5 ms·

I'm not much clued up with legalities of these kinds of situations, but is there any law that allows him to threaten legal action? Surely if they're holding mon

I'm not much clued up with legalities of these kinds of situations, but is there any law that allows him to threaten legal action? Surely if they're holding money owed to him due to lack of ID and they're violating their own policies by not accepting it, then something is legally applicable to the situation?

hga 12y ago
From Wikipedia's entry on them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer.com), which helps explain their lack of clues with US types of ID: "Freelancer is a global outsourcing marketplace, founded in 2009. Its headquarters are located in Sydney, Australia, though also has offices spanning Vancouver, London, Buenos Aires, Manila and Jakarta." Looking at their web site, I see no sign they have a US office, unless they kept some of the people in their two acquisitions of US marketplace firms. For stakes this small, it sounds like they're essentially judgement proof in the US. Which is no doubt why they can get away with such tactics.
- XorNot 12y ago
  Australia has no form of national ID though (beyond a passport). Driver's licenses here are state-specific as well, which means even the most naive operators would expect a drivers license to be state-specific. I suppose passport holding might be more common though but everything about this still sounds ridiculous.
  - hga 12y ago
    Oh, geeze, how could I forget the Australia Card debacle! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Card (OK, that was 3 decades ago and I live in the US, but it was significant, a somewhat akin nation's people zapping such a proposal.) So right you are. On the other hand, I suspect a lot of the tech support is in cheaper places than Australia.
    - ghaff 12y ago
      There's been similar controversy in the US from time to time. And there was a real tug of war between a few states (notably Maine) and the federal government over certain common standards for drivers licenses more recently, e.g. http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/drivers-license-controversy-ends-with-a-whimper_2011-03-24.html http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/drivers-license-controver.... Viewed rationally, it's mostly silly but "national ID" in some countries (including the US and, apparently, Australia) carries a lot of emotional baggage with it.
- waps 12y ago
  Any company that does business in the US is obviously subject to the US legal system. That they don't have an office in the US can be used to your advantage (to obtain judgements in absentia is a lot easier than facing a lawyer for obvious reasons). US courts will assert jurisdiction about any business transaction that took place in the US, whether or not the participants have an official address or not. Keep in mind that the organization needs accounts with organizations that can transfer into and out of US bank accounts. So freelancer.com must have a US bank account, which will be subject to US court orders. There is no such thing as "judgement-proof". Thankfully.
  - hga 12y ago
    "Keep in mind that the organization needs accounts with organizations that can transfer into and out of US bank accounts. So freelancer.com must have a US bank account, which will be subject to US court orders." But to collect from one of those US bank accounts, you first have to find it. You'd either need to get info from another US freelancer ... and supplying that might get in the way of his continuing to get paid (I guess using social media you'd try to find someone who's not going to use them again), or you'd have to gotten your first payment. A default judgement obtained in absentia also means the judge has no leverage to pry this sort of information out of the company's representatives.
    - waps 12y ago
      > But to collect from one of those US bank accounts, you first have to find it True. Buy a $0.05 gimmick from them and check your bank statement.
      - hga 12y ago
        Clever. They're not a products company and they don't seem to have any bling you can buy, but I noticed a small writing job they're highlighting on their web page for $50. You could have a friend or two do a minimal transaction through them, although you'd want to use ACH (warning!!! on an account with little money in it!) instead of a credit card so you don't have to try to squeeze the bank info out of a card company, but, yeah. Still might be expensive to collect from an out of state bank, don't really know how that works.
Oculus 12y ago
I'd imagine there is, but for a payment of 4 figures I doubt litigation is a realistic method of obtaining payment. In any case, you should never have to threaten to sue a freelancing site to get the money that is owed to you. This is a minor issue amplified into serious fuck-up by the lack of half decent customer service. I hope it gets figured out soon for the author's sake.
- objclxt 12y ago
  > for a payment of 4 figures I doubt litigation is a realistic method of obtaining payment. This is what the small claims courts are for - although it is unclear whether Freelancer.com have any kind of presence in the US, which in this case is what seems to be the real blocker.
  - k-mcgrady 12y ago
    >> "although it is unclear whether Freelancer.com have any kind of presence in the US" According to their about page [0] they are register in Australia. Couldn't he just file in the Australian small claims court though? [0] http://www.freelancer.com/info/about.php http://www.freelancer.com/info/about.php
mattbarrie 12y ago
Hi there. I am the CEO of Freelancer.com. We accept driver's licenses as identification: http://www.freelancer.com/news/articles-verification-309.html http://www.freelancer.com/news/articles-verification-309.htm...

hga 12y ago

From Wikipedia's entry on them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer.com), which helps explain their lack of clues with US types of ID: "Freelancer is a global outsourcing marketplace, founded in 2009. Its headquarters are located in Sydney, Australia, though also has offices spanning Vancouver, London, Buenos Aires, Manila and Jakarta." Looking at their web site, I see no sign they have a US office, unless they kept some of the people in their two acquisitions of US marketplace firms. For stakes this small, it sounds like they're essentially judgement proof in the US. Which is no doubt why they can get away with such tactics.

XorNot 12y ago
Australia has no form of national ID though (beyond a passport). Driver's licenses here are state-specific as well, which means even the most naive operators would expect a drivers license to be state-specific. I suppose passport holding might be more common though but everything about this still sounds ridiculous.
- hga 12y ago
  Oh, geeze, how could I forget the Australia Card debacle! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Card https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Card (OK, that was 3 decades ago and I live in the US, but it was significant, a somewhat akin nation's people zapping such a proposal.) So right you are. On the other hand, I suspect a lot of the tech support is in cheaper places than Australia.
  - ghaff 12y ago
    There's been similar controversy in the US from time to time. And there was a real tug of war between a few states (notably Maine) and the federal government over certain common standards for drivers licenses more recently, e.g. http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/drivers-license-controversy-ends-with-a-whimper_2011-03-24.html http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/drivers-license-controver.... Viewed rationally, it's mostly silly but "national ID" in some countries (including the US and, apparently, Australia) carries a lot of emotional baggage with it.
waps 12y ago
Any company that does business in the US is obviously subject to the US legal system. That they don't have an office in the US can be used to your advantage (to obtain judgements in absentia is a lot easier than facing a lawyer for obvious reasons). US courts will assert jurisdiction about any business transaction that took place in the US, whether or not the participants have an official address or not. Keep in mind that the organization needs accounts with organizations that can transfer into and out of US bank accounts. So freelancer.com must have a US bank account, which will be subject to US court orders. There is no such thing as "judgement-proof". Thankfully.
- hga 12y ago
  "Keep in mind that the organization needs accounts with organizations that can transfer into and out of US bank accounts. So freelancer.com must have a US bank account, which will be subject to US court orders." But to collect from one of those US bank accounts, you first have to find it. You'd either need to get info from another US freelancer ... and supplying that might get in the way of his continuing to get paid (I guess using social media you'd try to find someone who's not going to use them again), or you'd have to gotten your first payment. A default judgement obtained in absentia also means the judge has no leverage to pry this sort of information out of the company's representatives.
  - waps 12y ago
    > But to collect from one of those US bank accounts, you first have to find it True. Buy a $0.05 gimmick from them and check your bank statement.
    - hga 12y ago
      Clever. They're not a products company and they don't seem to have any bling you can buy, but I noticed a small writing job they're highlighting on their web page for $50. You could have a friend or two do a minimal transaction through them, although you'd want to use ACH (warning!!! on an account with little money in it!) instead of a credit card so you don't have to try to squeeze the bank info out of a card company, but, yeah. Still might be expensive to collect from an out of state bank, don't really know how that works.

Oculus 12y ago

I'd imagine there is, but for a payment of 4 figures I doubt litigation is a realistic method of obtaining payment. In any case, you should never have to threaten to sue a freelancing site to get the money that is owed to you. This is a minor issue amplified into serious fuck-up by the lack of half decent customer service. I hope it gets figured out soon for the author's sake.

objclxt 12y ago
> for a payment of 4 figures I doubt litigation is a realistic method of obtaining payment. This is what the small claims courts are for - although it is unclear whether Freelancer.com have any kind of presence in the US, which in this case is what seems to be the real blocker.
- k-mcgrady 12y ago
  >> "although it is unclear whether Freelancer.com have any kind of presence in the US" According to their about page [0] they are register in Australia. Couldn't he just file in the Australian small claims court though? [0] http://www.freelancer.com/info/about.php http://www.freelancer.com/info/about.php

mattbarrie 12y ago

Hi there. I am the CEO of Freelancer.com. We accept driver's licenses as identification: http://www.freelancer.com/news/articles-verification-309.html http://www.freelancer.com/news/articles-verification-309.htm...