1) You're owed the money legally. No question about it. You can probably even get it. California takes a very hard line on unpaid wages.
2) In the grand scheme of the situation do you feel good about fighting them over the unpaid wages?
#1 is easy. You file a claim. You have a decent chance of getting your money.
#2 is harder and it's impossible to know from the outside. I think it's perfectly reasonable to let people off the hook in some rare circumstances. Only you can make the call if this is one of those times. It doesn't make you weak or a fool to treat people better than they strictly deserve.
It sounds though, like you've already made up your mind that you want to go after the unpaid wages. So give them a final warning (written, certified mail, return receipt) and then file a claim.
I don't feel good about fighting them over the money. This may sound weird, but I do want the company to succeed. However, I might feel worse if they flat out got away with it. There are several of us employees who are owed back salary and it was very unprofessional and un-courteous for them to keep us on the hook the way they did.
I think it would be a weak move to avoid it completely, but maybe not weak to at least confront them and then show mercy.
But I think you're absolutely right, nobody here can really decide for me.
Do you think you were paid a "fair" salary to begin with? If you worked somewhere for 40 months and didn't get paid for 2 of those months then it's like you were paid 5% less than the agreed salary (I realize this isn't totally accurate in that the last 2 months you were probably paid more than the first 2 months). If they took you out for nice lunches and sent you to conferences then maybe they also overpaid you by 5% compared to other jobs?
I've lost out on a month's earnings before and it really sucks, but if you had a good relationship with them and learned a lot then maybe it isn't so bad.
Definitely keep up the pressure and hopefully you'll get some of the money you are owed.
Comments
Two issues from my point of view:
1) You're owed the money legally. No question about it. You can probably even get it. California takes a very hard line on unpaid wages.
2) In the grand scheme of the situation do you feel good about fighting them over the unpaid wages?
#1 is easy. You file a claim. You have a decent chance of getting your money.
#2 is harder and it's impossible to know from the outside. I think it's perfectly reasonable to let people off the hook in some rare circumstances. Only you can make the call if this is one of those times. It doesn't make you weak or a fool to treat people better than they strictly deserve.
It sounds though, like you've already made up your mind that you want to go after the unpaid wages. So give them a final warning (written, certified mail, return receipt) and then file a claim.
I don't feel good about fighting them over the money. This may sound weird, but I do want the company to succeed. However, I might feel worse if they flat out got away with it. There are several of us employees who are owed back salary and it was very unprofessional and un-courteous for them to keep us on the hook the way they did.
I think it would be a weak move to avoid it completely, but maybe not weak to at least confront them and then show mercy.
But I think you're absolutely right, nobody here can really decide for me.
Do you think you were paid a "fair" salary to begin with? If you worked somewhere for 40 months and didn't get paid for 2 of those months then it's like you were paid 5% less than the agreed salary (I realize this isn't totally accurate in that the last 2 months you were probably paid more than the first 2 months). If they took you out for nice lunches and sent you to conferences then maybe they also overpaid you by 5% compared to other jobs?
I've lost out on a month's earnings before and it really sucks, but if you had a good relationship with them and learned a lot then maybe it isn't so bad.
Definitely keep up the pressure and hopefully you'll get some of the money you are owed.