Northeast Ohio Residents Fight To Get Their Paychecks

[OhioChick]

10:49 pm EST February 5, 2010

CLEVELAND -- It could be yet another sign of this tough economy, as more Ohioans report they haven't been paid by their current or former employers.

If you've been waiting for a paycheck, and your employer hasn't filed for bankruptcy, the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland recommends you file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor or the Ohio Department of Commerce.

If the pay you’re waiting for is less than $3,000, then you can take your employer to small claims court. Hiring a private attorney should be your last choice and should make financial sense.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/22480029/detail.html

It's bad here. :(

[blues90]

1. I went through that in 1992 when a ford dearlership I worked for

had new owners and where our paychecks bounced . I drove to the shop on fine monday and the place was chained off so I thought it was maybe saturday. Yet one garage door was cracked open and I went in only to find out the place was closed. It was the first time I was on un-employment and they the new owners took out tax money but did not pay it in.

This sort of thing is quite scary and un-nerving and yet it goes on today.

We have as a country fallen so far down is so many ways how are many of us to find hope to get out of this?

The more I hear about our government the less I feel hopefull and I do realize this is yet another of my negative thoughts yet I find it more and more difficult to see a way out of this. Who do you trust is my question .

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. "I do realize this is yet another of my negative thoughts "

When things are truly going negative, it is not "just one of my negative thoughts"
it is a reflection on reality.
And of course it is difficult to find a way out when most of the systems we depend on are dishonest or
broke.
Recognizing the full extent of the problem is not "being" negative...it is recognition of what is truly going on.

I wanted to throw that in because I hear all the time on threads that people are "being negative"
if they describe any problems with our system or the administration.
And that can result in people thinking "maybe it is just me".

It is not "just me". It is millions of us in this country and millions more in other countries.

[OhioChick]

6. Well Said. n/t

[blues90]

7. I agree. I put in "just one of my negative thoughts" because

I have become very unpopular here because I post the negative . I see the negative , I see people losing their jobs and all they have saved in the blink of an eye.

Then to add to this they find out soon that there are no jobs to be found , that is as close to a bullet in the chest as it can get.

[ihavenobias]

2. Wow.

That's pretty brutal.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. There used to be a translation agency in Portland that hired translators

from all over the country to work online on one of their huge projects. I was otherwise occupied and didn't join the project. Fortunately, as it turned out.

A few months later, I began seeing complaints about how the agency hadn't paid the translators and wasn't answering its phones or e-mails. Some people were owed over $1000.

I recognized the address in downtown Portland and volunteered to go check out the agency in person.

Looking through the glass door, all I saw were empty rooms with phones on the floor. The building manager said that the agency had left in the middle of the night without paying their last month's rent.

I had to break the bad news to the other translators.

[Recursion]

5. Happens in IT all the time

Back when I freelanced, I learned to assume about 20% of my clients would pull up stakes and disappear without paying. That's a large part of why IT consultants charge so much.