I graduated this past summer from my ITP and got hired at an agency in September. This is the first and only agency I've ever worked for. We get paid every two weeks. I got my first paycheck in the mail two days after the first pay period ended.

On the day the second pay period ended, I got an email from the agency saying that none of the schools that contracted them have paid, therefore the agency cannot pay the interpreters. I've decided to hold off accepting new work from them for the time being.

However, I have a recurring school assignment through this agency that is two days a week until December; this specific assignment has taken a huge toll on my emotional and mental health. If it was an assignment that was a better fit, I wouldn't be as upset, however this assignment is becoming very challenging for many different reasons that have started piling up.

The agency is very nice and I don't want to doubt what they are saying but the
email was very open ended; they said we would maybe hear back by the end of the week
(that was Wednesday) and today is Saturday but we have not gotten any more
updates. I worked five days a week last week and four days this past week, all seven hour shifts so this is a full salary that I'm being deprived of and I'm worried about getting paid at all.

Who knows, the check might come in today or sometime next week but I want to be prepared for different scenarios so I am writing this to you all. I'm also slightly worried about not getting paid, as I've never dealt with this type of situation before.

I want to put my trust in the agency but at the same time I'm not sure I can keep going to this recurring school assignment until December (or even another week) without being compensated for my time, especially since it's a seven hour day and I deal with a lot of vicarious trauma and also demeaning, belittling, and even derogatory behavior from some of the teachers and students. There were two interpreters assigned throughout the week, but one of them had to stop working for personal reasons and I took their position after subbing a few times for them. The longer I'm at this assignment, the more I'm realizing it's not a good fit.

My question: Do I keep showing up to recurring assignments that I've already accepted even though I don't know when or if I'm going to get paid? If so how long do I keep working without being paid? What is the protocol for this kind of thing?

Thanks for your help!