Boss hasn't paid me in months
Employers often withhold wages or claim they cannot afford to pay while workers continue performing their duties. This leaves employees working without income for months and forces them to stop going to work until they finally receive their overdue pay.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- People have been saying this in most months since May 2026.
- This comes up 166.6× more often in r/Bookkeeping than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Stopping work and refusing to log in until outstanding payments are clearedDid this help you?
- 2Fired or dropped the client/employerDid this help you?
- 3Taking the issue to the state employment security departmentDid this help you?
- 4Looking into legal ways to get back payDid this help you?
- 5Fully blocking the employer/clientDid this help you?
- 6Gathering email correspondence and text messages documenting the counter-offer and continued shiftsDid this help you?
- 7Filing for unemployment anyway to see if claims are accepted despite the initial resignation letterDid this help you?
- 8Stopping going to work and immediately looking for a new jobDid this help you?
- 9Taking legal advice from an advocateDid this help you?
- 10Planning to send a legal noticeDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Am I able to file for unemployment?”source ↗
“I know abrupt cuts to hours are grounds for unemployment but since I sent in a resignation, I'm not sure if this counts as me quitting?”source ↗
“OP is trying to argue that he didn't quit, because he rescinded his resignation at the employer's request. The employer subsequently reduced him to zero hours, which is the same as firing him.”source ↗
“My boss hasn’t paid me in 2 months”source ↗
“I've had an owner tell me they couldn't afford to pay their employees that week, while I was was going through their accounts categorising business expenses.”source ↗
“Oof. I went through this beginning in November and quit going to work until I was paid at the end of January.”source ↗
“They are not clearing my dues even after leaving 7 months before.”source ↗
“Although they provided me Relieving letter, they have not refunded my money back even after 1.5 months.”source ↗
“I am thinking to send legal notice and make all arrangements. I just want to know what would be the future consequences of my action with past employer in terms of background verification?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Why do I have to pay a fee to get my earnings?
- 5Client ghosted me after I handed over the completed work and unpaid invoice
- 9How to get fired from a public accounting job without legal consequences
- 5What to do when a client refuses to pay without a contract
- 5Quitting my job before finding a new one
- 2How to get paid client work right now with a cash flow crunch?