011 include a foreclosure in April by SunTrust bank on one of his nine properties (on Lattimore Drive in Raleigh) and a case filed in May by Latino Communications LLC, which prints Que Pasa, a local Spanish-language newspaper.

None of the cases are active. Every case was settled. Lee never lost a property to foreclosure.

SunTrust also filed suit against Lee in July seeking payment on a $50,000 promissory note, which Lee settled by paying in September.

Telesca and Lee are due before a judge on Jan. 5, 2012.