世界满是坑: 自由职业者怎样避免白干活

Dear Annie: After losing my job in 2011, when my department was eliminated in a restructuring, I decided to go out on my own and do web design and SEO consulting on a freelance basis. It's been great, except for one big problem. Over and over, I do the work, the client is happy with it, everything's cool, but I end up waiting and waiting to get paid -- and, in a couple of cases, have not been paid at all despite repeated, polite reminders.
亲爱的安妮：2011年的公司重组撤掉了我所在的部门，我也因此丢掉了饭碗。我决定自谋职业，做一名自由职业者，提供网页设计和SEO咨询服务。这种工作模式很不错，但是有一个大问题。很多时候，客户对我的工作非常满意，一切都进展得很顺利。但是在最后结账时，我却得一等再等。有些时候，尽管我反复委婉地提醒对方，但有些活我最终还是没能拿到报酬。

I've been lucky enough to get most of these gigs through my network of friends, and friends of friends, so I don't want things to get nasty. (For example, I really don't want to take anybody to court.) But I have bills and expenses like everyone else, so the suspense over when, or whether, I'll get paid is making me crazy. Is this a common problem for freelancers, or am I doing something wrong? Do you have any suggestions? — Broke in Boston
我能通过朋友和朋友的朋友获得大多数工作，这一点非常幸运。所以，我不想把事情弄糟。（例如，我真的不想把任何人告上法庭。）但是，和所有人一样，我需要支付各类账单。总是担心付款时间以及能否付款，这几乎把我逼疯了。这是自由职业者面临的普遍问题吗？还是我哪些地方做错了？对此您有什么好的建议吗？—— B.B.

Dear B.B.: I'm sorry to report that your dilemma is not at all unusual. One recent study of self-employed people in New York state, for instance, found that 316, 000 of them (about 35%) were paid late at least once during the preceding year, and some 214, 000 (14%) did work for one or more clients who never paid them at all. Total lost wages in the Empire State alone, over a 12-month span: More than $3 billion.
亲爱的B.B.： 我很遗憾的告诉你，你所面临的窘境并不罕见。最近在纽约州开展的一项针对自由职业者的调查发现，有31.6万名（约35%）受访者在上一年度经历过至少一次付款延迟，约21.4万名（14%）受访者曾经遇到一个或多个客户没有付款。仅纽约州一年的工资损失总额就超过30亿美元。

"Delays in payment usually aren't deliberate on the client's part, " notes Sara Horowitz, who founded and runs Freelancers Union, a Brooklyn-based noNPRofit association that offers health insurance and other resources to the self-employed. "It's just that your invoices get lumped in with all the other accounts payable -- and, especially since the recession, more companies are pushing those out beyond 30 days to 60, or even 90."
位于布鲁克林的自由职业者联盟（Freelancers Union）是一家为自由职业者提供医疗保险和其他资源的非盈利性协会。联盟创始人和运营人萨拉•霍洛维兹指出：“很多情况下，客户不是故意延迟付款。只是因为你的发票与所有其他应付款项的发票集中到了一起。特别是自经济衰退以来，许多公司把付款周期从30天延迟到60天，甚至是90天。”

Intentional or not, she agrees with you that the damage to individuals' livelihoods is "not acceptable." In response, the Freelancers Union drafted a bill called the Freelancer Payment Protection Act, now wending its way through the New York State legislature, that would give the self-employed many of the same remedies for non-payment that regular employees now have, including the right to file grievances with the state department of labor.
无论客户是不是故意的，霍洛维兹都认同你的观点——它给个人生活造成的伤害是“无法接受的”。为此，自由职业者联盟起草了《自由职业者报酬保护法案》（the Freelancer Payment Protection Act），目前正努力通过纽约州立法。这样一来，自由职业者就能享受许多与正式员工相同的解决方法，包括向州立劳务部投诉的权利。

With the U.S. freelance population now at 42 million and growing, Horowitz expects that other states will eventually adopt similar measures. In the meantime, though, and before you hire a lawyer or a collection agency, Horowitz -- who, incidentally, wrote a terrifically useful book calledThe Freelancer's Bible — has six suggestions.
美国现有4,200万名自由职业者，而且人数还在不断增加。霍洛维兹希望其他州今后也会采取类似的措施。但是，在你聘用律师或收款中介机构之前，霍洛维兹【她曾写过一本非常有用的书，名为《自由职业者圣经》（The Freelancer's Bible）】还给出了下面六条建议。