The saga of the missing paycheque (long)

[Pixilated]

I don't know if this is in the right thread ... mods, feel free to move.

BG: In the last week in June I was asked if I would like to do some freelance editing for a local weekly newspaper, run by someone I had worked with two decades ago when I was in the full flush of my journalism career. I said sure. It pays $3.50 an hour more than minimum wage so is a better deal than most jobs a struggling student can find.

Or it would be, if I ever got paid ...

Cast:
Big Cheese (the person I know from way back; now a high-level management person)
2iC (his second in command, she's the person I work directly with)
Me

Sometime in late July/early August (can't remember exactly), Big Cheese walks up to me and says "Hey, if you give us a voided cheque, we'll get you into the payroll system."
Me: "What, you haven't paid me yet??"
Big Cheese: "Um, no. Didn't you notice?"
I had to laugh. I'm extremely bad at keeping track of my finances. (I'm trying to improve but obviously I need a lot more work ...)
I said sure, and either that week or the next (my usual "work week" during the summer was Tuesdays and Wednesdays) brought in the cheque.

Nothing.

More nothing.

Lots of nothing.

I mentioned it a few weeks later. Big Cheese had just returned from a week off and was appalled that nothing had happened yet. He promised to contact payroll and forward their response to me.

Even more nothing, both from him and the payroll department.

I am also still waiting for my student loan, so within the past few weeks my financial situation has gone to "absolutely broke." So much so, that I could not risk driving out there with the little gas still in my gas tank. Last week I emailed 2iC to say I "could not make it in this week" without giving any details.

By this past weekend I was totally ticked. I wrote an angry email full of !exclamation!points! and bolded letters and sent it to my brother to be vetted. He is younger than I but a lot more calm and sensible; he advised me to tone it down some and offered his own rewritten version.
I thought, as usual, that he had a point ... ... so sent off the rewritten version.

This past Monday I think my inbox nearly suffered flash burns. Three emails in rapid succession and increasing levels of hysteria.
"Please, can you come in today; 2iC isn't in and we only have one person to do any editing; I'll loan you $100 until your pay comes in; didn't realize your situation was that dire; please come in; hello, is anybody there; hello HELLO???"


Bro, when informed of this: "Take the high road ..."

So I did and went in.

By the time I got there Big Cheese was at a meeting in another town so the $100 loan didn't materialize but it's probably not necessary ATM. I got a small advance on my student loan and today I also got my final pay from the supermarket (vacation pay, etc.) so should be OK until the student loan lands in my bank account.

And, of course, my financial situation is not the issue. Even if I'd just won the freakin' lottery and couldn't close my apartment door because of all the cash stuffed into the rooms, his company still owes me around $850.

We shall see what transpires over the next few days ...

[Hanzoku]

I... wouldn't take the high road. Tell them you'll come in once they've paid you everything you're owed. In the mean time, look around for another job. I know they're hard to find, but you've went unpaid for what, two months now?

[Bright_Star]

How could you not notice that you haven't been paid for this long? IF that were me & I hadn't been paid in that long, somebody's head would have been rolling & I'd have found another job by now.
Sounds like they don't want to pay you & you not acting on it till now isn't making them think this is a serious enough issue.
So if "Big Cheese" hasn't resolved this yet then you go above his head.

[Pixilated]

Bright Star, I wasn't paying any attention to what was going on in my bank account -- i.e. not checking up on deposits, totals and so on. I just assumed I was being paid. If I had been paying better attention, I definitely would have raised the issue much earlier.

A fulltime worker there said I am not the first freelance worker to run into this -- the company (whose payroll department is about four to six hours away, just FYI -- it's not local) is notorious for dragging their feet in paying freelance personnel.

Hanzoku, I didn't mind doing it this once, but won't be doing it again. No pay, no work. Next emergency Big Cheese can stick around and do some editing. I'm not worried about the consequences; I know of another job at the college I'm sure I can get -- pays basic minimum wage but at least I will get paid -- and even without a job, I can just work up a tighter budget and manage on only the student loan.

[Kristev]

And you haven't gone to the labor board with this?

[Pixilated]

Not at this point, Kristev. I believe that it's a f*ckup in payroll and not a deliberate attempt to shaft me, otherwise why would Big Cheese have mentioned it at all? Given my inattention, he could've kept his mouth shut and heaven knows when I would've finally figured it out.

Got an email, phone message and phone call today ... am I coming in? Another loan offer ($80 this time). Oddly, my brother says "I wouldn't decline based on they haven't paid you yet. If you don't want the shift for other reasons that's fine..." Don't know whether that means I shouldn't go on "strike" just yet (i.e. give them more time) or don't refuse to work, ever, based on no pay. I've asked for clarification on this, because it has me puzzled. Why would I keep going in if I'm not being paid? He points out that legally they must pay me, which of course is true, but the question is ... when? (Latest information says this Thursday.)

As my car is running on fumes, and the office is in the next town, I had an additional reason to decline and did so.

[Hanzoku]

I most certainly would decline since they haven't paid you yet. At the latest, payment should be handled as a monthly issue, and it sounds like you've been there for more then a month. They simply aren't willing to pay you, whatever Big Cheese says, and he obviously doesn't have enough pull or made enough waves to get their financial department in gear.

[Dave1982]

Doesn't matter who screwed up or why. They owe you. I would tell them point blank that if the money isn't there in X time then the labor board is getting a call. I think you'll find the money there post haste.

As wonderful a company as bent Staple was () they were on it like faster than you can blink when I brought an underpayment to their attention. My raise had been entered as $0.02 lower than it should have been, but this wasn't noticed for nearly a month because it took that long to find enough spare time to do my review and when they gave me the paperwork showing my raise....which wasn't what was on my checks....

Focker put a ticket in with HR, and the NEXT DAY I had the corrected rate on my check, with full retro pay. It was only about $2 that I'd been shorted over that time, but they moved like lightning to fix the problem.

(and they never did take back that extra week's vacation pay I wasn't supposed to get )

[Pixilated]

Back pay finally showed up. ALL of it.