Is there any similar thing in the US?
Reading the law at the link, it says you’re only liable if there was no “reasonable chance” of avoiding insolvency. The sale they were pursuing would have provided enough cash to pay debts so I don’t think it would even pass that test. Poor management is not a crime, unfortunately.
Also, does the company have any assets? Even it's out of cash then, unless it's filed for bankruptcy/insolvency/administration (I think it's called 'chapter 8' in the US?), can't you still file a small claims court case?
Maybe get some Aerons in lieu of cash?
My absolute sincerest condolences, but it sounds like you might have made a couple rookie mistakes, too. As entertaining as hearing these insider tales might be, please don't add getting sued for breaking an NDA to that pile. Talk all the smack you want, but things like timelines, architectures and languages used are not public information at this point and we can be pretty sure these are not the most ethical people in the world.
I have great relations with every company that has paid me! And every company I’ve worked with has been satisfied with what I’ve built for them
Obviously I won’t agree to net 30 again.
Not saying it's impossible, just that it will cut down on your potential clients.
The company did not have the money to pay its bills for at least two months before shutdown, finally laying everyone off on December 12. There was nothing to indicate they didn't have money to pay us before then. I probably won't see a dime for the last two months of work. Other contractors took bigger hits than me. In total Otto owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to contractors for work already performed.
I'm beyond upset at the recklessness of the management and the board in this situation. They could have laid off the contractors in October when they realized they did not have enough money to pay all liabilities. They could have explained the situation and offered a bonus in the event of a successful exit.
Instead they said nothing about their insolvency, continued having us working on the (implicit) assumption that they could pay us, and continued gambling with invoices owed to me and other contractors.
If I ran my own company this way, if I just lost customer data or wrote broken code, I would not be in business for very long. Yet in VC land, the board (Reid Hoffman, Josh Elman, Sam Jadallah) will just go to the next venture.
I'm in a hole and looking for work in January, if you or your company needs help. I'm also happy to pass on the names of the other contractors who are getting 86 cents on the dollar for their work in 2017. https://burke.services