National labor and employment firm Fisher & Phillips has temporarily cut pay for all lawyers and staff, while furloughing some employees who can't work remotely, said the firm's chairman, Roger Quillen.

In an interview, Quillen said that the Atlanta-headquartered firm had a very busy first quarter, but the firm proactively wants "to ensure solid financial footing for the firm throughout the COVID-19 crisis and the related economic fallout."

Fisher & Phillips is reducing pay by 20% for all employees—lawyers and staff alike—and its equity partners "will participate at a much deeper level in the form of restricted distribution of profits until the crisis clears," Quillen said.

"Relative to expected earnings, we've told our equity partners to plan for at least 50% cuts until the crisis clears. That could be in the form of temporarily reduced profits [for the firm] or restricted [profit] distributions—or both," he explained.

That means that "for the duration of the crisis, equity partners will experience cuts of far more than 20%," he added.

Quillen confirmed that the firm will furlough some employees handling office support who cannot work remotely and that it will reduce working time for its hourly staff by 20%, as first reported by Above the Law.

"We have taken these steps in the long-term interest of the business and the 900-plus families who depend upon Fisher Phillips for their livelihoods," he said.

The firm has about 450 lawyers and 900 total employees in 36 offices nationwide.

Fisher & Phillips reported a healthy fiscal year for 2019, posting a 10.9% revenue increase to $222.5 million and a 4.8% increase in net income to $73.52 million. Profit per equity partner increased by 3.1% to $592,000.

Quillen said that the workplace law firm continues to be busy advising clients on a variety of workplace matters arising from the coronavirus and subsequent national shutdown.

"Despite shelter-in-place orders, we have not missed a beat in helping clients," he said. "We were first to provide a full-service COVID-19 resource center covering every facet of the workplace—and now far beyond. Our robust technology platform allowed our professionals to transition seamlessly to be fully engaged and responsive from their homes."