Malibu_Barbie
New Member
Ok, this is a real situation, but I'm going to make it a similar hypothetical question for obvious reasons:
1) Attorney is hired by a law firm
2) Law firm fires attorney after 2 months of employment; no reason given
3) Law firm agrees to mail final paycheck to attorney
4) The day the final check is written and to be mailed, the attorney is requested by the law firm to email all billable time to the law firm, and that his/her final paycheck will be held until receipt of same
First off, the law firm has absolutely no policies/procedures manual regarding time entry, or anything else. The attorney was verbally told by staff that time entries have to be entered by the 1st of the month. The attorney was fired 10 days before the "1st of the month". The cases the attorney worked on were all contingent. therefore, the law firm's clients would not be billed, however, its efforts would be reported to the client.
My question is: Can a law firm withhold an attorney's final paycheck based on lack of time entries which would require the attorney to perform additional work in order to perform, and which the law firm refuses to pay?
If the attorney files a claim though the DOL, he/she will only receive minimum wage compensation for the hours owed ... not even worth the time to file a claim.
From previous legal research, I know that its unethical for an attorney or law firm to withhold a client's file for lack of payment, however, I'm wondering if this ethical standard applies to employees. By the way, this is a State of Florida matter. I will research it if you don't know, but it would certainly save me a LOT of time if you have an answer off-hand, and preferably quote some law to back it up. Thanks!
1) Attorney is hired by a law firm
2) Law firm fires attorney after 2 months of employment; no reason given
3) Law firm agrees to mail final paycheck to attorney
4) The day the final check is written and to be mailed, the attorney is requested by the law firm to email all billable time to the law firm, and that his/her final paycheck will be held until receipt of same
First off, the law firm has absolutely no policies/procedures manual regarding time entry, or anything else. The attorney was verbally told by staff that time entries have to be entered by the 1st of the month. The attorney was fired 10 days before the "1st of the month". The cases the attorney worked on were all contingent. therefore, the law firm's clients would not be billed, however, its efforts would be reported to the client.
My question is: Can a law firm withhold an attorney's final paycheck based on lack of time entries which would require the attorney to perform additional work in order to perform, and which the law firm refuses to pay?
If the attorney files a claim though the DOL, he/she will only receive minimum wage compensation for the hours owed ... not even worth the time to file a claim.
From previous legal research, I know that its unethical for an attorney or law firm to withhold a client's file for lack of payment, however, I'm wondering if this ethical standard applies to employees. By the way, this is a State of Florida matter. I will research it if you don't know, but it would certainly save me a LOT of time if you have an answer off-hand, and preferably quote some law to back it up. Thanks!