McClatchy to Declare Bankruptcy?

Just to cover yourselves, both you and danielpaulling should file a claim with your state's small-claims court. In Ontario, small-claims court handles claims up to $10,000 (it may be a little higher now but it's been a long time since I checked). The process is, or should be in your states, geared to people representing themselves. The paperwork is easy to handle but requires you to have your documents in order and in most cases go to the local court and file a claim. Given the financial state of the business you probably won't get anything but you never know. And you certainly won't get anything if you don't file.

 

I hope you get paid. This is kind of scary, though. I wonder if they are considering just stiffing their current employees too? You did the work and no payment yet. I presume their full timers are working. Why do they get paid and not you? Hmmm.

 

Disagree with this entirely. I can’t wait to need to shave and wear a pair of slacks to go into the office and deal with the masses on public transit to get there. I miss my routine and I miss the bustle of the city.

Caveat: I’m out of the business.

 

It has been a long time since I took a business law course but I think in Chapter 11 employees continue to get paid if there is enough cash on hand to do so. But freelance writers are not employees and have to get in line with the other general creditors.

 

Thanks Lancey. I feel for anybody not getting paid.

 

I thought about this and if you file I think in this case you will get paid. This business law knowledge comes from successfully passing the law portion of the CPA exam 40 years ago so anyone with more current knowledge please correct me.

I think the post below that says you are "at the bottom of a very long list" is incorrect. Since you are not an employee you do rank below the employees. But as a business creditor (these are people who sold goods and services to McClatchy) you rank above the lender who made loans to the company. McClatchy corporate debt was held by one entity, Chatham, that wants to take over the company. In order to do this, they must satisfy the claims of all creditors with higher priority claims, which includes you.

So file a claim.

 

If people in these chains get furloughed or laid off, do they get to keep their medical coverage via cobra?

 

If they choose to purchase it. The problem is that it can be very expensive since you have to pay both the employee and employer portion of the premium. Generally, the employer portion of your health insurance is 3 to 4 times the employee portion.

 

COBRA is like some sick corporate joke. "Hey, I know you got laid off and have no income, but I have great news! You can pay four times as much to keep your health insurance, which can be a worse deal than finding something in the marketplace."

 

As I understand it, furloughs don't have an effect on medical coverage. And Cobra is available to those who are laid off, regardless of employer. But like Lancey said, it is stupid-expensive. Trying to remember the specifics from when I was laid off. I want to say my monthly premium was something like $54 a month as an employee, and it was $385 a month for Cobra.

 

Basically you can check your current pay stub and see how much your medical coverage costs now (your contributions plus employee contributions) and that will be your Cobra cost. I think I am a little below MileHigh's territory -- $9,000 annually or something. Chances are, your employer currently contributes about 90 percent-ish, so the costs of doing it alone are steep.

For the short-term, it's probably worth biting the bullet to ensure you have coverage. For the long term, you should shop around, including on the Obamacare insurance exchange. If you end up being unemployed/forced to take a lower-paying job, etc. over the long haul, there will be subsidies that can ease the burden.

(Disclaimer: Not a HR professional; this is solely my experience)