MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: The Day MAME Saved My A**

> I've been thinking about this over the last few days - thinking about the best ways
> to work it without needing lawyers, without risking payments, and while still being
> able to sleep at night.

Not to disregard your idea; I read through it, and think there's some merit to it at least as far as development is concerned. However, allow me to outline another scenario:

You take on a 60-day contract at a fixed weekly rate - payable monthly - as a consultant. The gig isn't in development, but rather networking and security: the last admin left, took all the passwords with him (servers and infrastructure), and you have to do what you can to basically get the business back on its feet.

30 days into the job, the first payment is due. It turns up substantially under what it should be with excuses of 'outstanding receivables'. You're halfway through the job and don't have anything else lined up until two weeks after this one's finished, so decide to press on regardless - after all, if they do decide to stiff you, it'll look better in court if you stuck it out.

Another two weeks pass, and you're still being strung along with excuses. You give them 7 days to get payment in full to you or you're stopping all work, keeping all documentation, and getting lawyers involved if necessary. They agree to pay. Seven days pass; nothing happens.

At this point, you discover that the company filed for bankruptcy three weeks previously but didn't think to tell you. Because you are a contractor submitting invoices and not a full-time employee, the money that they owe you is legally considered debt and not salary, so they're under no obligation to pay it before the company goes into administration.

This actually happened to me last year; lawyers are now involved and I'm trying to get the nearly $20K I'm owed out of the people involved. The reason I mention this is because I'd be interested to hear how your idea may apply to that kind of situation; I can definitely see parallels between the two, but also some wildly different aspects.