FindLaw Legal Bloggers Sue for Overtime Pay
Forget the old saw about bloggers lounging at home in pajamas and doing nothing of value. A class action filed April 1 claims that about 50 bloggers writing for Findlaw have been overworked, under-rested and, more to the legal point, denied overtime pay.
A lawyer for lead plaintiff Jason Beahm told SF Weekly that Beahm and other current and former staff bloggers for Thomson Reuters’ Findlaw were encouraged to work instead of lunch and keep doing so until they produced a certain amount of copy, no matter how long it took, without overtime pay beyond the basic $23 an hour.
Beahm, a solo practitioner in San Francisco, is represented by two Bay Area law firms that specialize in employment law: Bogatin, Corman & Gold of Oakland; and Hinton, Alfert, Sumner & Kaufman of Walnut Creek. The complaint (PDF posted by Courthouse News), filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, was signed by Aaron Kaufman, a name partner in the Walnut Creek firm.
Related coverage:
ABA Journal: “Bad Blogs? Lawyers Blast FindLaw Offerings as Spam”
