I've been working for a small engineering company for almost two years now. The company is about 30 years old, but has shrunk in size over the last few years. Finished a graduate degree in science, and once I settled into my current position, I found I really had a knack for this kind of work. I was able to move back to my hometown, near my family. On paper, most of the things about my current position are great; I work with other capable people, the projects are varied and interesting, I get to put my education to use in a novel and rewarding way. I truly enjoy going into work every day.
The problem is a financial one. The company doesn't have a lot of liquid cash. In fact, they started missing payroll occasionally last year, and I'm owed quite a bit of backpay. I was naive, being my first non-academia position, but I really let the amount slip... and I'm owed about $26,000 on my $60,000 a year salary. Payroll has been consistent for the last few months, but I haven't seen any backpay, and I don't think it's coming anytime soon. There's no controversy on the backpay amount. My checks' pay periods are back-dated to August of 2018, on new paychecks I've been getting this month. I believe the company is worth a lot, somehow. We are still getting projects, there's a lot of IP that is owned by the company (although I have no experience evaluating it), and while I don't really understand it, I think we have a lot of stock from some client who is attempting to go public?
None of this feels malicious. I am on great terms with the owner, sort of my boss, and we interact almost daily on interesting and challenging work. My other coworkers are great too. Like I said, I love going into work. I feel like finding a job you love is worth a lot... but I also feel like I have no idea what is going on with the company financially. I have consulted with two different lawyers, and I know if I sue for the pay, I could easily get twice the amount plus legal fees. The boss has downplayed this fact... either (1) he has some legal reason to prevent current and former employees from just getting a payout, where the lawyers I talked to don't realize, (2) he believes he has some reason, but is mistaken, or (3) he knows anyone could win a lawsuit, but doesn't want to make it obvious. But suing would really screw up the company and my coworkers, who I would call my friends at this point.
I guess none of this is a question... and I know most of the responses are going to tell me I am crazy, to get out of there, and collect my easy $50k judgement. I just can't really bring myself to do it. It's hard to explain in this post, but it feels just, morally wrong. I could find some local job that pays much better, but I feel like I wouldn't enjoy the work nearly as much. Is there anything of the whole situation I could be missing, or critical information I could easily figure out? Am I just being duped at this point?
TL;DR : Company owes me $26k in missed paychecks. The amount is not really contended, and suing for double the pay would be pretty easy. I just can't bring myself to do that to a job where I love the work, and to coworkers and a boss that I enjoy interacting with daily.
Submitted January 24, 2019 at 12:56AM by Snowtred http://bit.ly/2Wfzl4t
