Freelancers know the drill: you do a scope of work for a client. You may sign a contract or agree to terms. You do all of the work for the client. Finally you send your invoice when it's all wrapped up, and then…

Nothing. 

No response from the client. No payment. 

The client no longer responds to your calls, emails, or texts. You have a creeping realization: you’ve been stiffed, and it feels like now there’s nothing you can do about it.

Every day across the country, freelancers go without payment for their work, and clients often act with impunity. Whether clients are unaware of what they’re doing, don’t care, or somehow believe they are acting appropriately, the consequences of not paying their freelancers can have devastating effects on their lives. Freelancers may not be able to pay their rent, healthcare, groceries, and more. At the Freelancers Union, we are acutely aware of this struggle. Through our legal clinic at the Freelancers Union, we handle each individual freelancer complaint that comes our way and walk through the steps with freelancers on the road to payment. 

Every freelancer is entitled to a just resolution to any issue they are having with their clients. We also encourage every freelancer to exhaust every option to reach their client and resolve any dispute within their rights. This can sometimes mean negotiating or settling for a resolution that is less than what you as the freelancer are legally entitled pursuant to the law. However, it is important to consider that the process of pursuing legal remedy for a client issue can take a long time and can be expensive if the freelancer has an especially challenging client. Pursuing the legal path of a civil complaint in court can be very expensive and can take months or years to get to a resolution. 

Your time and money is important to us. We want to equip you with the knowledge to navigate the legal process so that you can make an informed decision about finding a meaningful resolution!

Here's a timeline for how this works.

You encounter an issue with your client: nonpayment, delayed payment, harassment, employer misclassification, retaliation, unsafe working conditions, or other forms of abuse.

Gather and organize all relevant documents – any form of contract, relevant work materials, communication (texts, emails), unpaid invoices, and any other documentation that could be helpful evidence for pursuing your issue.

Reach out to the Freelancers Union Legal Clinic for support by filling out our complaint form on our website. 

Month 1

The Freelancers Union Legal Clinic responds to you. If you know other freelancers encountering issues with the same client, please encourage them to submit a complaint through our website. We will consult with you, and depending upon your specific issue – if it is a nonpayment issue, we can write a formal letter of demand to the client citing your rights. Depending on where you live, you may be entitled to certain freelancer legal protections.

If you are based in NYC, we work closely with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. You should file a Freelance Isn’t Free Complaint, and encourage any other freelancers with the same client to do the same. We have had success recouping nonpayment and resolving other disputes through these collective actions against clients. We also recommend that you consider our other resources: sign up for consultation with the Founder & Managing Director of the Freelancers Union legal clinic, our attorney, John Rudikoff. If you are a creative or artist freelancing in NYC and seeking legal advice, please sign up to work with our partners at the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.

Month 2 & 3 

City and state agencies often take up to 10 weeks to process and respond to your complaint. If you are based in NYC, DCWP fields 800+ freelancer complaints every year and individually considers each submitted issue. If you haven’t received a response regarding your DCWP Freelance Isn't Free Act (FIFA) complaint after 10 weeks since filing, you are encouraged to contact the Office of Labor Policy & Standards (OLPS) at freelancer@dcwp.nyc.gov, or call: 212-436-0380. 

In NYC, after receipt of the DCWP complaint, clients have 20 days to respond. If your client responds, DCWP can assign a mediator to handle your dispute. And if your client does not respond within 20 days after receiving the notice of complaint from DCWP, you will receive a notice that creates a “rebuttable presumption” that you can then take to court, if you would like to proceed with enforcement of your rights.

If you are still encountering issues with your client and want more support, reach out to your local and state elected officials and other non-governmental organizations that could offer support. 

Month 4 and beyond

If your complaint is still unresolved, you can sue your client in court. In order to determine where to file your legal complaint, it is important to consider the jurisdiction of your case – where you are based as a freelancer, where the hiring party is located, and how much you are owed.

For example, if you're a freelancer based in LA and your nonpayment issue is worth less than $12,500 you can pursue recourse through the LA Small Claims Court. If you are pursuing Small Claims Court in NYC, our partners at the Legal Aid Society can provide assistance, as well as the National Employment Law Project. And if your complaint is worth more than $10,000 in New York, and you would like to pursue all legal remedies available to you, you can hire a litigation attorney through various pro bono or low bono resources provided across the city and state. We would recommend reviewing the resources provided by the NYC Bar, the NY State Bar Lawyer Referral Service as well as the Legal Aid Society, Worker Justice Project.