Working w/o Pay

disneychrista

DIS Veteran
Joined
Dec 26, 2002
How long would you continue to work for a long term employer without getting paid?




I always said I would QUIT as soon as I missed my first pay check. BUT when my previous employer closed I worked FT for 2 full months helping with closing the business with only assurances that I would get paid once building & equipment was sold, which I did. I continued to work on a PT basis for another 15 months.
 
it was always the other way around with me, I would get payed and not really work
The last several months that I worked PT that was pretty much the way it was for me for real. I would go in, check in with my old boss, see if there was anything to do. In fact for the last like 6 weeks I couldn't even go to the building were we continued to have an office after hours (the only time I could work).
 
How long would you continue to work for a long term employer without getting paid?




I always said I would QUIT as soon as I missed my first pay check. BUT when my previous employer closed I worked FT for 2 full months helping with closing the business with only assurances that I would get paid once building & equipment was sold, which I did. I continued to work on a PT basis for another 15 months.
Then you didn’t really work without pay. You were eventually compensated. I might do that if I trusted that I would definitely eventually get paid & didn’t need the money immediately.
 


Then you didn’t really work without pay. You were eventually compensated. I might do that if I trusted that I would definitely eventually get paid & didn’t need the money immediately.
True, I did eventually get paid. But at the time I was work it was on faith. There was no guarantee.
 


I had been doing the working without pay thing for the last year. Half checks promise of we will pay you as soon as we get paid. The company has been “sold” and is morphing into a new entity. I am now getting paid on a regular basis by the new owners. The old owners are in the process of filing bankruptcy. They owe not just vendors, but back pay, vacation payouts, 401k funds, plus income taxes to the IRS, unemployment to the state; have defaulted on loans and credit cards. It’s a mess. The old owners still owe some employees thousands of dollars. I am lucky in that I am only owed some 401k funds. They personally guaranteed a lot of the vendor credit plus are being sued for triple damages by one of the former employees. One of the owners is retirement age and is probably going to lose her house. I never thought I would work for a promise of pay, but I kept getting told things would turn around we would be starting big new jobs in a couple weeks and that when things did turn around I would get paid a large bonus for sticking with them. Obviously that has not panned out. I feel bad in some ways for the owner who will probably lose her house but in other ways I look at it as she was the one who made VERY foolish financial decisions and needs to suck it up.
 
I never thought I would work for a promise of pay, but I kept getting told things would turn around we would be starting big new jobs in a couple weeks and that when things did turn around I would get paid a large bonus for sticking with them.
I understand completely! It's a tough position to be in, especially if you are considered management (like I was). It is a tough position to be in. Stick around for the "good things to come." Or cut loses and move on.
 
I work because I need the money - no other reason. As soon as I knew there was even a chance the pay was going to stop I would have to be actively looking for another job. When the first cheque was missed without a very, very credible plan for getting things back on track immediately, I've be gone and applying for unemployment while I job-searched full time.
 
How long would you continue to work for a long term employer without getting paid?




I always said I would QUIT as soon as I missed my first pay check. BUT when my previous employer closed I worked FT for 2 full months helping with closing the business with only assurances that I would get paid once building & equipment was sold, which I did. I continued to work on a PT basis for another 15 months.
Props to you for being able to keep yourself afloat with no cash-flow. Your employer was lucky to have you. :thumbsup2
 
Props to you for being able to keep yourself afloat with no cash-flow. Your employer was lucky to have you. :thumbsup2
Thanks. I started looking for new employment the DAY that we were told that operations were ceasing. I continued to work for two reason really.

1. To ensure that the other employees would get paid as soon as there was funds to do so. And I did in fact ensure that the hourly employees first got paid out for the hours worked as soon as there was funds to do so. Then once there was additional fund continued to ensure that funds went to pay employees, until every one was paid what was due them.

2. I didn't know what else to do. I've been working since I was 14, with the exception of 6 months - a year after having each of my daughters. I had been with this company for 21 years.

I took the first job I was offered, even though it was not the position I had applied for nor in my field. I also kept looking for position in my field. I was just thankful that I had lived as frugally as I did and had some savings built up to help me through.
 
I took on a position for a very challenging organization. I worked for several months at low pay trying to help right the ship. After the second time my check was a couple days late I walked away It was hard but not worth the frustration and risk of not getting paid. I had hard expenses to cover. Had they been up front about the issues I might have stayed longer, but being in the dark no way. A few years later I went to work for the organization again at a different location, but I became privy to the details and I knew then I took the right course of action. I would want something more then a promise, probably to be paid in cash each week, I might give up a week but beyond that I wouldn't stay.
 
I guess technically I do it (as does every employee) every day. We get paid every two weeks. The hours I work today, I won't get paid until the 22nd. I'm going by faith that I'll actually get paid then.
 
I basically did that when I was in College with Internships. No pay. Working for College credit. Then my College expressed concern at how many internship credits I was taking, so I would take 1 Unit for an internship that might involve 24 hours "work" a week for the semester.
Got me my first and second jobs.
But that was 40+ years ago. My current employer might have one intern a semester, and they are paid because in California it is illegal to have an intern do anything resembling work without them being paid. They can only 'watch". What good is that?
 
My DH has been legally required to do this twice now (federal law enforcement). We were nearly 100% certain that he would get paid. (Of course, he had to work to get paid, unlike other government workers who usually get a paid vacation whenever there is a government shutdown. He was also told he could not take any sick or vacation time during that period if he ever wanted to get paid. That is another thread.)

DH and I have both worked for the government or a major university for most of our careers, so I would say we would probably work a month or so without pay if we knew it was coming. I am not sure how long DH would be legally obligated to work without pay. However, I wouldn't work without pay at a business.
 
I guess technically I do it (as does every employee) every day. We get paid every two weeks. The hours I work today, I won't get paid until the 22nd. I'm going by faith that I'll actually get paid then.

Teachers in our local school systems generally work 190 days but are paid over 12 paychecks, so they do a lot of work on the front end without being paid. I know that some districts don't give a new teacher a paycheck until the end of September, so teachers here start working sometime in July and then not paid until September (They recently fixed this in our local district to start the end of August).
 

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