Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Re: Past employer (publicly held) not paying wages and travel expenses owed

From your description of the company, it sounds as if filing a claim against them in Bankruptcy will not get you much money. Generally, small businesses do not file bankruptcy when they have adequate cash on hand to continue to meet their debts.

Next, there is the issue of whetehr you were an "employee" or a "Consultant." A "Consultant" is generally viewed as an independent contractor, not en employee. This is an isssue that will need further investigation.

Your best course of action would be to see an attorney and review these issues before deciding whether to file suit for breach of contract or violtaion of the wage and hour laws; you are more likely to recover some of this money from a company that is still in business than waiting for them to go bankrupt.

Re: Past employer (publicly held) not paying wages and travel expenses owed

While a consultant may be considered an "independent contractor", in many states unless you were holding yourself out as a consultant for multiple businesses, for unemployment purposes you may be considered as an employee. This may be so, especially if you were only working for a single employer. I suggest you contact the State Labor Department to check on this. If they will consider you as an employeee, they can intercede. However, since you accepted stock, this might be considered as a payment in lieu of wages, and be a defense to a wage claim. If the stock has now been registered and a broker refuses to execute your trades, you could complain to both SEC and NASDAQ, about the refusal to accept your trades. This advice is based upon the facts provided, and is offered as guidance only, not a legal opinion.