Re: A sticky contractor situation: no pay yet?

Subject: Re: A sticky contractor situation: no pay yet?
From: "Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 23:56:34 -0700


I thank everyone for their input into this situation. While I'm replying to
just thi smessage, I'll try to address what others have said.

I should note today's developments. I did talk to "the boss" today, the
owner of the company, expressing my dismay that I had not received a check.
He told me that it was mailed Friday evening, from Tracy (about 50 miles
east of San Francisco). But there was no check in my mailbox when I got home
tonight. Realistically, it typically takes 1-2 days for mail to get
delivered in a region.

"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> wrote in message
news:205965 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> Chuck Martin reports: <<[The client wasn't] paying a great rate, but I
> needed the money, and I could do the work: a User Guide for a web
> application that was being written on the other coast. They wanted to sign
> me up Net 30, but I said no, I'd do Net 15, and we changed the contract.>>
>
> First off, if you've got a contract, this means the client is legally
> obliged to pay based on the terms of the contract. If you specified an
> interest rate for bills not paid on time, you can resubmit your invoice
with
> the interest charge tacked on--but read on before doing that. (I did
> actually win this argument with a provincial government several years ago.
> "We don't pay 1.5% per month." "You do now. That's what's specified in the
> contract. Want to discuss this in small claims court?" "The check is in
the
> mail, sir.")

There is nothing in the contract specifying a penalty for late payment. I
have never, ever encountered a company paying its individuals late.

In talking with the one other person who works in this small office today, I
suggested that there is a difference between company to person contracts and
company to company contracts. I know it is not unusual between businesses to
wait until the last minute to pay, but when contrtacting with individuals,
especially when they are working on site, it seems that checks get cut
reasonably quickly, not waiting until the last possible (legal) day.

>
> <<I turned in my first invoice 2 weeks ago; the 15th day is Monday. But
last
> week I was talking ever day with the owner, saying that I'd really
> appreciate him cutting a check, and by mid-week, he was saying that a
check
> is in the mail and I should get it by the end of the week. I returned home
> on Friday, no check. Not on Saturday either.>>
>
> Don't anticipate a problem where one may not exist. If the check really
was
> "mailed" Wednesday, it may not have actually been dropped off at the post
> office until Thursday. If your address was incomplete, it might take
another
> day or two to arrive. I actually had one recent cheque delayed by 2 weeks
> because despite my new address being clearly labeled on all correspondence
> with the client and their contract department, and typed clearly on their
> contract, they somehow had my old address (10+ years old) on file and sent
> the cheque there instead.

As mentioned above, from one point in the San Francisco Bay Area to another,
it shouldn't take more than a day or two.

>
> So the first step before getting out the firearms is to contact the
client's
> accounts payable department and inquire gently about the status of the
> cheque, and while you're on the phone, confirm that your address and other
> paperwork are correct. This resolves many problems. One thing we editors
> often encounter is the "left a note with the AP department expecting
> payment, not realizing they clerk is on vacation for 2 weeks" or "you
didn't
> sign the purchase order, so we can't issue a check" syndrome. That is, the
> client passed along the information without confirming it was received or
> capable of being acted upon, or the clerk is waiting for a rubber stamp
that
> nobody knows they need to provide.

My understanding is that they have an outside accountant handle the
finances. This is not a company large enough for specialized departments.

>
> If it's the client himself who's signing the cheque (i.e., company is too
> small to have a separate bookkeeper or accountant), then you have to
> communicate the seriousness of the problem to the client, and insist that
> the problem be resolved immediately. "The cheque is in the mail" is
> meaningless; "your Fedex tracking number is 12345" carries much more
weight.
> Ask the client to send the payment by courier and call you back with a
> tracking number.

I am wondering just what to to on Tuesday, with no check still in hand, and
the due date officially past. I am thinking along the lines of saying that
I'll work today, but if no check is waiting Tuesday night, that I cannot
continue on Wednesday until I get it.

>
> <<First, what options do I have if I don't get a check by the end of the
day
> Monday? Can I claim that this company
> doesn't have the right to use the work I've created until they pay for
it?>>
>
> You can certainly turn this into a lawsuit, since the work has been
> delivered and the contract specifies terms of payment. But that can create
a
> really toxic relationship and get you informally blacklisted, so use it as
a
> last resort. The trick in contracts is to always specify two things:
First,
> that the work remains your property until paid for and cannot be used
before
> payment arrives. Second, that unless a work is returned for revision
within
> 1 week (or some other period) after submission, that it is considered to
be
> acceptable for the purpose of determining payment. In the latter case, it
> usually helps to specify a maximum number of "free" revisions--to prevent
an
> unsavory client from submitting endless revision requests to avoid paying
> you.

I wonder about the company getting blacklisted. What happens if word gets
out that a company is perennially late in paying its people?

>
> <<I have to wonder also if there is a cultural issue that I may be
missing.
> The owner and founder of this particular company is from India.>>
>
> I wouldn't go there just yet. I've never heard that Indians are
particularly
> laissez-faire about payments--at least no more than any other business
> startups. Never attribute to malice (or culture) what you can attribute to
> simple incompetence--something that is (alas!) color- and culture-blind.

I don't use culture as an excuse. I've known people who say they don't get
involved (in personal relationships) with people from other cultures because
it's too much trouble to communicate. I say balderdash to that; if you're
really interested in someone, you will have the patience and put in the
effort to work on good communication and bridge language and cultural gaps.

But I know that different cultures have different methods of communicatiing,
and I don't pretend to be knowledgeable in them all (or even all that many).
Just like "innocent" symbols can be offensive inanother culture, an
approach, a turn of phase, anything, that seems perfectly reasonable may be
interpreted in unintended ways. And I'm wondering if any part of my mesage
is being interpreted in ways I am not considering.

Andrew said:
Therefore, you have to find a way to get what you want ($$$) without having
a
battle. Diplomacy!

Well, I find it hard to be, to put it bluntly, a bitch is such situations.
Which may be a good or a bad thing. I have been encouraging and cajoling for
nearly a week now.

Andrew said:
Its probably not a good idea to make this a war until the customer is in
gregarious violation. Again, you're making this personal. Its not. Its
business.
and
Furthermore, if carrying customers 30-45 days is too hard, consider
partnering
with an employment agency. They will pay you regularly and handle the
collections for you. Naturally, you will have to give them a percentage of
your rate, but you'll get paid more reliably.

It sure feels personal--because I am a person. I'm not a business. In fact,
I've never created an "officail" business for my contract work. I know I
don't have the temperament or the organization to do all the things that
need to be done in creating and running such a business.

Up to a year and a half ago, all of my contract work (when I did contract
work) was through an agency, and I did W-2/4 (rather than 1099) whenever
possible. I'd rather take a couple fewer dollars an hour, get some
rudimentary benefits, and not have to deal with self-employment taxes. But
that business, an agency that specialized in technical writers, went into
hibernation when the economy went south. About a month ago, I sent my resume
to another agency that specializes in technical writers. I never heard word
one from them. Not an encouraging start.

Andrew said:
Every mistake you made, they'll dock from what they owe you. This is why you
need to approach the issue diplomatically and rationally.

I don't believe in doing shoddy work, even in such trying situations. It's
just that, at what point does the work stop?

Andrew said:
You're also infusing emotions into the
issue ("feeling slightly dumped on"). That's not a good idea

I've never been the type of person who can separate my lives. Good days at
work carry over into the evening, and vice versa. (That's where having a
spouse can help--now if I could only find one.) And when trauma happens in
my personal life, I cannot simply turn off the emotion when I sit down at my
desk. (That doens't mean my work gets ignored, just sometimes productivity
or concentration suffers--and I have to make up for it later.) I'm human,
not a machine.

Lisa said:
First of all, don't react until you get home Monday and check the
mailbox. Then you need to be calm about approaching them. The first
thing to do is verify on Tuesday _with the accountant_ if the check was
really cut and if so, when it was mailed. The post office could be
holding things up. ("Hey, I haven't received my check and it was due
yesterday. Just wanted to make sure it had been cut.")

I'm not sure if I can contact the accountant, an person external to the
company, directly. If there's a strategy to doing that, I'd be open to
knowing about it. But the company owner did say today that it was sent on
Friday evening.

Goober said:
What is their accounts payable schedule? I know many
companies that handle accounts payable on a monthly
basis. There's no fault for them doing so

Does that really matter? If a bill comes due in the middle of a payable
cycle, does that make it OK to delay paying the bill until the end of the
cycle? Id say lateness on their part is their fault.

Goober said:
You can't take back the work you already performed,
but you can opt to produce no further work for them
until you get paid. That's a bit of a drastic
approach, and I warn you to approach that carefully.
You don't want to screw yourself out of the rest of
the contract (if you think money is tight now...).

Why can't I take back work that hasbn't been paid for?

But money's been tight ever since I got laid off 11 months ago. This economy
isn't conducive to feeling financially comfortable.

Thanks everyone!

Chuck Martin



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