Institutions not above the California Labor Law
By Jane Mundy
Fairfield, CA Caroline is a photographer and has been working off-contract at the University of Davis Medical Center for four years. She says they are chronic about not paying on time and don't pay late fees. " I am insulted that they think they are above the California labor law", she says. "Why would an institution think this way? It's time for them to get their knuckles wrapped. The amount of time you spend chasing down your money is more time than you spend making it."
On every invoice, Caroline writes 'payable on receipt' but it often takes more than 60 days for her to receive payment. "The last time I waited for my check, I called my contact on day 31 and asked when I would receive the money," she says, exasperated. "I called twice and both times were told 'It is in accounting and out of my hands.' Then my contact went on vacation so I e-mailed accounting. Again I was up against a brick wall.
Next up, I called the small business association with the state of California??"on their website they have a liaison for prompt payment of vendor invoices from state agencies. They advised me to contact the state controller who then put me on to the auditor. I talked to the auditor and he said it is unprofessional and said they do have a time limit of 30 days??"max.
The auditor also said I need to contact the university accounting department to see if the check had indeed been cut. I called someone in the clerical department??"a friend??"and she found out that none of my invoices (I was waiting for 3) were actually in accounting. If I hadn't chased this down, I would still be in limbo and maybe not get paid for months.
I finally got it resolved and received one check a week later??"just the one that was overdue. 'You have to pay in a specific time', I said to the the health system contractor??"she is the person responsible. 'We are a university and we don't need to pay on time, neither do we pay interest or late fees,' she replied. She is a piece of work. I found out that a lot of contractors don't want to work with the university because, even though they pay, you never know when.
But the university is bound by state and federal law: they receive federal funding and my tax dollars; they think they are above the law and this is so frustrating. They have such a laissez-faire attitude; I have a mortgage and bills to pay and it is very difficult sometimes.
The head of the department finally apologized and sent me a note, so I'm hopeful that it won't happen again. I've been told that many contractors are abused by the university. Right now I want to get the word out so that people in my situation don't have to go through this; we are all in business together but not treated equally and in a professional manner. We are not respected and paid on time but we give 120 percent to them. Some people have advised me not to talk about this issue because they think I could lose the business. Then again I spent 3 days chasing down my money and that cuts into my work."
On every invoice, Caroline writes 'payable on receipt' but it often takes more than 60 days for her to receive payment. "The last time I waited for my check, I called my contact on day 31 and asked when I would receive the money," she says, exasperated. "I called twice and both times were told 'It is in accounting and out of my hands.' Then my contact went on vacation so I e-mailed accounting. Again I was up against a brick wall.Next up, I called the small business association with the state of California??"on their website they have a liaison for prompt payment of vendor invoices from state agencies. They advised me to contact the state controller who then put me on to the auditor. I talked to the auditor and he said it is unprofessional and said they do have a time limit of 30 days??"max.
The auditor also said I need to contact the university accounting department to see if the check had indeed been cut. I called someone in the clerical department??"a friend??"and she found out that none of my invoices (I was waiting for 3) were actually in accounting. If I hadn't chased this down, I would still be in limbo and maybe not get paid for months.
I finally got it resolved and received one check a week later??"just the one that was overdue. 'You have to pay in a specific time', I said to the the health system contractor??"she is the person responsible. 'We are a university and we don't need to pay on time, neither do we pay interest or late fees,' she replied. She is a piece of work. I found out that a lot of contractors don't want to work with the university because, even though they pay, you never know when.
But the university is bound by state and federal law: they receive federal funding and my tax dollars; they think they are above the law and this is so frustrating. They have such a laissez-faire attitude; I have a mortgage and bills to pay and it is very difficult sometimes.
The head of the department finally apologized and sent me a note, so I'm hopeful that it won't happen again. I've been told that many contractors are abused by the university. Right now I want to get the word out so that people in my situation don't have to go through this; we are all in business together but not treated equally and in a professional manner. We are not respected and paid on time but we give 120 percent to them. Some people have advised me not to talk about this issue because they think I could lose the business. Then again I spent 3 days chasing down my money and that cuts into my work."
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