Opinions please
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I'm in a situation where I was looking for work to do from home, and found an employer looking for a web developer who wanted to work from home. They have two websites (online classifieds type sites) and in the last two weeks I've done a substantial amount of work on both. However, neither last weeks nor this weeks pay has reached my bank account (they offered weekly pay). On Wednesday they apologised and said that someone who used to work for them has been arrested for fraud after emptying their business account and they hadn't realised until they discovered the fraud why their pay was taking so long to reach me. The story is almost so outlandish it seems believable. With any luck they're completely above board. However, should it turn out they have no intention of paying me, would it be illegal or even unethical for me to take the backups I took of their sites at the start and ftp them up, leaving their sites in the original state I found them in? Naturally I would keep backups of all the work should they then decide to pay for it.
A mum and loving it!
Megan Forbes wrote:
would it be illegal or even unethical for me to take the backups I took of their sites at the start and ftp them up, leaving their sites in the original state I found them in
Do NOT do that (Taka's post is dead on).
Megan Forbes wrote:
they apologised and said that someone who used to work for them has been arrested for fraud after emptying their business account
It may seem outlandish, but one of my clients discovered, on returning from a business trip, that an employee had racked up $15,000 of charges on a company credit card, all personal purchases. And then denied it all. The employee is sitting in jail right now, apparently, the police got him for car theft. The embezzlement wasn't enough to put him in jail, but the district attorney, when my client called the police, said, "oh, I know that guy". I can see why employers want to check your police records.
Megan Forbes wrote:
With any luck they're completely above board.
What to do, IMO: Stop work immediately, with a friendly letter saying work will continue once payment for prior work is received. Also request that if they cannot make payment, that they restore the website to their original condition prior to your work. Send it certified, or whatever is the "yes, they signed that they got it" equivalent in AU. Call them daily asking for the status. Gentle harrassment works well. Start researching small claims court, or whatever is the "do it yourself" equivalent in AU. Forget a lawyer unless you're out tens of thousands of dollars. Start looking for other work. If it turns out they screwed you, well, I would say that's pretty unusual in this industry, as they can get a bad rep real quick. Marc Pensieve Some people believe what the bible says. Literally. At least [with Wikipedia] you have the chance to correct the wiki -- Jörgen Sigvardsson
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I'm in a situation where I was looking for work to do from home, and found an employer looking for a web developer who wanted to work from home. They have two websites (online classifieds type sites) and in the last two weeks I've done a substantial amount of work on both. However, neither last weeks nor this weeks pay has reached my bank account (they offered weekly pay). On Wednesday they apologised and said that someone who used to work for them has been arrested for fraud after emptying their business account and they hadn't realised until they discovered the fraud why their pay was taking so long to reach me. The story is almost so outlandish it seems believable. With any luck they're completely above board. However, should it turn out they have no intention of paying me, would it be illegal or even unethical for me to take the backups I took of their sites at the start and ftp them up, leaving their sites in the original state I found them in? Naturally I would keep backups of all the work should they then decide to pay for it.
A mum and loving it!
Megan Forbes wrote:
On Wednesday they apologised and said that someone who used to work for them has been arrested for fraud after emptying their business account and they hadn't realised until they discovered the fraud why their pay was taking so long to reach me. The story is almost so outlandish it seems believable. With any luck they're completely above board.
You should be able to confirm this easily enough. Arrest records should be public information, ask the company where he was arrested adn then call the police station for the area.
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Megan Forbes wrote:
would it be illegal or even unethical for me to take the backups I took of their sites at the start and ftp them up
Unethical, hell no. Legal, who knows? :-D I would check your contract's fine print. I would think that work would be contingent on pay. I've been in a similar situation before (with a desktop app though) and since there was no real way of me getting the code back I sent already, I just refused to do more work. Really, if they can't pay you, then they are not professional people. They can make excuses all day long, but it doesn't change the they're stupid and/or liars. And, if they screw you over once, they're willing to do it twice if you let them. Jeremy Falcon
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, as they say... I probably would not 'undo' the work, but I would not do any MORE work. One time, I was working, not particularly quickly, but quick enough. The company asked me to work faster, so I did and did a lot of work on a project. That is when they decided not to pay. Always only turn over a level of work commensurate with current, ONGOING pay. If they 'stall out' you can 'stall out' too. Let them know you are awaiting back pay. I've seen better runs in my shorts! - Patches O'Houlihan
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Megan Forbes wrote:
would it be illegal or even unethical for me to take the backups I took of their sites at the start and ftp them up, leaving their sites in the original state I found them in?
Man, that would be risky beyong belief. They could bust you for vandalizing their website. More likely, they would call it hacking and in today's environment, people are much more likely to throw the book at you if there's even an hint of something like that. If you sell a tangible object in the real world and the other party ends up not paying, that doesn't give you the right to go into their house and take it back. You need to go through the proper channels to force the payment to be made, or the goods returned. This is no different.
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Taka Muraoka wrote:
If you sell a tangible object in the real world and the other party ends up not paying, that doesn't give you the right to go into their house and take it back.
Tell that to Sears.