

Advice : Working for company that uses payroll as a cashflow management tool - payrolled

Lots of startup people here, so I assume more than a few of you have been in this situation.&#60;p&#62;I am working for a startup that has been persistently skipping payroll, sometimes paying late, sometimes not at all, always with vague explanations about how the company is doing or why they missed payroll this time.&#60;p&#62;The company in question has a very interesting product and is primarily dealing with funding issues, so I am reluctant to cut ties completely, but it is reaching a point where nobody trusts management to deliver (lack of communication, vague when they do communicate, etc).&#60;p&#62;I am curious to hear from others who have been in this situation, how you dealt with it (besides simply quitting), and whether the company you worked for got its act together or eventually just tanked.
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nostrademons
Company is screwed. Start searching for another job now, while you're still
employed, and jump if you get a decent offer. It's easier to hunt for a job
when you already have one - take advantage of that and get out before they
announce that the company is bust and everyone is laid off.

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kls
I have seen it too many times to count. The problem is for the one success
story that pulls through at the 11th hour there are thousands where the
employees come to work one day and the doors are locked. I always started
looking the first check that was not paid and left as soon as I had another
offer. The odds are that the company will not survive very long.

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brudgers
When a company isn't paying it's bills, it is likely on it's way under.

To the degree you aren't getting paid, you are not actually working for the
company. And leadership which will forgo paying employees while allowing them
to come in and work on their projects is not behaving ethically.

If you are in the US, companies which are not meeting payroll are frequently
also not paying payroll taxes and using the withholding portion of each
employee's salary to cover operating expenses.

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sixtofour
IANAL, my understanding is that it's _illegal_ to ask people to work if you
can't pay them. The company almost certainly knows this; if they do, and if
this specific situation is illegal, then they're knowingly screwing you by
knowingly breaking the law.

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diolpah
I was in this situation during the 2000 bubble burst.

Many of the developers accepted equity in leiu of paychecks, and then began
drinking heavily at the office.

The company in question eventually met their obligations and is still
operating today. I would caution that most companies in the above scenario do
not make it out alive, though.

