Working without pay. Help!

[inpain66]

As of Wednesday I am working without pay until our state budget passes. The rumors are we will have to work for months without pay.

Everyone else has credit cards and can take loans....

I cannot!!!

I am 90 days and still no discharge.

I am going to run out of food, the car I fought so hard to keep will likely now get repoed and I do not know how I will pay for gas and parking next month to get to work.


Anything I can do? Help!! Ideas!!

[Flamingo]

Many states are giving "holidays" where the employees don't have to work and not show up and not get paid. However, in your situation, you have to work. Will the payroll be updated to cover that time when the budget passes or has your income truly stopped on the days you are supposed to work and not get paid on regular paydays? You need to find that out. Also, you state this is "rumor." I don't think you can be forced to work without pay for a state government.

I would contact your boss or HR supervisor at work and get the correct details before you go into a tailspin and be thankful you will still have a job when the budget is passed. Most states are laying off like crazy, cutting percentages of pay and forcing employees to take days off without pay to reduce the state deficits.

[banca rotta]

Are you at least getting "IOU's" from your state??? I know Arnold sent them out to those on the left coast. They pay a small amount of interest and some banks will honor them as cash.

Since we know the banks aren't nice I guess they will honor them in hopes of keeping the interest.

[aces67]

Definitely contact your HR department and tell them what's going on. If you used an attorney to file you may contact him/her also. They may know of ways to get help locally.

[jribe]

what state are you in?
most states have a least a couple of the big banks that will still honor past direct deposit amounts of their paycheck.. so say the normal DD was $3000- they'd give the 3,000 a month until the budget passes and you pay it back. typically this is also no fee/ no interest...

As of Wednesday I am working without pay until our state budget passes. The rumors are we will have to work for months without pay.

Everyone else has credit cards and can take loans....

I cannot!!!

I am 90 days and still no discharge.

I am going to run out of food, the car I fought so hard to keep will likely now get repoed and I do not know how I will pay for gas and parking next month to get to work.


Anything I can do? Help!! Ideas!!

[music12]

have you tried the CU in person and/or having your boss (the state, I guess!) co-sign a loan with you based on your delayed paycheck?

[relief13035]

That's just wrong!

[liz417]

Wow, is all I can say...
I wish you the best and hope they get that budget passed...this is SO wrong...

[AngelinaCatHub]

Wow, is all I can say...
I wish you the best and hope they get that budget passed...this is SO wrong...

And, of course, we have 'Bammy's stimulus.

[inpain66]

Thanks for all the replies!

The deal is this. We are working without pay. Once the budget passes we will get back pay in 4-6 weeks. The governor says it will not pass until 6-8 weeks so that means it could be 10-14 weeks til I receive a dime.

All of the 'help' being offered to us at the moment is in the form of loans through banks. Some are 0% interest BUT they ALL require good credit and a credit check. My bankruptcy is still open at 90 days so I keep getting denied. No bank will touch me and I really do not blame them.

I have no family that can help. They are poor.

My boyfriend does not make enough to cover both our bills so I have no idea what will happen. We may lose the house and my car. It is all we have left after having to file chapter 7..pretty sad.

I WISH they would lay me off. At least I would be getting SOME money. I get paid nothing as of now!!

[jadams]

I would suggest calling your Representatives and Congressmen/women and raising a stink. Call. Write letters. The programs in place to help people aren't accessible to you because of the BK, so that puts you in a very dangerous position.

Yeah, they already know things stink. But the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Not that a Congressman had the power to suddenly get you a paycheck, but maybe a call from their office to one of the local banks offering a loan program "inquiring" about how they could help this state worker caught in our mess might cause the bank to suddenly find you qualify for one of their programs under some special underwriting.

There have been news reports about calls from Congressmen's offices suddenly causing mortgage modifications to move through, so hopefully you can get some good luck too.

If you can't get anywhere, apply for unemployment/underemployment. Maybe you'll get something. Maybe they'll deny you. You don't know until you try, and it's another avenue to raise the issue and hope someone helps you.

Is there a State Employees Credit Union that might have looser criteria? My father works for the state and the State Employees Credit Union requires direct payroll deduction for all loan payments, so they are typically a bit more liberal in credit criteria. An employees credit union might be more willing to take it on faith that the state will send the back pay eventually, and they can just zap it and be repaid.

[Flamingo]

Thanks for all the replies!

The deal is this. We are working without pay. Once the budget passes we will get back pay in 4-6 weeks. The governor says it will not pass until 6-8 weeks so that means it could be 10-14 weeks til I receive a dime.

All of the 'help' being offered to us at the moment is in the form of loans through banks. Some are 0% interest BUT they ALL require good credit and a credit check. My bankruptcy is still open at 90 days so I keep getting denied. No bank will touch me and I really do not blame them.

I have no family that can help. They are poor.

My boyfriend does not make enough to cover both our bills so I have no idea what will happen. We may lose the house and my car. It is all we have left after having to file chapter 7..pretty sad.

I WISH they would lay me off. At least I would be getting SOME money. I get paid nothing as of now!!

You should have stated more of these details in your original post. You are probably not the only person in this situation. Call your HR rep for your division and find out what is in place for state employees who have bad credit and cannot get the relief offered as to bank loans. Unless you speak up, you will not find out what is available and there has to be something in place as a back up situation for folks not able to receive the loans. If there is nothing in place for that class of employees, call your governor's office, Senator and on down the line and B**** like hell that you are being discriminated against as a state employee and you will take it public. That'll get 'em moving...

[MrSmithster]

you can tell the non-cali people, they actually have hope. just kidding. yep, we in cali are in bad shape. banks will maybe accept iou's for maybe 1 week max, if at all. all we can do is hope for a quick fix(yea, right!). HR wont do squat, they have a million other state workers in the same boat. hate to say it, but govt employees and their unions are one of the main reasons our state is broke. a new report just out shows that the average state worker makes 47% more than an equal postion in the privat sector. my local librarian just retired with $110k yearly pay. i get unemplyment from the state, i will also get iou's, so please, you are not alone by being a state worker. i dont meant to blame you, but im sick of govt workers claiming foul when they are one of the major causes to our problems. sorry for being so snarky this morn...just opened my mail, my unemployment is being delayed for another 2 wks due to state idiots at the helm.

[inpain66]

you can tell the non-cali people, they actually have hope. just kidding. yep, we in cali are in bad shape. banks will maybe accept iou's for maybe 1 week max, if at all. all we can do is hope for a quick fix(yea, right!). HR wont do squat, they have a million other state workers in the same boat. hate to say it, but govt employees and their unions are one of the main reasons our state is broke. a new report just out shows that the average state worker makes 47% more than an equal postion in the privat sector. my local librarian just retired with $110k yearly pay. i get unemplyment from the state, i will also get iou's, so please, you are not alone by being a state worker. i dont meant to blame you, but im sick of govt workers claiming foul when they are one of the major causes to our problems. sorry for being so snarky this morn...just opened my mail, my unemployment is being delayed for another 2 wks due to state idiots at the helm.

I am sorry but I am NOT an overpaid state worker. I make 34k a yr and had to have my degree for the job. My student loans for the degree are 40k for a 34k a yr job. You want to talk honest about government waste? Let us look at welfare then. Welfare is over 40% of our entire state budget. I work for welfare and see the money we blow giving out to people who CAN work but chose not to.

At welfare:
We give out cash, foodstamps, and medical

We also pay 100% of people's childcare when they are working or "looking for work", or going to college

We pay for people's college books and tools for their job

We are allowed to give welfare people money to buy a car, up to 3,0000

WE pay to fix their car..up to 600.00 per repair

We pay for their gas and milage to get to work or to "look for work"

We pay for them to get clothing if they need new clothing...up to 150.00 a shot

We pay for their housing, we pay for their utilties and heat.....

We cover illegal's more than you think and we are no longer allowed to verify citizenship or legal status for clients.

You want government waste? Look at the welfare our state gives out...not the small salary I receive.


As a welfare worker I am overworked. I have a caseload of THOUSANDS of clients. The caseload for my position used to be about 100 people per worker. Obama just wiped out all of the work requirments and time limits set during welfare reform in the 1990's.

So I am sick of people saying state workers are overpaid when the wELFARE RECIPIENTS are the ones who eat up over 40% of our state budget with no end in site!!!

[inpain66]

You should have stated more of these details in your original post. You are probably not the only person in this situation. Call your HR rep for your division and find out what is in place for state employees who have bad credit and cannot get the relief offered as to bank loans. Unless you speak up, you will not find out what is available and there has to be something in place as a back up situation for folks not able to receive the loans. If there is nothing in place for that class of employees, call your governor's office, Senator and on down the line and B**** like hell that you are being discriminated against as a state employee and you will take it public. That'll get 'em moving...

We have tried to go to media about the loan programs for the workers since TONS of us are not eligible since it is credit based.

Also...why should i be required to take a loans and pay interest for my OWN money when the state is not paying me interest on the money it owes me for my pay?

I am in bankruptcy...the last thing I want at this point is MORE DEBT