Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

Employment Abuse?

I currently work for an attorney and in 07/2007, I will have been with this attorney for 5 years. He has put me in tears on several occasions, belittles me on a regular basis, takes advantage of me, and I feel he has threatened me. I have emails where he has stated, �From now on it is my way and I encourage you NOT to argue with me. That will be a mistake.� He wrote that to me because I failed to attach a document to a 2005 letter in our paper file. I could have had a 1,000 things going on and I forgot, a simple clerical error. Another example, �I very very strongly suggest, do not ever ask again. That may be a mistake that you wish you had not made.� I feel that the threats are not necessary. I took his daughter to school and took her lunch everyday for a year. At first, it was only a day or two, but then he started taking advantage of me and I ended up taking the responsibility. I do not think any employer should request, ask, demand or tell any of his employees to take care of responsibilities outside of the business. Is it legal/ethical for an employer to threaten and take advantage of his employees like this?


Asked on 2/09/07, 10:02 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith Stern Shavitz Law Group

Re: Employment Abuse?

The manner if which your employer speaks to you is treating you (meaning speaking to you, etc.) is not regulated by the law for the most part, unless the employer has 15 or more employees and is discriminating based upon a protected characteristic such as age, race, gender, national origin, etc. However, if you are being asked to "run errands" without being paid for that time, it could be a violation of State or Federal wage & hour law.

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Answered on 2/09/07, 12:20 pm


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