Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Re: Value of an associate

If you are paying the associate a salary, his/her billing and/or collecting has absolutely nothing to do with his/her entitlement to a salary. That is why the employee is salaried--and not commission or incentive based. Accordingly, while I understand the problems you've outlined--as a sole practitioner with similar dilemmas--if you cannot afford to pay the associate a true salary, or if the associate isn't generating enough work to justify that salary in your eyes, I suggest that you discuss changing with the associate the way he/she is paid in the future. However, recognize that "your" problems are not the associate's problems and that as a result, the associate--understandably--won't want to change the way he/she is paid. By that, I mean that the fact you have your own business is a choice you've made and the consequences of that choice should not, in my opinion, become the "problems" of the associate who is at the end of the day just an employee. Legally there is nothing that provides an answer to your question, but practically speaking, you have to do what makes financial and HR sense.