A Stenonymous source found my blog.
Thanks anonymous! I do my best.
That’s crazy. But I’ve heard this happen to people before with other agencies.
Anonymous told me that the agency that failed to pay them was Anderson Court Reporting, LLC, in Alexandria, Virginia, owned by Carleton Jay Anderson. Anonymous told me the nonpayment was to the tune of several thousands of dollars. I asked for some corroboration and received enough that I can say it seems like Anderson Court Reporting has left this person unpaid for things that are almost 4 months old.
I do what I can to shine a light on the malfeasance of corporations on this blog. What’s more malfeasant than not paying people that have done work for you? It’s not the worst case in America, but it’s pretty bad to for Anderson Court Reporting to fail to pay employees and/or independent contractors. In this case, according to anonymous, multiple court reporters have gone unpaid.
This is yet another danger of our field remaining largely in the independent contractor space. The war to get people to realize that the bulk of us are misclassified employees continues. When you’re an unpaid employee, often you can ask the Department of Labor to step in. Independent contractors are expected to take up their own legal fights, and there’s a certain threshold where it’s too expensive to fight — effectively making it legal to steal from ICs.
And make no mistake that that’s what this is. Anderson Court Reporting, LLC appears to be stealing from at least one of its independent contractors. The owner should be in jail. Fuck the whole “it’s a civil matter” rhetoric. You. Should. Be. In. Jail. If I stole two bucks from you in New York it’d be a misdemeanor. If you steal 3,000 from me it’s just business. Then again, the guy who stole a million bucks, from the link above that some of you skipped, should also be in jail. I can appreciate there being gradients of thievery.
Asked for comment, it’s apparent that Anderson Court Reporting had nothing to say.
The best we can do is warn people. This might not be a business you want to do business with.
For all our discussions field-wide about ethical conduct, it seems that this field is a safe haven for the unethical. Shops like Naegeli and Anderson make plenty of money playing games with reporters. Nobody bats an eye. Only a handful of people donate to this blog to keep the spotlight shining on those that would make a bad name for the field. Maybe we need to take a hard look at where we’ve spent our money in the name of ethics. An ineffective and toothless national association that can’t compete with a blog in terms of ethics enforcement. Maybe where we spend our money today isn’t where we have to spend it tomorrow. Maybe more funding really will come in so I can pay people full time to keep tabs on the unethical conductors of our time. Maybe keeping tabs on these people will encourage them to not be thieves. Certainly making up ethical codes only a third of us bind ourselves to hasn’t worked.
Thanks again for the tip off, anonymous. Without readers like you, how could we get the word out?
The reporter needs to take them to small claims court to get paid.
For sure.
Anderson Reporting owes me $1600, oldest invoice is 85 days old. They DID pay for my first two invoices after I threatened to go to their government contract client. …but that was in July. We’re now in September.
Wow! I’m so sorry to hear that they’ve done this to someone else.
Hello – I am a court reporter in Duluth Minnesota. I took a job for these basic criminals last June of 2024. Both attorneys paid by August and I have not been paid close to $5,000. All phone calls, emails, invoices have been ignored. I contacted the Judge in Washington DC and let them know and asked them to NEVER use this firm again. I cannot believe a court reporter would do this to a fellow court reporter. Sucks!
I was also stiffed to the tune of almost $2,000. Subsequent to the writing of this blog , the Department of Labor has stepped in and has recovered monies owed for people who were not paid. I have to fill out a form and send it to the DOL and will receive $1700 from the Treasury minus taxes.
That’s amazing news! I’m so happy to hear the Department of Labor stepped in!
I’m sorry you got stiffed though.
They paid me about $900, but they still owe me nearly $9,000 in unpaid invoices. Does anyone happen to know what form I need to fill out with the Department of Labor to try and recover what I’m owed?
That’s crazy! If you post your state I might be able to look it up. If you google unpaid wages, your state, department of labor, you’ll basically find the same stuff I will.
For example in my state this is the process:
https://dol.ny.gov/unpaidwithheld-wages-and-wage-supplements
Hello! I also got stiffed by ACR and then reimbursed from the Department of Labor. DOL has a sanction against them, so hopefully ACR can no longer take the government contracts that we were providing low-wage labor to complete.
Sorry for what you went through. Glad you got the reimbursement.
They stiffed me to the tune of $6000 on a federal case!
I’ve also been stiffed by them, still ongoing with earnings owed. I wish there was a collective suit to bring against them.
I think someone commented that the DOL was going after them. Might make sense to look into that. Some DOLs will stand up for gig workers but they all will stand up for misclassified employees best I know.