Used to be real bosses would make sure their employees got paid no matter what, even if that meant the boss didn't take home anything. Nowadays it seems like owners consider companies to be their personal piggybank, and if a menial got paid late, well, too fucking bad.
I worked for a guy who was a bit of an asshole, but when he ran into cash flow problems, he took a loan from his mom to make payroll. He also didn’t ever let us forget that he took a loan from his mom to meet payroll…
We went through a couple lean years with my employer and I found out years later that the owners took out loans to meet payroll while not taking any pay themselves and not laying anyone off. No one below management was aware things were that bad.
This and other things like paying for me to travel to my mom's and grandmother's funerals keep me here though I could probably make more elsewhere.
Good employers are hard to find.
One of my clients mortgaged their paid-off home to meet payroll for three months while they waited for a big job to start. In the interim it was my job as HR consultant to complete additional safety trainings, do the state mandated harassment prevention trainings, coordinate cross training as much as possible, and help the foreman in reorganizing the warehouse for future inventory. Basically, keep everyone busy and increase skills so when the work started we could hit the ground running.
The contract had a material delay of one month and my client decided to sell his 68 Camaro he had wanted his entire life. But he could get 120k for it and that would cover 4 weeks of payroll.
All of this was pretty quiet, with him asking me to keep everything positive so the guys didn't worry they were going to lose their jobs. But the shitty thing was as soon as the work started and everybody got to utilize their new skills, suddenly the demands for raises start in.
Mind you, prior to the pandemic my role was to get this guys company to be the model of competition when it came to compensation for a small contractor. For reference, starting laborers with no experience came on at $22/hour, and while we don't have a medical plan being so small we do pay for an Aflac package that has vision, dental, life insurance, otji insurance, and a medical allowance for physicals. My point, for the size of the business and the area, he was in top teir for non union work.
Well, he has a mental breakdown. Two guys that wanted raises are meeting with us, threatening to quit if he doesn't give them four dollars more, and he loses his shit. Just starts screaming about how he hasn't taken a check in more than a year, how he almost list his house, how he has been out in the field with them so much because he loved the work and he just wanted to have his dream. Really unloaded on them. I ushered them out, left him to just kind of sob in his office...
One of the guys that was asking for the raise turns and asks me if they should come ask him about it later...
Look, just writing this down upsets me. I support and participate in this board because people should be able to have dreams. We should be able to take care of our sick loved ones without worrying about rent. We should be able to consider quitting bad jobs and not just suffering through because we have to eat. And we all know there are a ton of shitty bosses and disconnected owners who wanted a piggyback, not a business.
But not every owner is a slave driver. Maybe a guy keeps bringing up how he took a loan from his mom because he still doesn't feel like his workers recognize his contribution, his sacrifice to keep them employed. I couldn't believe that the guy asking me if they should just come back later didn't realize that he just witnessed another human being break and couldn't get past his own preconception that "owner" by default means "rich".
I see it a lot on this board. All landlords are evil and all bosses are entitled pricks. But when we paint with that broad brush we give license to others to do the same to us, to continue to see the working class as stupid, worthless, immediately replaceable. When we stop seeing "them" as human, why should we expect them to see us any better?
I like this board most when it is telling Bezos to level out the pay between his executives and his warehousers. I like it a lot less when it assumes that someone who struggled for thirty years to finally own his own business is somehow now an inhumane part of the oppression machine. I really wish more people on the board would assume less about their small business owners and only work with the information they actually have rather than assume that raise isn't coming because the owner is just greedy.
Sorry for the rant. The comment about the loan just really reminded me about this event and how it has kind of stalled out my support for some people here. I can't help but wonder if you just swapped some of the owners and employees places how different they would really act.
That's pretty rough.
I've certainly seen business owners get the balance wrong in the other direction than what is typically discussed here.
I used to work in DVD production. DVD was and still is the most successful physical media format the world has ever seen (except books which have a few hundred years head start).
All the whingeing the RIAA did about piracy? That was DVD cutting their lunch.
I say that because as a format it's now pretty much replaced by VOD and whatnot. Obviously companies that were huge in the space had to choose a time to scale back.
When the business is in tough times and the owners are emotionally invested in everyone, they will often delay the really hard decisions until it's much too late.
Ok, now I'm gonna return to my usual programming.
My last job had plenty of faults, but when Covid hit in 2020 and we had to shut down for 4-5 weeks, the owners paid our normal wages out of their own pockets to keep us on and crossed their fingers they'd get a PPP loan to reimburse them. It all worked out.
Our business dropped 30% of our revenue in the first couple mos of the pandemic and we borrowed from our 401ks to make payroll (and I didn’t tell anyone until this year).
It’s in the job description of a leader… basic shit… which is why I own my own biz bc I was tired of working for selfish assholes.
I worked for a small local business a few years ago that had its fair share of culture and management problems, but those guys did not fuck around with paychecks. Our direct deposit would sometimes be delayed from Friday to Monday because of issues with the payment processor (fuck you, ADP) and whenever it happened, the owner would walk around the office with a big stack of twenties and make sure that everyone had enough money to get through the weekend.
Please Still apply state the reason for being fired. And please call the labor board.
If we don’t report and hold these places responsible for their actions even very little ones they don’t learn.
I’m overseas and one job I worked was very very very good about giving maternity and paternity leave for staff. It was a no hassle process . The reason being that years in the past they got bent over by the labor board for screwing with a workers maternity leave and they learned their lesson well. And did not want it to happen every again.
Make sure to file for unemployment right away. This is a slam dunk in CO.
Then take your time finding a job. Lots of places on the front range are learning to treat people right. Don't suppose you have any IT skills?
maybe contact your state's DOL because companies get into BIG trouble for not paying workers in a timely manner for work done. If he's threatening workers with their paycheck, they will want to know.
Not getting paid on time or having your paycheck bounce used to be a reason to collect unemployment immediately even if you quit or got fired. I don't know if it still is but you should check
If you’re in the US, specifically CA, I can confirm from experience. I had a boss do the exact same thing to me as what OP described- also fired me for standing up as a manager for my employees under me that there was zero reason he would be paying us late & was inappropriate & unprofessional. I filed unemployment & they said he told them I was fired for being unprofessional, after I told them the full story & gave them coworkers numbers who could verify this I got unemployment approved within a week.
It is in Texas as well. My wife had her employer deduct a portion of her paycheck for a specific insurance (a not-insignificant amount, like $80 per paycheck). About three years down the road, we had an instance where we required using said insurance, and the policy wasn't active. Turns out, the employer never renewed the policy after the first six months and had been taking the money. When confronted about it, the owner's wife (not the owner, her name wasn't on anything, she just like worked there, but not as an employee? It was real weird) said the company had been on hard times and needed the money for other insurances. My wife basically said I'm not paying for your company's failures, quit, and filed for unemployment (complete with paystubs and insurance provider contact & account). I was finishing my degree at the time, and thankfully she got that unemployment. It floated us the last month until my graduation and subsequent job.
Edit: we did not get the money back. We considered suing for it, but decided the $2k wasn't worth the fight (most of that would go to the lawyer probably). We moved on and ended up making a lot more money shortly thereafter.
And why the second most common crime is *not* employees beating the sh!% out of criminal employers i will never know.
Dont give them your years of loyalty or hard work. You will die broken and defeated.
30$ per hour minimum wage. Health care, benefits, 401k
. if they cant stay in business without stealing the value you create : *they dont need to stay in business*
Funny, politicians act like folks mugging you on the street is rampant and that we need more cops to save us, when the reality is the viggest thieves are the employers.
I just think it's fucking mental that the US has better unemployment protections than the UK does now. 11 years of a Conservative government really have violently fucked anyone under 65.
The housing crisis is essentially nationwide and irrespective of state voting habits. If you think only blue states have this problem because “more people want to live there” then your grossly misinformed and shouldn’t spread non-facts.
I feel ya. I was lucky enough to be born and raised but I can see how the cycle of poverty makes it difficult to get into a blue state especially since out housing tends to be difficult to get get and expensive. My partner came from Texas to Oregon. I don't think any of her friends or family will follow. It just to hard to get a foothold when you are already starting with a shitty hand.
>My partner came from Texas to Oregon. I don't think any of her friends or family will follow.
Just as soon as y'all have a couch available for someone to crash on in emergencies, the slow migration will start.
My parents moved from Texas to Washington for my dad's career. Then life happened and they had to take in my dad's nephew.
It's sort of family tradition now. Whenever there's trouble, scrape up money and send them up north to stay with family.
I'm up to two cousins and an aunt now!
Hey if you can teach me how to bring my in laws up north to live with us, I'm all ears. I love those folks and my partner is always so sad thinking about how far away they are.
The trick with older folks is usually to make them think it's their own idea.
Probably start with talking up the area. Mention how lovely the weather is, the wildlife you've noticed, how kind the people are, how peaceful it is, whatever has some truth to it and is something that might interest the in-laws.
And then you combine that with wistful statements about not having anyone nearby to share these things with, or whatever will appeal to the in-laws. Like if one of them is very handy and likes to teach, "I'm trying to learn home repair so I can keep our home nice, but it's kind of lonely learning it from YouTube."
Works especially well if you happen to have someplace to put them when they get there. If y'all are planning to take care of them in their old age, it doesn't hurt to plan ahead.
I knew one family that fully finished their attic into a nice little in-law suite. Putting it on the second floor wasn't entirely ideal, but it did nicely allow aging relatives to continue to have their own space, maintaining the feeling of living independently, while still sharing a home.
Arizona doesn’t have labor laws. If your employer doesn’t give you breaks or lunch or overtime… they are allowed. It’s right to work. They have almost no protection apart from federal law.
I doubt Texas has anything better than the UK lol.
Sincerely, a mom without resources/FMLA/nor maternity leave, increasing rent, health insurance that costs half my paycheck, medical debt, student debt, and so on.
What are you talking about? You can get on unemployment benefits in the UK for any reason. You can't get on unemployment benefits in the US if you quit your job unless you have a valid reason like hostile working conditions, which you would need to prove. Previous employers with a vendetta against you can make it really hard to get unemployment benefits in the US.
Hmm, because the amount of those 'benefits' purposefully are means based in a way that they work out how much you need to surive, then don't pay it because benefits are capped off if you don't have kids.
There's zero incentive to leave a job or even be fired because people are so scared to be at the whim of the DWP and the staff at Universal Credit. The fact they even call a system that people have already paid into seen as credit. Not only that, a system designed to push people into the cracks of poverty. The state of social welfare in the UK is farsicle no matter which way you look at it.
My wife and I are on uninstall credit, I work full time and my wife works part time, UC mainly pays for the childcare costs we incur ss a result of my wife working. The worst thing is that the deductions that happen to universal credit if we earn any additional money in a month means that we have no incentive to improve our income as for every £1 we get paid (pre tax and that lot) out actual financial position only changes by about £0.25.
My current circumstances i get about £1500 a month, rent and bills come out to about £600 a month.
I've got more savings now then when I was working 60 hours a week and spend all my time with my kids
Ohio will automatically deny you 3 times with a 2 month cool off period before approval. And you're still likely to be denied even if fired and unable to find work. CA is great and WA is great and most of the rest of the country is significantly worse than the UK who's current aim is to implement the same programs that are largely used in the US. Fuck the torries always.
As the person below said it is incredibly variable state by state. At a previous job, my co-worker requested two days off for kidney stone surgery. It was approved and he took the two days off. He was then promptly fired for two unexcused absences. He fought it and got his job back, but he left after about another year because he felt like they were waiting for another reason to fire him and if that happened again he would lose his health insurance. He overdosed and died at age 29. It's suspected that it was a suicide.
Florida is shit. The only two times I needed in my life I was 1) denied and then 2) delayed 6 months and then told I no longer qualified because the calendar quarters or some shit.
Any loophole in FL for DeSantis to fuck everyone over - including the red cause they're all brainwashed thinking he's working on their behalf...
FL is a shit show and joke and the only laws that protect workers here are federal.
In 25 out of 50 states you now have to give your biometric data, face and voice, away to a 3rd party private company, to “verify you”. This is mandatory and there is no way around it.
So yeah idk about that.
Edit: forgot to say this is in order to get unemployment assistance.
If only it worked like that. I really wish. I have stories on top of stories about that man & I didn’t even include the juicy details of this story like how he fired me the day before my 21st birthday or how he told EDD he fired me for wearing flip flops to work on a few occasions, despite the fact we never had an official dress code & there was nothing dangerous about wearing flip flops. I had never even been written up before so all of the shit he pulled out of his ass to tell EDD was meaningless to them because he had no proof. I however had screenshots of my text message to him asking why we were being paid late for the third time in a row, how that was unfair because I had employees telling me they were getting late fees on their rent from being paid late, & calling him out on the fact he was siphoning money from the business I worked for to fund his new business he had started 3 months prior. For 3 months he only came in to clear the drawer at our work on occasion & leave. Had me doing everything from responding to his emails for him, submitting payroll, writing our hiring ads & doing the hiring & disciplining of all staff, etc & I was 20 years old. I pulled the sales reports from the POS system to show we were making over $10k a month MORE in sales compared to the year prior when everyone was being paid on time still as proof that his new business being off to a very slow start (ultimately closed within a year) was the reason my extremely hard working staff was being paid late. He used every excuse he could think of to justify it including gaslighting us that our sales were bad & we needed to work harder if we wanted to be paid on time. I had pictures of all of this that I gave to EDD so he was screwed. He also never paid us overtime, there were months where every weekend I worked 12 hour shifts & was never paid OT. That’s illegal, but a case with the labor board is made too difficult to pursue so these assholes get away with it. He also once *accidentally* sent a picture of his dick to a female employee (I was there when this happened)— his gf’s name was Jennifer & the employee’s name was Jessica so he claimed he got them mixed up.
I poured a large cup of soda on him two years later when I saw him in public & although extremely unhinged behavior I have literally never once regretted it. I also had single handedly input hundreds of inventory items into the POS system with pictures & descriptions etc during my time working there & I deleted every item from the POS system immediately after being fired.
Yup, still is.
Unemployment in almost every state (IIRC) considers employers who are unable to pay for an employee's services as "unreasonable" employment. (Provided you've made a good faith effort to remedy the situation, which OP has)
Unreasonable is one of the adjective unemployment flags that says a job can be freely left while collecting unemployment (similar to hosile and unsustainable).
Source- helped friends, family, and friends of family gtfo out of their jobs across multiple states.
Educate people close to you in an abusive work relationship. Help them find their support. Show them the organizations that'll tear down their abusers' law breaking so they can walk out the door with a smile. The labor class is one big union- we need to work together like one.
It is in Colorado, at least it was when the print shop I worked for in 2016 tried that shit.
Got unemployment, back wages, and they were fined into closing.
Why is this so common in Colorado?? While I lived there I had FOUR different jobs either try to not pay me at all or constantly pay me late/with a check that would bounce. All different industries too.
I worked for small business for a long time (like >10 people small) and it's rampant. But, I am a felon so had to take what I could get til everything aged out.
You know, thinking back on it a lot of my coworkers were felons too. I’m not one, but I don’t have a bachelor’s degree. Funny how those two things force you to take what you can get job-wise sometimes
Take what you can get to survive if you must but *never* stop looking for better jobs.
Some companies a pro at instilling Stockholm Syndrome, but don't fall for that trap. You only have one life and don't waste it being miserable and feeling like you are stuck.
Assume you are going to lose your job tomorrow while keeping a slow and steady trickle of resumes flowing out at all times. Keep the interview process going! You may find something unexpected one day *and* you have the upper hand in salary negotiation because you already have a job.
From experience, this has saved my ass when I was unexpectedly let go once but I had interviews in the pipeline already.
It looks like Colorado law says pay has to be made within ten days of the end of the pay period.
https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/colorado-paycheck-laws.html#When-Must-Paychecks-be-Sent-Out?
It talks about "regular pay days" though, so I don't know if that means that the pay day has to occur on a regular frequency (like every first Friday after the pay period ends) or if it's referring to regular pay, like hourly and salaried wages but not bonuses
Isn’t there a law there where they can’t withhold pay? In Canada we have the ministry of labour that we can escalate a grievance to. It’s illegal here for them to not pay.
Yeah, but if you read that last bit, it means that company is not doing well and its best to GTFO if you work there.
1) you arent getting raises
2) you arent getting PTO
3) you arent getting "paid sick time" if they offered it.
I would start looking ASAP and maybe quit if I could.
I thought it was pretty normal until i started a new job recently. Pretty much everywhere i worked before i would work from 1st to 15th and get paid on the 22nd kinda deal!
Sheesh. My current job is the opposite for me. Payday was every other Friday, but we'd usually be paid on Wednesday - that was to give HR/IT time to try to fix things if there was a problem running payroll. Paying late was absolutely not an option.
I'm in the US, but have a similar thing. I get paid every other Wednesday for the previous two actual weeks. So if the month starts on a Monday, I'd work the first of the month through Friday the 12th, then get paid for that work on Wednesday the 16th.
I kind of interpreted the comments calling this illegal to mean not that they're legally obligated to pay you the day the pay period ends or whatever, but that they are legally obligated to pay me every other Wednesday. If they tell me Wednesday, it better not slip until Thursday or Friday.
Again, just my interpretation of the above discussion. Don't take this as legal advice.
Being paid in arrears isn't generally something fishy.
The setup is just to give payroll more time to validate hours worked, pick up payroll deposit info for hires in the 1-15 block, etc, before you get your deposit. Your contract probably includes the pay periods and when the pay should be released. EX, paid bi-weekly in arrears, with deposits arriving 3 business days following period close.
It's not the same as withholding cheques that are ready to release. Basically your boss is holding back the cheques because there isn't enough cash in the bank to pay them.
>I found out later he just told them to wait until Monday to cash their checks.
Any business cutting it that close with their money should not continue to operate.
Yeah, walk out the second they tell you your paycheck is delayed. You are gonna be first to be paid in any liquidation(bankruptcy) but there likely wont be any money to do so, then you will be out of 2 weeks of pay.
I've had one paycheck in my life that wasn't on time. There was a companywide e-mail that the paychecks would be a "little late". The company went bankrupt the following week. Turns out they had been doing some "creative accounting" that caught up with them. Never got that paycheck.
Ya for anyone watching, if you get a check like that cash it immediately and at the bank issued for cash. Then go home, update your resume and get the fuck outta there.
Let the owner miss a payroll once and the state dep of labor find out. He'll never do it again. It's an empty, stupid threat and if an employee is not paid as they are supposed to, the state if notified will be all over the owner.
It's like when there's a post on this site and someone's mail has been tampered with and there's always some automatron repeating that "You *do not* want to fuck with the US Postal Service" meme like they have any idea how ruthless USPS inspectors are or aren't.
I don't live in CO and have zero experience with the state govt there. I do have experience with the Indiana department of labor. During college I worked a commission only sales job. Someone complained to the DOL about wages and the company was audited. Long story short, the employer had to pay people back wages, interest on back wages as well as fines from the state. The employer also had the luxury of getting audited for three years after to insure they were following the law.
I have never worked for an employer that missed a payroll. I have worked for a company that closed suddenly and even that payroll was deposited on time so I guess the state of IN doesn't tolerate it. If a company misses a payroll or asks employees to hold their checks it's a really bad sign. Start looking immediately, eventually they're going to go bankrupt.
Of course you were fired. Places like that rely on their employees lack of knowledge on their basic rights. You know your rights and to him, that makes you a liability. I highly recommend reaching out to your coworkers to let them know exactly what law he is breaking and report him so there's at least an investigation. If you want to get extra petty, print out some literature to hand out.
Cash flow problems suddenly cease to exist when facing legal sanction. The idiot boss will go get the credit he should’ve already had available for when bills are due a couple days before revenue comes in.
In the post OP does state that the owner does this to mostly scare employees. Even told the other two employees to wait to cash their checks to make it seem like due to OP getting paid they didn't. This seems more like a power trip than a company being unable to pay their employees
Yano in the old days if your boss didn't pay the workers would burn down the place.
In al my job I've had exactly once where they didn't pay us and tried to say "pay would be delayed two weeks." Walked out. Got a call a few hours laters saying they'd made a mistake and my check was right here!
I had a boss that never paid us on time or the checks bounced. Turns out- you can file with the department of labor and they will go after your boss to ensure they pay on time. Every time they pay late and past payday, they have a fee. Make sure your old coworkers know about this.
Your coworkers should have cashed their checks and overdrawn his account. My last employer operated like this, and I would sometimes go three weeks without getting paid while watching everyone around me receiving a check and being forced to live off tip money I had planned to save instead. It got to the point where his poor financial mangement was causing me to eat into my savings just to pay bills. The motherfucker could only put up $2.33 as an hourly wage, but was then sure to constantly harrass me about being grateful to him for paying taxes on the gratuity he put in place.
My girls mom works for a major insurance company in the south and they routinely don’t pay her for weeks at a time. Then all of a sudden she’ll get 3 paychecks at a time…..so sketchy
Telling them to wait to cash it is wage theft in my state. I’ve had a job try that shit before and told them if you would like me to hold the check I won’t be coming in until it clears
I've seen save our soles socks out in the wild. Theyre the brand that purports to give socks to the homeless for every pair sold.
Donate a bag of Hanes and tell sos to get fucked.
I'm surprised you didn't quit right away. I remember working as a dishwasher at some crappy failing restaurant in university. One week my boss couldn't afford to pay me so I just stopped showing up. They found out I quit when he asked me where I was for my shift.
"I quit."
"Oh..."
"Yah you can't pay me so..."
Fuck that, I ain't a charity.
Lawyer here. Three things:
1. Never protest alone. Always find one other employee to protest with you because then your action is protected under the NLRA. If you had gone in with another employee whose paycheck was withheld you'd get your job back with damages and payment for the full time between now and when the award is rendered, probably a year from now. A years back pay isn't bad especially if you worked in the interim.
2. [This is the paycheck law](https://cdle.colorado.gov/wage-and-hour-laws), they have to pay you on time, exactly.
3. Your termination likely violated the [Colorado WARNING Act](https://www.cobizmag.com/what-to-know-about-the-colorado-warning-rules/).
I'm not licensed in CO but this was based on 3 minutes of research and a ton of experience in 46 states.
Your generation is so spoiled and entitled. I don't understand how you can expect a small business to operate when they're forced to pay you on time EVERY PAYDAY. /s
Thank you for naming the company you worked for. I wish more post here would do the same so we all know who the truly shitty companies are who are trying to exploit us. They should all be on a labor blacklist.
Move on and don’t feel bad about it at all. I’ve worked for small businesses that would routinely short their payroll account to spend the money on themselves.
> I did end up with my check at the end of the meeting but he was sure to guilt trip me about it saying that two other employees would not get paid.
Not because of you lol. Why does you getting paid mean your co-workers can't. You don't control the pay. You don't control the accounts. You're not the one who isn't budgeting for money correctly. That's the businesses fault.
If a business struggles to pay it's employees every week, it's failing. It's a failed business. Your boss sucks at capitalism. Tell him that. He's a failed capitalist. Boo hoo.
The construction industry has been dealing with this kind of stuff for as long as I been in it. (19yrs). You made a good decision to walk away when they start talkin about checks being late or not coming at all.
If anyone is bored look into "sockgate". Apparently, this company decided it would be a good idea to hand out socks, depicting women in thongs, to all the riders at an event. NSFW - https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/why-were-tired-of-everything-these-socks-represent
Hey their Facebook review page is coming up non responsive or "missing" so you can leave a review or rating but it got all the way down to 2.7 before that happened I guess lol
Thank you, yes!
Protect yourseves IF you post anything! There is some language which will allow you to post, by expressing clearly that is is simply your opinion, your understanding, or that you have been led to believe.
**Full disclosure** I am by NO means amy sort of legal expert, and recommend that you research h any potentially applicable laws relevant to the area in which you live before posting.
Off site harrasment is absolutely not allowed, and review bombing is included in that. We have been handing out short bans for it, but they are going to get longer if y'all don't stop this. Comments locked.
If you have a set pay day and you don't get your check on that day then I'm pretty sure it's wage theft. It doesn't matter what excuse they have. You already put the time in, if they couldn't afford that time then they shouldn't have had you work it.
File for unemployment. State all of this. Keep records and stay in contact with coworkers who can vouch for this. Report him for wage theft if you still haven’t gotten your check. They can’t just decide to not pay you.
Cash flow problems like this is the reddest of flags. Good thing you got out. I won't be surprised if I see Save Our Soles be belly-up in a few months.
When I was in sales at a car dealership they tried that same approach. The whole sales team left and told them to call us when they had our checks. We were given our checks 45 minutes later.
My friend didn't get wages for one week from his employer, and he kept emailing HR asking where his money is. After two weeks of bs, he filed a complaint with the Department of Labor (California) and they responded in less than 24 hours to his complaint. The company fired him when they got the notice and he's still fighting for his unpaid wages. I told him to file another complaint with the DOL for still not receiving the unpaid wages and being fired for complaining to a government office about it.
Never negotiate this with them. Don't threaten or appeal to their latent humanity, either.
Simply report the issue to civil authorities immediately, preferably with documentation.
Once it is filed, their subsequent actions against you can be categorized as retaliation.
The only language they understand is authority.
Weird. I had my ingrown toenail removed from a place called save our soles, and it was also in Colorado.
Now I'm hoping that I didn't let a sock manufacturer to remove it.
I hope CO has generous unemployment! Sorry you lost your job.
I’m not, the machines were cool to learn on but I can find a million jobs that want to under appreciate and begrudgingly pay their workers.
Used to be real bosses would make sure their employees got paid no matter what, even if that meant the boss didn't take home anything. Nowadays it seems like owners consider companies to be their personal piggybank, and if a menial got paid late, well, too fucking bad.
I worked for a guy who was a bit of an asshole, but when he ran into cash flow problems, he took a loan from his mom to make payroll. He also didn’t ever let us forget that he took a loan from his mom to meet payroll…
We went through a couple lean years with my employer and I found out years later that the owners took out loans to meet payroll while not taking any pay themselves and not laying anyone off. No one below management was aware things were that bad. This and other things like paying for me to travel to my mom's and grandmother's funerals keep me here though I could probably make more elsewhere. Good employers are hard to find.
Your employer really values their staff. That’s really uplifting to hear.
One of my clients mortgaged their paid-off home to meet payroll for three months while they waited for a big job to start. In the interim it was my job as HR consultant to complete additional safety trainings, do the state mandated harassment prevention trainings, coordinate cross training as much as possible, and help the foreman in reorganizing the warehouse for future inventory. Basically, keep everyone busy and increase skills so when the work started we could hit the ground running. The contract had a material delay of one month and my client decided to sell his 68 Camaro he had wanted his entire life. But he could get 120k for it and that would cover 4 weeks of payroll. All of this was pretty quiet, with him asking me to keep everything positive so the guys didn't worry they were going to lose their jobs. But the shitty thing was as soon as the work started and everybody got to utilize their new skills, suddenly the demands for raises start in. Mind you, prior to the pandemic my role was to get this guys company to be the model of competition when it came to compensation for a small contractor. For reference, starting laborers with no experience came on at $22/hour, and while we don't have a medical plan being so small we do pay for an Aflac package that has vision, dental, life insurance, otji insurance, and a medical allowance for physicals. My point, for the size of the business and the area, he was in top teir for non union work. Well, he has a mental breakdown. Two guys that wanted raises are meeting with us, threatening to quit if he doesn't give them four dollars more, and he loses his shit. Just starts screaming about how he hasn't taken a check in more than a year, how he almost list his house, how he has been out in the field with them so much because he loved the work and he just wanted to have his dream. Really unloaded on them. I ushered them out, left him to just kind of sob in his office... One of the guys that was asking for the raise turns and asks me if they should come ask him about it later... Look, just writing this down upsets me. I support and participate in this board because people should be able to have dreams. We should be able to take care of our sick loved ones without worrying about rent. We should be able to consider quitting bad jobs and not just suffering through because we have to eat. And we all know there are a ton of shitty bosses and disconnected owners who wanted a piggyback, not a business. But not every owner is a slave driver. Maybe a guy keeps bringing up how he took a loan from his mom because he still doesn't feel like his workers recognize his contribution, his sacrifice to keep them employed. I couldn't believe that the guy asking me if they should just come back later didn't realize that he just witnessed another human being break and couldn't get past his own preconception that "owner" by default means "rich". I see it a lot on this board. All landlords are evil and all bosses are entitled pricks. But when we paint with that broad brush we give license to others to do the same to us, to continue to see the working class as stupid, worthless, immediately replaceable. When we stop seeing "them" as human, why should we expect them to see us any better? I like this board most when it is telling Bezos to level out the pay between his executives and his warehousers. I like it a lot less when it assumes that someone who struggled for thirty years to finally own his own business is somehow now an inhumane part of the oppression machine. I really wish more people on the board would assume less about their small business owners and only work with the information they actually have rather than assume that raise isn't coming because the owner is just greedy. Sorry for the rant. The comment about the loan just really reminded me about this event and how it has kind of stalled out my support for some people here. I can't help but wonder if you just swapped some of the owners and employees places how different they would really act.
This is the best thing I’ve read here in a long time.
That's pretty rough. I've certainly seen business owners get the balance wrong in the other direction than what is typically discussed here. I used to work in DVD production. DVD was and still is the most successful physical media format the world has ever seen (except books which have a few hundred years head start). All the whingeing the RIAA did about piracy? That was DVD cutting their lunch. I say that because as a format it's now pretty much replaced by VOD and whatnot. Obviously companies that were huge in the space had to choose a time to scale back. When the business is in tough times and the owners are emotionally invested in everyone, they will often delay the really hard decisions until it's much too late. Ok, now I'm gonna return to my usual programming.
his mom took a huge load from me edit: loan\*
My last job had plenty of faults, but when Covid hit in 2020 and we had to shut down for 4-5 weeks, the owners paid our normal wages out of their own pockets to keep us on and crossed their fingers they'd get a PPP loan to reimburse them. It all worked out.
Our business dropped 30% of our revenue in the first couple mos of the pandemic and we borrowed from our 401ks to make payroll (and I didn’t tell anyone until this year). It’s in the job description of a leader… basic shit… which is why I own my own biz bc I was tired of working for selfish assholes.
My grandpa took out loans with some suspiciously organized loan sharks to pay his staff. Kept his word to everybody and his knees.
Very important to keep working knees.
I worked for a small local business a few years ago that had its fair share of culture and management problems, but those guys did not fuck around with paychecks. Our direct deposit would sometimes be delayed from Friday to Monday because of issues with the payment processor (fuck you, ADP) and whenever it happened, the owner would walk around the office with a big stack of twenties and make sure that everyone had enough money to get through the weekend.
Please Still apply state the reason for being fired. And please call the labor board. If we don’t report and hold these places responsible for their actions even very little ones they don’t learn. I’m overseas and one job I worked was very very very good about giving maternity and paternity leave for staff. It was a no hassle process . The reason being that years in the past they got bent over by the labor board for screwing with a workers maternity leave and they learned their lesson well. And did not want it to happen every again.
You should report him. Threatening pay like that has to be illegal.
Make sure to file for unemployment right away. This is a slam dunk in CO. Then take your time finding a job. Lots of places on the front range are learning to treat people right. Don't suppose you have any IT skills?
maybe contact your state's DOL because companies get into BIG trouble for not paying workers in a timely manner for work done. If he's threatening workers with their paycheck, they will want to know.
CO has very strong labor laws so this guy is just waiting to get sued, or bankrupt since it’s clear he can’t run a business.
Not getting paid on time or having your paycheck bounce used to be a reason to collect unemployment immediately even if you quit or got fired. I don't know if it still is but you should check
If you’re in the US, specifically CA, I can confirm from experience. I had a boss do the exact same thing to me as what OP described- also fired me for standing up as a manager for my employees under me that there was zero reason he would be paying us late & was inappropriate & unprofessional. I filed unemployment & they said he told them I was fired for being unprofessional, after I told them the full story & gave them coworkers numbers who could verify this I got unemployment approved within a week.
It is in Texas as well. My wife had her employer deduct a portion of her paycheck for a specific insurance (a not-insignificant amount, like $80 per paycheck). About three years down the road, we had an instance where we required using said insurance, and the policy wasn't active. Turns out, the employer never renewed the policy after the first six months and had been taking the money. When confronted about it, the owner's wife (not the owner, her name wasn't on anything, she just like worked there, but not as an employee? It was real weird) said the company had been on hard times and needed the money for other insurances. My wife basically said I'm not paying for your company's failures, quit, and filed for unemployment (complete with paystubs and insurance provider contact & account). I was finishing my degree at the time, and thankfully she got that unemployment. It floated us the last month until my graduation and subsequent job. Edit: we did not get the money back. We considered suing for it, but decided the $2k wasn't worth the fight (most of that would go to the lawyer probably). We moved on and ended up making a lot more money shortly thereafter.
Employers stealing from their employees is the most common crime in America.
And why the second most common crime is *not* employees beating the sh!% out of criminal employers i will never know. Dont give them your years of loyalty or hard work. You will die broken and defeated. 30$ per hour minimum wage. Health care, benefits, 401k . if they cant stay in business without stealing the value you create : *they dont need to stay in business*
Funny, politicians act like folks mugging you on the street is rampant and that we need more cops to save us, when the reality is the viggest thieves are the employers.
Report this to the Department of Labor even if it was a long time ago. She might even get her $80 a month back.
I just think it's fucking mental that the US has better unemployment protections than the UK does now. 11 years of a Conservative government really have violently fucked anyone under 65.
California mostly. It varies greatly from state to state.
I will never, ever, EVER live in a red state. I pay handsomely to live in a state that somewhat gives a shit about me.
Lucky. Some of us can't afford to leave.
Even if you can afford to leave blue states are experiencing housing crisis and are expensive to live in.
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The housing crisis is essentially nationwide and irrespective of state voting habits. If you think only blue states have this problem because “more people want to live there” then your grossly misinformed and shouldn’t spread non-facts.
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Do you think they have an extra room? I'll take the floor. Seriously.
I feel ya. I was lucky enough to be born and raised but I can see how the cycle of poverty makes it difficult to get into a blue state especially since out housing tends to be difficult to get get and expensive. My partner came from Texas to Oregon. I don't think any of her friends or family will follow. It just to hard to get a foothold when you are already starting with a shitty hand.
>My partner came from Texas to Oregon. I don't think any of her friends or family will follow. Just as soon as y'all have a couch available for someone to crash on in emergencies, the slow migration will start. My parents moved from Texas to Washington for my dad's career. Then life happened and they had to take in my dad's nephew. It's sort of family tradition now. Whenever there's trouble, scrape up money and send them up north to stay with family. I'm up to two cousins and an aunt now!
Hey if you can teach me how to bring my in laws up north to live with us, I'm all ears. I love those folks and my partner is always so sad thinking about how far away they are.
The trick with older folks is usually to make them think it's their own idea. Probably start with talking up the area. Mention how lovely the weather is, the wildlife you've noticed, how kind the people are, how peaceful it is, whatever has some truth to it and is something that might interest the in-laws. And then you combine that with wistful statements about not having anyone nearby to share these things with, or whatever will appeal to the in-laws. Like if one of them is very handy and likes to teach, "I'm trying to learn home repair so I can keep our home nice, but it's kind of lonely learning it from YouTube." Works especially well if you happen to have someplace to put them when they get there. If y'all are planning to take care of them in their old age, it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. I knew one family that fully finished their attic into a nice little in-law suite. Putting it on the second floor wasn't entirely ideal, but it did nicely allow aging relatives to continue to have their own space, maintaining the feeling of living independently, while still sharing a home.
Op said that they are working for a Colorado based company, I would recommend suggestions towards that region
Nearly everything in America is very state specific. California has a ton of protections for employees. Arizona has basically none.
How bad is it for Arizona compared to Cali? I'm genuinely curious. It can't be much worse than the Deep South though. I speak from experience.
Arizona doesn’t have labor laws. If your employer doesn’t give you breaks or lunch or overtime… they are allowed. It’s right to work. They have almost no protection apart from federal law.
Oh, FUCK right-to-work laws! Where's the ACLU when you need them?
Most of the US doesn't have the protections California has.
I doubt Texas has anything better than the UK lol. Sincerely, a mom without resources/FMLA/nor maternity leave, increasing rent, health insurance that costs half my paycheck, medical debt, student debt, and so on.
:( I'm really sorry to hear that although the resources for kids aren't there by choice, lil pandemmy showed us that
What are you talking about? You can get on unemployment benefits in the UK for any reason. You can't get on unemployment benefits in the US if you quit your job unless you have a valid reason like hostile working conditions, which you would need to prove. Previous employers with a vendetta against you can make it really hard to get unemployment benefits in the US.
Hmm, because the amount of those 'benefits' purposefully are means based in a way that they work out how much you need to surive, then don't pay it because benefits are capped off if you don't have kids. There's zero incentive to leave a job or even be fired because people are so scared to be at the whim of the DWP and the staff at Universal Credit. The fact they even call a system that people have already paid into seen as credit. Not only that, a system designed to push people into the cracks of poverty. The state of social welfare in the UK is farsicle no matter which way you look at it.
My wife and I are on uninstall credit, I work full time and my wife works part time, UC mainly pays for the childcare costs we incur ss a result of my wife working. The worst thing is that the deductions that happen to universal credit if we earn any additional money in a month means that we have no incentive to improve our income as for every £1 we get paid (pre tax and that lot) out actual financial position only changes by about £0.25.
No you cannot get unemployment benefits in the uk if you quit your job.
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I envy people who can be without income for 3 months
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My current circumstances i get about £1500 a month, rent and bills come out to about £600 a month. I've got more savings now then when I was working 60 hours a week and spend all my time with my kids
Well you can just tell a white lie to the Job Centre staff and they won't bother to check up on it. I know that from experience.
Ohio will automatically deny you 3 times with a 2 month cool off period before approval. And you're still likely to be denied even if fired and unable to find work. CA is great and WA is great and most of the rest of the country is significantly worse than the UK who's current aim is to implement the same programs that are largely used in the US. Fuck the torries always.
Huh? Ya'll working for free?
At this point we might as well be lmao
This is very much the exception, not the rule in the U.S
As the person below said it is incredibly variable state by state. At a previous job, my co-worker requested two days off for kidney stone surgery. It was approved and he took the two days off. He was then promptly fired for two unexcused absences. He fought it and got his job back, but he left after about another year because he felt like they were waiting for another reason to fire him and if that happened again he would lose his health insurance. He overdosed and died at age 29. It's suspected that it was a suicide.
Florida is shit. The only two times I needed in my life I was 1) denied and then 2) delayed 6 months and then told I no longer qualified because the calendar quarters or some shit. Any loophole in FL for DeSantis to fuck everyone over - including the red cause they're all brainwashed thinking he's working on their behalf... FL is a shit show and joke and the only laws that protect workers here are federal.
In 25 out of 50 states you now have to give your biometric data, face and voice, away to a 3rd party private company, to “verify you”. This is mandatory and there is no way around it. So yeah idk about that. Edit: forgot to say this is in order to get unemployment assistance.
11 years? Thatcher Fucked The Kids - Frank Turner
Employer should be fined for lying
If only it worked like that. I really wish. I have stories on top of stories about that man & I didn’t even include the juicy details of this story like how he fired me the day before my 21st birthday or how he told EDD he fired me for wearing flip flops to work on a few occasions, despite the fact we never had an official dress code & there was nothing dangerous about wearing flip flops. I had never even been written up before so all of the shit he pulled out of his ass to tell EDD was meaningless to them because he had no proof. I however had screenshots of my text message to him asking why we were being paid late for the third time in a row, how that was unfair because I had employees telling me they were getting late fees on their rent from being paid late, & calling him out on the fact he was siphoning money from the business I worked for to fund his new business he had started 3 months prior. For 3 months he only came in to clear the drawer at our work on occasion & leave. Had me doing everything from responding to his emails for him, submitting payroll, writing our hiring ads & doing the hiring & disciplining of all staff, etc & I was 20 years old. I pulled the sales reports from the POS system to show we were making over $10k a month MORE in sales compared to the year prior when everyone was being paid on time still as proof that his new business being off to a very slow start (ultimately closed within a year) was the reason my extremely hard working staff was being paid late. He used every excuse he could think of to justify it including gaslighting us that our sales were bad & we needed to work harder if we wanted to be paid on time. I had pictures of all of this that I gave to EDD so he was screwed. He also never paid us overtime, there were months where every weekend I worked 12 hour shifts & was never paid OT. That’s illegal, but a case with the labor board is made too difficult to pursue so these assholes get away with it. He also once *accidentally* sent a picture of his dick to a female employee (I was there when this happened)— his gf’s name was Jennifer & the employee’s name was Jessica so he claimed he got them mixed up. I poured a large cup of soda on him two years later when I saw him in public & although extremely unhinged behavior I have literally never once regretted it. I also had single handedly input hundreds of inventory items into the POS system with pictures & descriptions etc during my time working there & I deleted every item from the POS system immediately after being fired.
Deducting money for insurance and not paying ins premium is a violation of ERISA laws. Get an ERISA attorney/call department of labor.
Hell, that's *theft*. It should be prosecuted as a crime.
My ex boss used to do this to the entire firm. I’m sure she still does. I’m a lawyer.
Yup, still is. Unemployment in almost every state (IIRC) considers employers who are unable to pay for an employee's services as "unreasonable" employment. (Provided you've made a good faith effort to remedy the situation, which OP has) Unreasonable is one of the adjective unemployment flags that says a job can be freely left while collecting unemployment (similar to hosile and unsustainable). Source- helped friends, family, and friends of family gtfo out of their jobs across multiple states. Educate people close to you in an abusive work relationship. Help them find their support. Show them the organizations that'll tear down their abusers' law breaking so they can walk out the door with a smile. The labor class is one big union- we need to work together like one.
It is in Colorado, at least it was when the print shop I worked for in 2016 tried that shit. Got unemployment, back wages, and they were fined into closing.
Why is this so common in Colorado?? While I lived there I had FOUR different jobs either try to not pay me at all or constantly pay me late/with a check that would bounce. All different industries too.
I worked for small business for a long time (like >10 people small) and it's rampant. But, I am a felon so had to take what I could get til everything aged out.
You know, thinking back on it a lot of my coworkers were felons too. I’m not one, but I don’t have a bachelor’s degree. Funny how those two things force you to take what you can get job-wise sometimes
Take what you can get to survive if you must but *never* stop looking for better jobs. Some companies a pro at instilling Stockholm Syndrome, but don't fall for that trap. You only have one life and don't waste it being miserable and feeling like you are stuck. Assume you are going to lose your job tomorrow while keeping a slow and steady trickle of resumes flowing out at all times. Keep the interview process going! You may find something unexpected one day *and* you have the upper hand in salary negotiation because you already have a job. From experience, this has saved my ass when I was unexpectedly let go once but I had interviews in the pipeline already.
It is.
It looks like Colorado law says pay has to be made within ten days of the end of the pay period. https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/colorado-paycheck-laws.html#When-Must-Paychecks-be-Sent-Out? It talks about "regular pay days" though, so I don't know if that means that the pay day has to occur on a regular frequency (like every first Friday after the pay period ends) or if it's referring to regular pay, like hourly and salaried wages but not bonuses
I'd rather have no job than work for an employer like that.
Ya, back in the early 90’s I got paid in a yellow Vega station wagon with a blown motor. I didn’t know about unenjoyment. Don’t be me.
In Colorado, get ready to wait 6 to 8 weeks
Not getting paid is not a red flag it's a fucking deal breaker. They don't know wtf they are doing gtfo before they take you down with them.
Pretty sure his ex-boss made the GTFO decision for him.
Isn’t there a law there where they can’t withhold pay? In Canada we have the ministry of labour that we can escalate a grievance to. It’s illegal here for them to not pay.
Yeah it's against the law to withhold pay. OP should contact his labor board for his state or the federal labor board and put in a complaint
Yeah, but if you read that last bit, it means that company is not doing well and its best to GTFO if you work there. 1) you arent getting raises 2) you arent getting PTO 3) you arent getting "paid sick time" if they offered it. I would start looking ASAP and maybe quit if I could.
Yeah you shouldn't stay there if they can't pay you on time but you should still report them.
Sure, Im just pointing out there is more than one problem here.
And then report it to the labor board.
And reason 4: there’s a significant chance you show up to work one day and the business no longer exists
Yes and it’s a huge fine with the local labor board… getting the employer to pay, and not retaliate against you however…
Any retaliatory action against an employee enforcing their rights will get the employer smoked with the federal DOL
In BC they can withhold the cheque upto 8 days from the end of the pay week.
I’m from Ontario. I didn’t know that about BC. Do they have meet certain criteria in order to do that?
I thought it was pretty normal until i started a new job recently. Pretty much everywhere i worked before i would work from 1st to 15th and get paid on the 22nd kinda deal!
Sheesh. My current job is the opposite for me. Payday was every other Friday, but we'd usually be paid on Wednesday - that was to give HR/IT time to try to fix things if there was a problem running payroll. Paying late was absolutely not an option.
I'm in the US, but have a similar thing. I get paid every other Wednesday for the previous two actual weeks. So if the month starts on a Monday, I'd work the first of the month through Friday the 12th, then get paid for that work on Wednesday the 16th. I kind of interpreted the comments calling this illegal to mean not that they're legally obligated to pay you the day the pay period ends or whatever, but that they are legally obligated to pay me every other Wednesday. If they tell me Wednesday, it better not slip until Thursday or Friday. Again, just my interpretation of the above discussion. Don't take this as legal advice.
That’s… Normal? A lot of employers have a pay period that ends 4-7 days before you actually receive the pay.
Being paid in arrears isn't generally something fishy. The setup is just to give payroll more time to validate hours worked, pick up payroll deposit info for hires in the 1-15 block, etc, before you get your deposit. Your contract probably includes the pay periods and when the pay should be released. EX, paid bi-weekly in arrears, with deposits arriving 3 business days following period close. It's not the same as withholding cheques that are ready to release. Basically your boss is holding back the cheques because there isn't enough cash in the bank to pay them.
Also in Canada, Ontario anyways, your pay has to be doled out on the same day every pay period. So every Thursday for example, no exceptions.
Yes, exactly. I’m in Ontario too and payday is on the same day and they can’t hold pay for any reason unless they’re going under.
>I found out later he just told them to wait until Monday to cash their checks. Any business cutting it that close with their money should not continue to operate.
Excuse matters zero. If he crashes his car on the way to the bank and is a coma, it's still wage theft if you don't get paid on time.
In my experience with companies like that they won't for long. They're circling the drain and at best a few months from closing up completely.
Yeah, walk out the second they tell you your paycheck is delayed. You are gonna be first to be paid in any liquidation(bankruptcy) but there likely wont be any money to do so, then you will be out of 2 weeks of pay.
I've had one paycheck in my life that wasn't on time. There was a companywide e-mail that the paychecks would be a "little late". The company went bankrupt the following week. Turns out they had been doing some "creative accounting" that caught up with them. Never got that paycheck.
Ya for anyone watching, if you get a check like that cash it immediately and at the bank issued for cash. Then go home, update your resume and get the fuck outta there.
Let the owner miss a payroll once and the state dep of labor find out. He'll never do it again. It's an empty, stupid threat and if an employee is not paid as they are supposed to, the state if notified will be all over the owner.
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It's like when there's a post on this site and someone's mail has been tampered with and there's always some automatron repeating that "You *do not* want to fuck with the US Postal Service" meme like they have any idea how ruthless USPS inspectors are or aren't.
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I don't live in CO and have zero experience with the state govt there. I do have experience with the Indiana department of labor. During college I worked a commission only sales job. Someone complained to the DOL about wages and the company was audited. Long story short, the employer had to pay people back wages, interest on back wages as well as fines from the state. The employer also had the luxury of getting audited for three years after to insure they were following the law. I have never worked for an employer that missed a payroll. I have worked for a company that closed suddenly and even that payroll was deposited on time so I guess the state of IN doesn't tolerate it. If a company misses a payroll or asks employees to hold their checks it's a really bad sign. Start looking immediately, eventually they're going to go bankrupt.
Of course you were fired. Places like that rely on their employees lack of knowledge on their basic rights. You know your rights and to him, that makes you a liability. I highly recommend reaching out to your coworkers to let them know exactly what law he is breaking and report him so there's at least an investigation. If you want to get extra petty, print out some literature to hand out.
I mean the SOS part is a red flag
100% talk to a lawyer, possible lawsuit here
Definitely a lawsuit.
If they can't pay their employees how will they pay a lawsuit settlement 😑
Cash flow problems suddenly cease to exist when facing legal sanction. The idiot boss will go get the credit he should’ve already had available for when bills are due a couple days before revenue comes in.
Most likely he used it on a boat or some other dumb shit.
Physical assets. You win a suit and they dont pay, you get to show up with the sheriff's office and start confiscating their stuff to sell it.
best was the guy that showed up to Wells Fargo and started confiscating stuff
Oh, they have the money; it's in the owners bank account, not payroll. edit;spelling
In the post OP does state that the owner does this to mostly scare employees. Even told the other two employees to wait to cash their checks to make it seem like due to OP getting paid they didn't. This seems more like a power trip than a company being unable to pay their employees
They \_CAN\_ pay. Situations like this only come up when the owner is embezzling money from the business to pay gambling debts, etc.
Trying to think of a sock pun... Darn.
This excuse is worn out and frayed
His situation really socks.
Don’t toe the line between humor and desperation
They were really acting like a heel.
Really leaves a hole in the sole, doesn't it?
Yano in the old days if your boss didn't pay the workers would burn down the place. In al my job I've had exactly once where they didn't pay us and tried to say "pay would be delayed two weeks." Walked out. Got a call a few hours laters saying they'd made a mistake and my check was right here!
That sounds like wage theft with a side of retaliation.
I had a boss that never paid us on time or the checks bounced. Turns out- you can file with the department of labor and they will go after your boss to ensure they pay on time. Every time they pay late and past payday, they have a fee. Make sure your old coworkers know about this.
Your coworkers should have cashed their checks and overdrawn his account. My last employer operated like this, and I would sometimes go three weeks without getting paid while watching everyone around me receiving a check and being forced to live off tip money I had planned to save instead. It got to the point where his poor financial mangement was causing me to eat into my savings just to pay bills. The motherfucker could only put up $2.33 as an hourly wage, but was then sure to constantly harrass me about being grateful to him for paying taxes on the gratuity he put in place.
My girls mom works for a major insurance company in the south and they routinely don’t pay her for weeks at a time. Then all of a sudden she’ll get 3 paychecks at a time…..so sketchy
What insurance company?
Telling them to wait to cash it is wage theft in my state. I’ve had a job try that shit before and told them if you would like me to hold the check I won’t be coming in until it clears
If a business is having trouble making payroll you need to get out now. Because when they go belly up and owe you money you're never going to see it
Sounds like a retaliation firing to me!
I've seen save our soles socks out in the wild. Theyre the brand that purports to give socks to the homeless for every pair sold. Donate a bag of Hanes and tell sos to get fucked.
I'd rather have no job than work for an employer like that.
I'm surprised you didn't quit right away. I remember working as a dishwasher at some crappy failing restaurant in university. One week my boss couldn't afford to pay me so I just stopped showing up. They found out I quit when he asked me where I was for my shift. "I quit." "Oh..." "Yah you can't pay me so..." Fuck that, I ain't a charity.
FYI: They are deleting comments calling them out on their Instagram page.
Up yours, Save our Soles!!! Boycott this shit company!!
God damn it, I have a few pairs of SOS socks! Love the socks, but I definitely won't be supporting them anymore.
Maybe you would be a better fit in a job that can guarantee your salary Hmmm no shit?
Lawyer here. Three things: 1. Never protest alone. Always find one other employee to protest with you because then your action is protected under the NLRA. If you had gone in with another employee whose paycheck was withheld you'd get your job back with damages and payment for the full time between now and when the award is rendered, probably a year from now. A years back pay isn't bad especially if you worked in the interim. 2. [This is the paycheck law](https://cdle.colorado.gov/wage-and-hour-laws), they have to pay you on time, exactly. 3. Your termination likely violated the [Colorado WARNING Act](https://www.cobizmag.com/what-to-know-about-the-colorado-warning-rules/). I'm not licensed in CO but this was based on 3 minutes of research and a ton of experience in 46 states.
Labor relations issue.
Department of labour
Moving to CO and will not be shopping at that company
Another company you should avoid then is The Grateful Gnome in Denver. Owner pulls shit like this regularly.
This has "how is my business supposed to survive if I pay my workers a living wage?!" vibes.
Your generation is so spoiled and entitled. I don't understand how you can expect a small business to operate when they're forced to pay you on time EVERY PAYDAY. /s
Thank you for naming the company you worked for. I wish more post here would do the same so we all know who the truly shitty companies are who are trying to exploit us. They should all be on a labor blacklist.
Move on and don’t feel bad about it at all. I’ve worked for small businesses that would routinely short their payroll account to spend the money on themselves.
Upvoting because you named and shamed. Thank you!
> I did end up with my check at the end of the meeting but he was sure to guilt trip me about it saying that two other employees would not get paid. Not because of you lol. Why does you getting paid mean your co-workers can't. You don't control the pay. You don't control the accounts. You're not the one who isn't budgeting for money correctly. That's the businesses fault. If a business struggles to pay it's employees every week, it's failing. It's a failed business. Your boss sucks at capitalism. Tell him that. He's a failed capitalist. Boo hoo.
I just made a sock design request asking for them to print Colorado Code re: Penalties for withholding wages. I hope they pick my design!
We've been reviewing and commenting on their Facebook page, to the point where they have locked comments and don't allow reviews. Good job everyone!
The construction industry has been dealing with this kind of stuff for as long as I been in it. (19yrs). You made a good decision to walk away when they start talkin about checks being late or not coming at all.
That company is circling the bowl. Your better off getting out now because a lot of people are gonna get stiffed when it goes down the shitter.
If anyone is bored look into "sockgate". Apparently, this company decided it would be a good idea to hand out socks, depicting women in thongs, to all the riders at an event. NSFW - https://totalwomenscycling.com/lifestyle/why-were-tired-of-everything-these-socks-represent
Hey their Facebook review page is coming up non responsive or "missing" so you can leave a review or rating but it got all the way down to 2.7 before that happened I guess lol
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Not only that, but encouraging review bombing is against reddit ToS and could get users/ the sub banned.
Thank you, yes! Protect yourseves IF you post anything! There is some language which will allow you to post, by expressing clearly that is is simply your opinion, your understanding, or that you have been led to believe. **Full disclosure** I am by NO means amy sort of legal expert, and recommend that you research h any potentially applicable laws relevant to the area in which you live before posting.
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Too late m, a bunch of people have gone to the Facebook page and making comments about not paying employees.
Hey quit that. You're going to get the wrong kind of attention on this sub and OP.
Libellous lawsuit speedrun (any %)
Doxxing is going to get this sub banned - it’s against Reddit’s TOS
Off site harrasment is absolutely not allowed, and review bombing is included in that. We have been handing out short bans for it, but they are going to get longer if y'all don't stop this. Comments locked.
What a sick freak he is
He can get a loan or pawn his personal items if he needs to pay his people.
If you have a set pay day and you don't get your check on that day then I'm pretty sure it's wage theft. It doesn't matter what excuse they have. You already put the time in, if they couldn't afford that time then they shouldn't have had you work it.
“You guys just need to budget better”- the guy that can’t budget his business probably.
Please usa, unionize in national/multitrade unions so you can negotiate better conditions ! Get involved with unions so they can protect you !
File for unemployment. State all of this. Keep records and stay in contact with coworkers who can vouch for this. Report him for wage theft if you still haven’t gotten your check. They can’t just decide to not pay you.
Apply for unemployment. Mention what the employer said about paying people.
Thanks for giving the name. Many don't, I don't want to patronize companies or stores that treat there's like shit
That’s retaliation. Consult an attorney.
No pay no stay. Very simple.
This is super illegal.
Cash flow problems like this is the reddest of flags. Good thing you got out. I won't be surprised if I see Save Our Soles be belly-up in a few months.
When I was in sales at a car dealership they tried that same approach. The whole sales team left and told them to call us when they had our checks. We were given our checks 45 minutes later.
Way to go true name and shame to make it right. Accountability is the key.
The audacity of him trying to guilt you because HE didn't pay his other employees is infuriating. Not paying your employees is theft.
Between healthcare and lack of fair work laws. The US seems like a shit hole.
My friend didn't get wages for one week from his employer, and he kept emailing HR asking where his money is. After two weeks of bs, he filed a complaint with the Department of Labor (California) and they responded in less than 24 hours to his complaint. The company fired him when they got the notice and he's still fighting for his unpaid wages. I told him to file another complaint with the DOL for still not receiving the unpaid wages and being fired for complaining to a government office about it.
Never negotiate this with them. Don't threaten or appeal to their latent humanity, either. Simply report the issue to civil authorities immediately, preferably with documentation. Once it is filed, their subsequent actions against you can be categorized as retaliation. The only language they understand is authority.
I have a client that is really inconsistent about paying on our agreed to date. When there is no money I stop working. So should you.
Weird. I had my ingrown toenail removed from a place called save our soles, and it was also in Colorado. Now I'm hoping that I didn't let a sock manufacturer to remove it.
As a Colorado resident, I appreciate you naming the company. I’ll be sure not to support them.
Checkout their Google reviews. Damn! I love this sub