[southernplaces7]

>He was no longer the priority

Paying him was legally no less a priority than paying any other owed employee wage. Maybe it was indeed a major priority to him.

>and, no, I wouldn't take a cash advance to pay him his last 2 weeks in arrears. He did eventually get paid.

So al though there were options available to you that would have caused you some temporary economic pain, you did indeed decide to fuck him over for a long while anyhow.

[wavedynamics]

Fortunately, he remained friends with the other guys on the team and continued playing on our company hockey team (hockey-tech startup), so even though he was mad at myself and the CEO, I don't think he wanted to sue us into submission. I think he understood the ~$2500 we owed him (2004) was double the salary of our other guys and potentially could have been the difference between company survival and lights out. He was wise to leave at the time, with a better job in hand. Our finances did get better and we did pay him + interest a few months later. It sucked (and like I said I am ashamed) but there are unfortunate ugly decisions you sometimes have to make at a startup for survival.

[sampullman]

If the options are to pay out immediately and risk shuttering the business, or delay, most people will probably delay.

It doesn't make it legally or morally right, but that's the way it goes.

> ...caused you some temporary economic pain

Not only them, but potentially all the other people who rely on the business.