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.

I've also done this type of freelancing (short 3 / 6 / 12 month contracts) - 6 years in the UK, 3+ years in Australia, and bits and pieces here and there. With these contracts you are largely at the mercy of the client. I was never screwed while doing this work, but I was lucky enough to be solely working for large companies or government departments (British Telecom, National Power, etc).

Actually, I did several contracts with one "little" company, Perot Systems (owned by Ross Perot - the American presidential candidate - we are talking early-mid 1990's here), but this company was contracting to a larger government department, so I felt fairly safe.

Anyway, maybe it's still possible to work these kind of contracts through a web site like Rent-A-Coder (now called Get A Freelancer).

In fact, companies may be more willing to do this if you are freelancing direct to them (without working through a 3rd party agency) because then there are fewer potential taxation issues. (I'm not sure how this works in the USA, but in Australia and the UK, companies tend to become quite worried that the tax office may class you as an employee if you work for them on contracts for too long, causing all sorts of potential tax, super, etc issues. If you work for them on contracts for more than 12 months, and the tax office says "No, you are an employee not a freelancer", then there are rec leave, super annuation, and lots of tax issues - what they paid you should have been net after tax, so you get a huge tax refund and the company get a huge tax bill, etc. I never saw this happen, but companies were always worried when you worked there for 12+ months. Some forced you to take a break for a few days at least before signing the next contract - anyone for a quick trip around Spain ? - and then start the next contract just to prove you were not permanent).

So, the work website could add the required 3rd party buffer (replacing or augmenting any agency you might be working through).

If the client was prepared to split the project into multiple 1 month (or weekly or fortnightly or whatever) projects - then they would need to pay (the work web site) in full at the start of the period, and you would get your money at the end of the period (less the ~10% commission) provided they were happy with your work.

To ensure they were happy with my work, I would lodge weekly reports with the work web site (RAC or whatever) and try and keep as much work related communication as possible on the work web site (RAC or whatever).

Very sorry to hear what's happened Casm. I sure do hope you get all your money back. Hope the @$#%ing lawyers don't stick you with a bill. Good luck man !

Moose