"telling employees the exact situation when money is tight can be regarded as that"
Not telling the employees there is a non-trivial chance they won't be paid for their work when you have actual knowledge of such could pretty easily be shown to be theft of services/fraud in front of a jury, and almost certainly piercing the corporate veil in the process. It's simply not right to force your employees that have no equity in the company to assume financial risk on behalf of the owners, particularly without the employees' knowledge.
Not telling the employees there is a non-trivial chance they won't be paid for their work when you have actual knowledge of such could pretty easily be shown to be theft of services/fraud in front of a jury, and almost certainly piercing the corporate veil in the process. It's simply not right to force your employees that have no equity in the company to assume financial risk on behalf of the owners, particularly without the employees' knowledge.