TAMPA - A former employee of a major foreclosure law firm in Tampa says she and others were forced to work "off the clock" to keep up with a flood of cases over the past three years.

Denise Vasquez has filed a lawsuit against Florida Default Law Group, alleging employees were regularly allowed five hours per week of overtime, but were also routinely required to work extra hours without pay.

This is the latest setback for a firm entrenched in the mortgage foreclosure meltdown involving law firms that handled hundreds of thousands of suits on behalf of lenders. The firm is among four under state investigation for rushing through paperwork and filing misleading documents.

The Florida Attorney General's Office calls these firms "foreclosure mills" because of the large volume of cases they handle. Critics say the firms got so big that they fostered an atmosphere for sloppiness.

"Thousands of emails from all over the country would come in every day requiring action in the Florida Courts," Vasquez' suit says.

However, the law firm says the overtime case is unrelated.

"We treat our employees fairly, and in complete compliance with all standards and regulations," said Ronald R. Wolfe, managing partner Florida Default. "We are

confident that no wrong doing occurred in this case."

Vasquez also names her supervisor, Timothy Hutton, in the case. She's asked for a jury trial.

The suit was originally filed in Hillsborough County but was transferred to federal court at the request of Florida Default.

The attorney general's office has said it's investigating the large foreclosure firms for what "appears to be fabricating and/or presenting false and misleading documents in foreclosure cases." The investigation is a civil action, rather than a criminal probe.

The so-called "mills" rose to prominence during the mortgage crisis to more quickly handle the flood of foreclosed properties clogging the real estate market.

Lawyers at Florida Default also recently came under fire by a Pasco County judge who questioned them about fees to serve notice of foreclosure lawsuits to homeowners and to people who don't exist.

Gardner found about a dozen questionable files from various firms, two of which involved Florida Default. The judge said homeowners were often overbilled to receive notice of the lawsuit.

Matt Weidner, a St. Petersburg foreclosure defense attorney who has been critical of the large foreclosure firms, said he's not surprised by the suit. All law firms can be boiler rooms, but he's more concerned with what the staffers saw inside the firms.

"I'm surprised that not more staff members are coming forward about improper conduct," he said.

Steven Wenzel, a lawyer representing Vasquez, said his client worked in a support role involving paralegal work. The suit isn't directly related to the ongoing state investigation.

"This is a typical unpaid overtime situation," he said.

Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at (813) 259-7804 or sbehnken@tampatrib.com. Follow her on Twitter @TBORealtyCheck.