I got let go from my job. Boss calls me and want's me to do some hours for free.

How is he your boss? If you are a consultant, is he your client?

If he is not your client, then he is your supervisor at the consulting company?

In any case, you should not do work for free. You are not obligated.

If you are staying in the same field it is possible you would want to consider the ramifications of burning bridges.

Send him an invoice for time already used and an estimate for the summary he wants, Let him decide if he really wants the summary.

How is he your boss? If you are a consultant, is he your client?

The boss owns the consulting firm. His company finds companies to help and the consultants do the work.

The German inqisition wrote:

Send him an invoice for time already used and an estimate for the summary he wants, Let him decide if he really wants the summary.

YES

$100 / hour is a friendly rate that should make everyone happy. Not too harsh, but not too little.

Don't burn any bridges though.

I assume you were an employee of a consulting firm. Don't just ignore the email/VM. Respond and tell him you'd be happy to do the work, but want to make sure that you'll be paid for your time. Assuming he agrees, do the work and send an invoice with it. Include the 4 hours you spent earlier. Bill at the rate that they would bill clients for your work, not the rate they pay you (since you're now working as an independent contractor). Or figure out a reasonable market rate for an independent contractor with your experience.

If he says no to payment, then tell him you're sorry but you can't do the work for free. If they need further work product from you they need to pay you.

Sounds like you were actually a w-2 employee who got suckered into working on a 1099.

You should not have given them four free hours and, since they want to treat you like an independent contractor, and you do not have an in-place established "course of dealing" with this client (since they terminated your prior arrangement) YOU SHOULD PROMPTLY RESPOND WITH A BID PRICE TO COMPLETE THE REQUESTED WORK. Your hourly rate should reflect the instability that you have experienced with this client. (Do not do this job at your prior hourly rate, bump it by at least 50%; do not be negotiated off your quoted price (unless, say, they offer a COMMITMENT for additional hours. You are entitled to be treated with respect and if you don't respect yourself they certainly won't.)

Billing a fair price for your time should not burn a bridge; if it does, that bridge wasn't worth much.

Great professional advice so far. Especially with the invoicing.

Alternatively, you could mess with them. Send an apology for missing the email. Then give nothing but false info on the client. Bad account info, bad profile info, some nice "tips" that have worked well in building your relationship (talking about tattoos, boozing in the Caribbean, ask how his uncle is doing on those rape charges, etcl).

If you go this route, please update us.

Stinky - Sounds like you were actually a w-2 employee who got suckered into working on a 1099.

No, I was not a w-2 employee. I worked as a 1099 independent contractor.

This !!!!

They let you go for what; it is obviously not poor work since they are continuing to want to use your work.

Bill them at a much higher rate - they let you go when you were sick - and then ask for you to "donate" your time to continue to work for them.

No, just no.

Treat this summary as an "executive summary" and charge accordingly.

The German inqisition wrote:

Send him an invoice for time already used and an estimate for the summary he wants, Let him decide if he really wants the summary.

Thank you for this.

runfastrunfar wrote:

This !!!!

They let you go for what; it is obviously not poor work since they are continuing to want to use your work.

.

He let me go because he said money is tight and he will do the work himself.

Sounds like you are an employee being called a consultant. He could bring a lawsuit claiming you are stealing trade secrets (i.e. client information) because you are not sharing it with him and you did the work while employed. He would likely lose in court, but it would be a great scare tactic.

I recommend asking for your hourly rate. If he says no, then give him a 10-15 minute summary. If he wants more details than that he needs to pay for it.

Tell him to sit on it and rotate

Wow, that expression was big in the 1970s.

Send them a pic of your butt.

Consultants do not get "fired". Your old contract is still active.

The German inqisition wrote:

Send him an invoice for time already used and an estimate for the summary he wants, Let him decide if he really wants the summary.

End of thread.

I think you got good advice here.

Did you get any notice of the layoff or was it in effect immediately? If you had like two week notice then some transition activities would have been appropriate.

If you had no notice than your employer is really unfair and is trying to take advantage. Be very friendly but set a far price for transition work.