Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#1

Post by ontheground » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:08 AM UTC

I'm in a weird situation. I'm a "freelance developer" with 1 client. That client is currently more than 12 months and $250k behind on payroll. They are presently on both on the verge of bankruptcy and projecting that an update I'm supposed to deliver tomorrow will generate 10M in revenue in the next year with silly growth beyond that. While their long term projections are a bit doubtful their short term projections are based on their customers' verifiable infrastructure commitments which are between 10x and 100x of the projected revenue.

I'm under intense pressure to deliver the update with the idea that it will enable them to generate enough money to pay off their debt, but this seems fundamentally wrong to me. Is there some other deal that we could work out quickly that would be fair to both parties and something that their board might agree to?

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#2

Post by GrumpyNl » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:33 AM UTC

It should never have become to 12 months and $250k.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#3

Post by tiotempestade » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:35 AM UTC

Ask for a written warranty..

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#4

Post by mod » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:36 AM UTC

Are they behind paying you? That's unclear. If they owe you 250k, I would probably have stopped a long time ago.

If it's not you they owe, you shouldn't be doing anything different than your contract specifies.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#5

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:36 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#6

Post by ontheground » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:37 AM UTC

GrumpyNl wrote: post #2

It should never have become to 12 months and $250k.

FWIW, it didn't happen over the span of 12 months. It took ~3 years to get this far behind.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#7

Post by mcv » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:38 AM UTC

Are they 12 months and $250k behind on their own payroll, or on paying you specifically? Because that's an insane amount that never should have gotten that far.

Also, if they have a board, it sounds like they're not actually a small client, which means they can easily pay you what they owe you. Can they pay the salaries of their management? Then they can pay you.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#8

Post by wkrsz » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:41 AM UTC

tiotempestade wrote: post #3

Ask for a written warranty..

Or even ask the management or board to personally guarantee your debt.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#9

Post by xlance » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:49 AM UTC

wkrsz wrote: post #8

tiotempestade wrote: post #3

Ask for a written warranty..

Or even ask the management or board to personally guarantee your debt.

I second this.

And get them to commit to a payment plan, regardless of how their project progress.

Do NOT give them the update before this is done.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when you have your employer over a barrel?

#10

Post by ontheground » Mon, Jan 17, 2022, 8:51 AM UTC

mcv wrote: post #7

Are they 12 months and $250k behind on their own payroll, or on paying you specifically? Because that's an insane amount that never should have gotten that far. Also, if they have a board, it sounds like they're not actually a small client, which means they can easily pay you what they owe you. Can they pay the salaries of their management? Then they can pay you.

That is just me, though as I mentioned in a cousin comment it took some time for this to happen. Its not like I've just been working for the last year with out pay. Its more of a natural decay of their ability to pay... so 2.43 years +-