On employers suing ex-employees for excess earnings.

TB is an attorney. He was employed by a law firm, LLH, from January 2019.

In March 2020, Covid-19 hit. This affected LLH's business, and TB billed fewer hours from March to May. In August 2020, TB's employment was terminated, effective immediately.¹

In October 2021, more than a year after TB left LLH, LLH got in touch with TB.

Was it to say that the firm was sorry for terminating TB's employment, and to offer TB his job back?

Hah. No.

It was to sue TB,² on the basis that LLH had overpaid TB.³

---

About 4 months after TB started work with LLH, he signed an "Associate Attorney Agreement". The agreement provided that TB would receive a salary based on the projected hours billed.

However, in the event that TB billed less than his base quota, his salary would be "reduced appropriately at the discretion of LLH in order to make up for any discrepancy", and that this discrepancy would be considered a debt owed by TB to LLH at the end of the calendar year or at the termination of the employment.

TB was paid $96,316.54 for a year's work.⁴ However, LLH claimed that he was only entitled to $65,431.16 because he had not met his billable hours, and sued him for the shortfall of $29,885.38.

LLH has obtained summary judgment against TB, who has appealed.

---

I won't wade into the legal merits of the claim, but will instead make 2 observations for employers who are looking to let go of employees.

1) Institute a proper offboarding process.

HR professionals talk about onboarding processes all the time. But I suggest that offboarding protocols are just as important, if not more important. Offboarding should include, in no particular order:

a) a holistic calculation of all amounts due and owing by either the employer or employee;
b) proper work handover (particularly important in a law firm context, where the associate is often the person running a matter day-to-day); and
c) the return of company devices so as to protect confidential information.⁵

In this case, I wonder if a proper offboarding process was carried out, and if not, whether such would have reduced the likelihood of a post-employment dispute.

2) Consider the optics of suing ex-employees.

Remember that LLH is a law firm, and that the legal industry is not a huge one. Remember also that lawsuits generally form part of the public record and are often picked up by the media.

I reserve comment on whether LLH's act of suing TB would improve its reputation amongst jobseekers, and whether this would affect its ability to attract and retain talent.

---

H/T: https://lnkd.in/gpq5yskP.