Calls at work
A debt collector may not contact you at your job if it knows or has reason to know your employer does not allow those calls. Telling the collector once, on the phone or in writing, is enough to give it that knowledge. It also may not tell your boss or coworkers about the debt, and in Florida it generally may not contact your employer at all before it has a judgment.
Yes, calls at work can be illegal, and the rule is easy to trigger. Once a debt collector knows or has reason to know that your employer does not allow you to take these communications, it must stop contacting you there. You do not need a lawyer to put it on notice. One sentence does it: "My employer does not allow me to take these calls at work."
A collector that keeps calling your desk line or your work cell after that, or that tells your supervisor why it is calling, is exposed to a claim under the FDCPA and, in Florida and New York, state law.
What it looks like
- Calls after you said no. You told the collector your job does not allow personal calls, and the calls to the office continued.
- Messages with the receptionist. The collector leaves a message with a coworker or front desk, naming the collection company or the debt.
- Calls to your boss. The collector asks your supervisor to "have him call about his account."
- Work email. Collection emails land in the inbox your employer gave you.
- Wage threats. The collector says it will call payroll and garnish your paycheck, with no judgment.
The law
Without your prior consent given directly to the collector, a debt collector may not communicate with you at your place of employment "if the debt collector knows or has reason to know that the consumer's employer prohibits the consumer from receiving such communication" (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(a)(3); 12 C.F.R. § 1006.6(b)(3)).
Regulation F extends the idea to email. A collector may not send an email to an address it knows your employer provided to you, except in narrow cases such as an address you used to contact the collector yourself (12 C.F.R. § 1006.22(f)(3)).
Your coworkers and boss are protected by the third-party rules. Without your consent, a collector may not discuss the debt with anyone other than you, your lawyer, a credit bureau, the creditor and the lawyers involved (15 U.S.C. § 1692c(b)). It may contact others only to find you, and then it may not say you owe a debt and generally may contact each person only once (§ 1692b). The family and employer page covers those rules in detail.
And a threat to garnish your wages is a threat of legal action. Saying nonpayment will result in garnishment of wages, unless the action is lawful and actually intended, violates 15 U.S.C. § 1692e(4) and (5).
What you have to show
That a debt collector contacted you at work about a consumer debt after it knew or had reason to know your employer prohibits it. Proof of the notice is the key piece: a letter, an email, a note of the call where you told them, or the collector's own account notes, which a lawyer can obtain in a case.
What you can recover
Under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(a), a collector that violates the FDCPA is liable for your actual damages plus additional statutory damages of up to $1,000 per lawsuit. The FDCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
In Florida the FCCPA adds actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000 and possible punitive damages (Fla. Stat. § 559.77(2)). In New York, GBL 349 provides actual damages or $50, whichever is greater, increased up to three times actual damages capped at $1,000 for a willful or knowing violation. This site does not estimate what a case is worth; see what you get.
What to do now
- Say it once, then write it. Tell the collector on the call that your employer does not allow these calls. Follow with a short letter saying the same, and keep a copy and proof of mailing.
- Log every work contact. Date, time, which line, and who took the message. The call log works for this.
- Ask coworkers to write down what was said. If a collector told a coworker about the debt, a short dated note from that person preserves it.
- Save work emails. Forward collection emails to a personal account if your employer allows it, or print them.
- Consider a full stop request. A written request to stop all contact ends most communication (§ 1692c(c)). See ignored stop request.
The clock
| Claim | Time to sue | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| FDCPA | 1 year from each contact | 15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d) |
| Florida FCCPA | 2 years from the violation | Fla. Stat. § 559.77(4) |
| New York GBL 349 | 3 years | N.Y. CPLR 214(2) |
In New York, New Jersey and Florida
New York. GBL 601(4) bars a collector from communicating or threatening to communicate the nature of a consumer claim to the debtor's employer before obtaining a judgment, apart from a narrow wage-assignment case. Consumers usually sue through GBL 349, which lets the court award a prevailing consumer reasonable attorney's fees. See the New York page.
New Jersey. The federal workplace and third-party rules apply in full. See the New Jersey page.
Florida. The FCCPA goes further than federal law. A person collecting a consumer debt may not communicate or threaten to communicate with a debtor's employer before obtaining final judgment, unless the debtor gave written permission or acknowledged the debt in writing after it was placed for collection (Fla. Stat. § 559.72(4)). That rule reaches original creditors too, and the FCCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. See the Florida page.
Family and employer
What a collector may and may not say to the people around you.
Third-party calls →Threats to sue or garnish
A threat of action the collector cannot take or does not intend is a violation.
Threats to sue →Calls at bad hours
Before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. is presumed inconvenient.
Calls at bad hours →Common questions
Do I have to prove my employer has a written policy?
No. The test is whether the collector knows or has reason to know your employer prohibits these communications. Telling the collector that you cannot take personal calls at work gives it that knowledge. A written policy helps but is not required.
Can a collector email my work address?
Regulation F bars a collector from emailing an address it knows your employer provided to you, with narrow exceptions such as when you used that address to contact the collector yourself or consented to its use. If you have not done that, a collection email to your work account can be a violation.
The collector called my HR department to verify my job. Is that allowed?
A collector may contact third parties to obtain location information, which covers where you live and your phone numbers, but it may not say you owe a debt, and it may not usually contact the same person more than once. Calls to HR that mention the debt, or repeated calls, can violate the law. In Florida, contacting your employer before a judgment is barred unless you gave written permission or acknowledged the debt in writing after it was placed for collection.
The collector threatened to garnish my wages. Is that legal?
A threat to garnish your wages that the collector cannot lawfully carry out, or does not intend to carry out, is itself a violation of the FDCPA. Whether and when garnishment is possible depends on the debt and the state, so ask a lawyer before you react to the threat. The threats to sue page explains the rule.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.