My business is crashing hard!!! Like really hard… I had to let go of some of my employees and they had many hours of PTO that I cannot pay due to clients not paying their invoices. I currently owe $7k in PTO and Sick time to employees but I have $20k outstanding from clients not paying.
What happens I’m freaking out!!! I need help!!
You have to pay what your employees are owed… borrow it, pay it out of pocket, sue your clients… Unless you are claiming bankruptcy and shutting down the business expect to pay payroll.
It is best to pay it up front rather than wait for a labor lawyer and the government to come after you because they will look for damages, at which point it won’t just be a few hours of unpaid PTO, it will be tens of thousands per employee, plus any lawyer fees you need to deal with…
Other people suggest lawyering up yourself honestly unless you think you have a way out of paying your employees legitimately this is probably just a waste of money… but a conversation never hurt anybody if you already have a lawyer on retainer.