Vidoop Is Dead, Employees Getting Computers In Lieu Of Wages

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/30/vidoop-is-dead-employees-getting-computers-in-lieu-of-wages/?awesm=tcrn.ch_2t3&utm_campaign=techcrunch&utm_content=techcrunch-autopost&utm_medium=tcrn.ch-twitter&utm_source=direct-tcrn.ch

by peter123 • 17 years ago

24 27 17 years ago

techcrunch.com

tlrobinson2• 17 years ago

"The company’s liability to you would be reduced by $1000, and you would have a laptop for $38.25."

That's one way to look at it. The other way would be you're not getting paid $1000 for work you already did, but instead getting a laptop worth $250. Guess it's better than nothing...

newsio• 17 years ago

This was actually common during the last bubble. I've read accounts of people who were grateful they at least got to keep the laptop -- it let them continue freelancing.

On the other hand, laptops in the year 2000/2001 cost a lot more than they do now, and many people had desktop PCs at home.

ojbyrne• 17 years ago

I think that's the point. You're not getting paid, here's a way for you to benefit from that.

muhamm• 17 years ago

Doesn't the company have a contractual obligation to pay you your wages even if it has to go into debt to do so? I don't see how they could get away with that.

patrickg-zill4• 17 years ago

Yes, that is my understanding. The officers of the company are personally liable for the cash if there is no other source of funding.

Dilpil• 17 years ago

If it was an llc, they would not be responsible for the wages except in extenuating circumstances I believe.

tptacek7• 17 years ago

The officers of the company are astronomically unlikely to personally bear any contractual liability at all, that being the one of the points of incorporating in the first place.

harpastum• 17 years ago

My understanding is that the choice is completely optional.

While Vidoop is legally responsible for paying them, I can see how some employees would rather have valuable merchandise now than wait what could potentially be a very long time for their wages in cash.

gojomo2• 17 years ago

Owed wages have very high precedence when all creditors line up for whatever's left... but if there's no cash and no one to loan/invest more money, employees may not be made whole.

tptacek7• 17 years ago

You can only "go into debt" if people are willing to extend you credit.

ckinnan• 17 years ago

These guys can get paid from the state of Oregon which will in turn pursue the company.

http://www.boli.state.or.us/BOLI/WHD/W_Whhowinf.shtml

gojomo2• 17 years ago

A program where where the state pays before collecting from the company would be pretty amazing, so I read your link and the related form.

I found no evidence the state pays before collection; in fact they warn that "collection depends upon your employer’s financial ability to pay, business closure, bankruptcy filing or location of money and assets". It might still be a good program to help assert an employee's claim with the weight of the state agency, but there are other caveats which might make many Vidoop employees ineligible for even that sort of assistance, such as a total unpaid amount more than $10K or "having a direct financial interest" in the company, which many startup employees might have.

dc2k08• 17 years ago

I'm wondering what will happen to all the open ID's that were created including mine and all the accounts they were used on. There's no info on their site.

tlrobinson2• 17 years ago

That's a good reason to use OpenID delegation. As long as you remain in control of your domain name your OpenID can never become invalid, even if the provider you delegate to goes out of business.

https://myvidoop.com/help/what-is-delegation

Of course that's only a good solution for relatively technical people like us. Perhaps someone should create a service that automates this process for the average internet user: pick a domain name and OpenID provider, pay your $10 (per year), and you're done.

axod• 17 years ago

>> "Perhaps someone should create a service that automates this process for the average internet user:"

Sorry, but the average internet user will never want or understand OpenID IMHO.

woadwarrior01• 17 years ago

Whats with all the tracking codes in the URL's querystring ?

'awesm': 'tcrn.ch_2t3', 'utm_campaign': 'techcrunch', 'utm_content': 'techcrunch-autopost', 'utm_medium': 'tcrn.ch-twitter', 'utm_source': 'direct-tcrn.ch'

andyn• 17 years ago

Looks like some sort of google analytics tagging/tracking:

http://www.epikone.com/blog/2006/11/10/google-analytics-camp...

s_baar• 17 years ago

Read it as "Voodoo is dead, employees getting computers in lieu of wages" Was all, "Sweeeeet!"

Vidoop Is Dead, Employees Getting Computers In Lieu Of Wages

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