An Ethical Dilemma: Dealing With Overdue Payments and Less Than Honest Dealings.

It's no secret that I do contract work for NGOs, companies, individuals, and everything in the middle. For the first time ever, I find myself in an ethical dilemma. I'm not going to name anyone or organization; I'm just going to lay out the facts in an open and objective manner and hope for some feedback either through comments or through email. I'll try to be objective, but in such circumstances, it's hard to claim complete objectivity. The focus here is not on anyone or any organization, the focus here is to solve the problem.

The Scenario

After some time working on a contract, on November 29th, 2005 I was notified that my contract would expire on December 31st, 2005 - plenty of time, really, and very straightforward. Everything was done right. December rolls by, and I haven't been paid for November. OK, it's the holiday season, they'll probably catch up when 2006 starts.

January's first week goes by. At this point, the bank balance isn't looking to healthy, but instead of making noise, I wait. The second week goes by. Nothing. At this point, I'm owed two months of pay, so I send out some emails that basically say, "Hey, remember me? What's going on with my money?". On the 16th, I am told that the people in charge just came back from leave - and that they were processing my payment. Another person responds and says that the bank is processing the payment.

Cool. I can deal with this. So I deplete my account to buy incidentals - food, coffee filters, silly little human habits that I have. January 18th comes - no money. Bank account balance - negative. So I ask for a transfer number. No response. January 24th, I poke again with an email, and get a response; 'I was out sick, I'll get the transfer number for you'. OK.

No response. On January 27th, I try another contact. Jackpot, I get a forwarded message saying that I would be paid the next week (this week). That the funds to pay me didn't arrive until December 28th, 2005.

December 28th, 2005 until January 27th is... 22 working days, inclusive. Somehow that doesn't ring true as an explanation. If we say that everyone was on leave until January 2nd, that leaves... 19 working days, inclusive. If we go from the 16th of January, we get... 10 working days, inclusive.

People don't usually go on leave unless they have been paid - which sort of tells me that some people got paid. If they were not paid, they certainly would have been in on the 28th to make sure that they did get paid. But let's say that, hypothetically, everything was closed until January 2nd.

So at this point, I'm feeling stupid. I don't have any leverage, I have a negative bank balance, and I have people continuously saying the equivalent of, 'The Check Is In The Mail'. I have the passwords for everything; it relates to a website and some mailing lists. They can't seem to find their passwords. I have leverage again.

They ask me - the person who hasn't been paid for 2 months - to give them the passwords. Is there anyone out there who would? I didn't, and told them when I got paid all would be passed on. Truly, they had all the passwords. That's who I got the passwords from. But sometimes, to be taken seriously, measures have to be taken against a bad debt.

The Ethical Dilemma

Objectivity goes out the window now.

It's February 1st, 2006. I've been lied to, been kept waiting, and been asked to work on things past the contract and beyond the specifications they asked.

Had I been told that there were problems or something along those lines I might not be as upset. Had I not been strung along like the trusting idiot that I was, I wouldn't be in the position I am in now. But I've been copied on emails trying to go around me, to get things working without paying me, and it seems to me that it would be simply easier to throw me my money. I mean - I've waited 2 months for one month's pay, and another month for the last month's pay. They knew the contract would be up on December 31st - they terminated it a month before!

I just can't seem to find an excuse for them.

Now - I know I'm not perfect, and I know this is an imperfect situation. I set my reputation on my honesty, morality and dependability. That, combined with abilities, makes for what pays my bills. But I do not feel like I am being taken seriously, and thus - the ethical dilemma.

I know that there's a very dark part of me that wants to come unglued, unleashed, and make them feel the pain I feel. I would go so far as to say that this would be a healthy, but my polar bear isn't pretty and I'm not very fond of it. Because one can do something doesn't mean one should do something. Having control of a web presence is not something to be played with; it's a matter of trust - but at what point can one say that the trust has been abused by the party that isn't fulfilling it's commitments?

So what I would like to hear is - what would you do in my shoes? How long would you wait before becoming upset? How would you explain this to your creditors? And - how would you proceed? I'm open to ideas here on collecting what is today, February 1st, 2006, a sizable debt.

This is a very ugly situation, at least for me. For them, I expect it's easy to keep spitting out 'the check is in the mail'. All I want to do is collect what is owed me. The wasted month, the negative bank balance - well, that's something I can chalk up to experience through my clenched jaw.

Solutions Considered

My late Uncle Amar used to leave 'timebombs' in the systems of people he had worked on that went off 30 days after the bill date so that they would have to call him. I always found this a little too much, and never done it - and I don't think I ever will. Still, in this position, I can see why it would be done.

A very dark side of me has been considering shutting everything down - not damaging it - until I receive payment. There's a part of me that thinks this is fair. There's another part of me that thinks this might be going overboard.

An interesting thing popped up on a Google Search:

PeopleWhoOweHootvilleMoney - blogged by Shannonsays.com. Intriguing. Embarassment hasn't gotten that debtor to pay in 7 months, but that's not an NGO that gets money based on reputation.

There's always the law. Lawyers love this stuff.

I dunno. What I do know is that I've been lied to and had my time wasted, and created debt in expectation of collecting what is owed me... Ideas? Opinions? Thoughts? I'm giving it some time, but you know... part of the problem of being honest is that you expect people to be the same. And when they aren't, there's a sense of betrayal that is pretty aggravating.