On January 15, 2019 at 23:14, Ernie Gilman said...
Since then she has broached the subject of my paying her a percentage -- 10% has been floated -- of what I bill. She apologized for not mentioning it at first, and she says others who do work for her clients were informed of this setup and have paid a percentage to her of all bills paid to them by the client.
My response was that for me to do so, I would have to raise my hourly rate and the prices of future equipment. The PA said that would not be acceptable. We have not talked about it since, and I've only helped with a couple of phone calls. But I need your opinions and your experience.
A friend says what she's asking is illegal. I wonder. I'm ready to tell her that if I'm not to raise my rates, I'll be making less with this client and will be less motivated to ever put him first. If necessary I'd be willing to ask her if the present client knows of this "profit-sharing" situation.
So... ever run into this? Especially after prices have been set and work has been done? How about the legalities of it?
Maybe you could ask "Don't they pay you to do this?". 10% is pretty steep- I would be tempted to ask her to justify her part in having you do anything and how she got your name. If it came from the previous client, she doesn't deserve anything.
While it doesn't involve a PA, I did a job for a previous client and the contractor asked her how much I was billing for my part in the project because he wanted to add a 6% surcharge as GC. She told him "I don't think so". He didn't hire me, he hasn't hired me for the other jobs where he did work for my previous clients and if he tried to hire me, I would tell him to pound sand because of what he pulled on one job.
