From The New York Daily News…
Freelancers in New York face increasingly difficult situations to collect paychecks on time, at all
By Tripp Whetsell, Special to The Daily News
Since becoming a fulltime freelancer over ten years ago, I’ve published three books, hundreds of articles and managed to earn a decent side living as a part-time copywriter while working out of my Upper East Side apartment.
It’s a life I wouldn’t trade — except lately I’ve been having a lot of problems getting paid on time.
And I’m hardly alone.
More than 40% of the 160,000 members of the Freelancers Union, a Brooklyn-based organization that represents independent contractors nationwide, reported similar troubles last year, according to its executive director, Sara Horowitz.
Individuals working across many fields reported not receiving their money on time, earning less — and in some cases not being compensated at all.
“It’s a huge problem that’s gotten steadily worse since the recession began,” said Horowitz, whose union represents 90,000 members in New York.
“Lately, we’ve seen and heard everything from people losing tens of thousands of dollars to horror stories about having to go to small claims court because they’ve been stiffed.”
Matthew Moss, 36, of Astoria is one of them. After moving here from Florida six years ago, he managed to forge a successful and lucrative career as a freelance art director.
He said collecting a steady paycheck was never an issue at first, but that now it’s a constant struggle.
“I’ve had a lot of experiences with both big and small companies and am always having to chase people down no matter how established they are. It’s gotten to the point where I’m almost pleasantly surprised whenever I do get paid on time.”
Moss said that in the past year alone he has had to consult a lawyer at least four times for four separate clients, and that he is currently trying to recoup a total of $12,000 owed him from two of them: a local game studio that has since gone out of business and a production design studio whose owner is frequently unreachable.
Stand-up comedian and voiceover artist Dan Nainan, 30, of Chelsea, said he was cheated out of money by a client who had previously been reliable.
“[She] had hired me twice in the past for corporate events, for $10,000 and $8,000, respectively,” Nainan said. “She hired me for a third show for $10,000 and I made the mistake of not demanding [the total] payment up front. Well, guess what? I got stiffed out of $5,000.”
Horowitz noted that in some ways freelancers in New York have done better than others during the economic downturn. But she fears the situation could get a lot worse as the dismal job market increasingly thrusts more professionals into the ranks of freelancers.
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