Need advice on talking to boss about pay

IBackBevo

I need advice on talking to my boss about my pay situation.

I've posted on here before about my job situation. I'm an attorney in commercial litigation.  Top 15 law school, graduated with honors about 5 years of experience in commercial litigation.  I've been at my present firm for almost 4 years. Basically, prior to having LO, I was paid a base salary plus bonus.  I went down to 3 days a week after LO was born.  My boss cut my pay to 60 percent of my former base salary.  The problem is that my bonus amounted to about 25-35 percent of my pay every year and now I'm not getting a bonus.  (He gave me $1,000 at the end of last year whereas in previous years I was given anywhere from a $25k to a $40k bonus. To add insult to injury, I had to take an unpaid maternity leave which is not the norm in my industry for attorneys.)  So, basically, I'm being paid about 45% of my former salary for working three days a week--only I'm working more than three days a week.  I basically have about 75-80 percent of my former workload.  I am frequently having to work on my days off.  And not just work a couple of hours from home while LO is napping, but I'm frequently having to pay my nanny to work extra days because I'm having depos scheduled on my days off or having to go to mediations on my day off or do doc review at an offsite location that can only be scheduled with the other side on my days off, etc.  I also worked on Mother's Day, Easter and over the Thanksgiving holiday because my boss dropped big projects on me at the last minute that could not possibly be competently completed in the amount of time he gave me by just working my normal days and/or (in the case of Mother's Day) he actually called me up that morning to come into the office.  

The past couple of months have been so bad that it has amounted to me having to effectively pay to work.  In other words, I have worked so many extra days that I was not paid for (and had to pay the nanny extra days she does not normally work) that I have actually gone in the hole in that I've had to pay my nanny more than I made after taxes.

This just can't go on.  I have to talk to my boss because I feel like I'm getting abused--I'm making 45% of my former salary for 80% of the work.  And my billable hours literally have been about 75-80% of what my previous billable hours were in a given month.

What is the best way to approach him?  I fear that he is not going to take this well and just say, "Well, you need to come back full-time."  I don't want to come back full-time, but I feel like that at an absolute minimum I have to be paid for the days I work where I have to pay my nanny to come in because otherwise I literally am paying $100 or more a day to her for staying with LO and I'm not seeing a dime in extra pay.  My plan is to propose two options: 1) a bonus based on a percentage of billable hours (the arrangement we had before) so at least I see something for the extra time I'm working; or 2) to be paid hourly for the time I work on days I should normally have off.  

Any advice, tips or suggestions? 

EDIT: I posted about this about 2-3 weeks ago and the only reason I have not talked to him before this is because either I have been out of the office with work (i.e. depos, witness prep, etc.) or my boss has been out of the office (trial, depos, toothache) or my boss has been in such a bad mood that I knew it was not a good time to talk to him.

*sparky*

Assuming you are tracking your billable hours, I would use that documentation as back up for your discussion.  Have a written proposal ready to hand to him during the discussion - if you are open to both options present both and try to show what your compensation would be under each of these models in the past couple of months.  I would not discuss childcare or paying the nanny or any of that because I am guessing he will not care about this whatsoever.

When you were FT how many hours were you billing vs. the number of hours you are billing now?  If you have that information then I would get your %'s from that as well, because ultimately as an attorney all that matters is how much money you are bringing in vs. how much you cost.  And as a FT associate chances are you were billing much more than 40 hours/wk.

DO not take the bonus into account, because I am guessing as a PT atty you are just not bonus eligible and that is an unfortunate fact that you will have to deal with to have a PT position.  I am not saying that is fair, but that is the situation I am in as well and that is the loss I took in exchange for getting a PT position.

When I first went PT I had a different boss and I worked a lot more than the 3 days/week I was getting paid for.  In order for anythng to change, I had to (1) figure out how to carve out the right amount of work to fit my schedule, (2) be patient - nothing changes as quickly as you want it to, and (3) learn to say no in a diplomatic way so I did not get in over my head.

A lot of times PT just does not work out because FT positions are a lot more than 40 hours/week and it is hard to know exactly what amount of work fits in to the time you have.  Also in client situations you will always be at the mercy of your clients so there will be some evening/weekend/holiday work because there will always be clients dropping things on you at the last  minute.  Your firm cannot change that.

 

IBackBevo

PrivacyWanted - He is the type that I can just go in and talk to him, but I don't know if he will like it if I just spring the pay talk on him.

Sparky - Yes, I know what my billables were.  Obviously billable hours change, but my current billables (since going to "3 days a week") per month are about 75-80 percent of what I averaged when I was full-time.  I did not typically bill more than 40 hours a week when I was full-time and it was rare for me to work on weekends/holidays. I have worked more weekends and holidays in the six months I have been part-time than I worked in the three years I was full-time.

Also, my previous "bonus" was not a true bonus. It was part of my salary/compensation package.  After I reached a certain minmum threshold in amount billed/recieved, I received 1/3rd of what the firm recieved for my hours.  We generally recoup 90-95+ percent of what is billed and I almost never had hours written off.   Therefore, I got about 1/3rd of my billable hourly rate of $250 for all hours I billed over a certain amount.  Now I don't get this at all. 

It really isn't an issue of time management because I am typically billing 10-12 hours a day on the three days I work and still having to work days I should be off.

Basically, the problem is that I still have almost the workload I did when I was full-time, but I'm just getting paid 45% of what I previously made.  

EastCoastBride

IBackBevo:

Basically, the problem is that I still have almost the workload I did when I was full-time, but I'm just getting paid 45% of what I previously made.  

Then focus on this w/ numbers and documentation.  I agree- don't bring up your childcare.  That doesn't really factor into this, and I think you need to take the focus OFF of why  you went PT.

*sparky*

I understand the issue - I have dealt w/billable hours and trying to work a PT position in a FT field for a long time...all I was trying to say is that if you have that documentation and can show what you are billing compared to before that may help you, and it sounds like it will. 

As far as the bonus issue, regardless of what the bonus is for or how it is calculated, if the firm has a policy that as a PT employee you are not eligible for that, then I would not try to argue that as part of your compensation comparison because you are just not entitled to it.  And believe me, I understand it burns - I gave up a bonus of $30K/year to go PT.  My PT pay proration did not factor that in as part of my pay. 

I am sure you are managing your time fine and if you can show you are billing more than you are getting compensated for that proves that point.  If something has changed resulting in more holidays/weekends then try to pinpoint what that is to see if you can address it.  It has to be either the clients, your boss, or you driving that change so you just have to figure out what needs to happen to remedy the situation.

The managers I have dealt with need things in writing figured out for them, and if you give it to them in writing they have something to refer to when considering the request and/or to present to HR if necessary.  It is unlikely you will get an answer on the spot.

I was trying to give helpful advice and I am sorry if it did not come across that way.  Like I wrote, I get it - I have dealt with this for a while.  I have fond that I have to be proactive in making it work for me, because my company will of course allow me to work as much as I want to and not really care that I am not being compensated for it.

IBackBevo

*sparky*:

I was trying to give helpful advice and I am sorry if it did not come across that way.  Like I wrote, I get it - I have dealt with this for a while.  I have fond that I have to be proactive in making it work for me, because my company will of course allow me to work as much as I want to and not really care that I am not being compensated for it.

Oh, no--I thought what you were saying was helpful.    I was just trying to clarify the situation. There is no policy against bonus for p/t employees.  I was just going to propose that as a means of compensating me for the extra time I'm working.  

And I do agree as above poster said and you said, that I should focus on the objective (what I'm billing now compared to what I was billing) as opposed to my child care situation.  The main reason I mention it is simply to point out that at some point I can't go in the red every month to work.  I can't pay to work month after month.  I don't think anyone could do this.  People work jobs so they bring money into their household...not so the money that goes out every month just so they can work is greater than the money they have coming in from that job.      

*sparky*

If there is no policy against bonuses for PT ee's then that should not have been taken away from you and in that case I would try to argue to get it back. 

If you really weren't billing more than 40 hrs/wk before and you are billing close to 80% of that now, and you don't think your boss will work with you then I might consider going back to FT because 8 hours/week really is not that much of a difference in time compared to the $ you are losing out on.

GL!

IBackBevo

PrivacyWanted:

I'm guessing there's no policy against PT eligibility for bonuses because there's very little written policies anyway ? Small litigation firms tend to just be a bit Willy nilly in that regard. I'd set a meeting with him then. Maybe even give him a written proposal before you meet and tell him you want to discuss it. I know my boss would appreciate the time to mull it over on his own. Do you have any networking groups that might give you some examples of typical arrangements? I know my local women's bar has a message board where people anonymously post compensation and hours arrangements for all kinds of firms. Then you can say "I've done some research and this seems more in line with what I'm giving the firm." If it were me I'd propose more of an ofcounsel type arrangement and make my salary a percentage of hours I billed. Taking off the administrative firm overhead etc.

You are correct. We have very little written policy at all.  My boss is one of two partners/owners...and the other partner is hardly ever around as she is semi-retired. 

I am not aware of anything like the board you are talking about.  Most of my female lawyer friends either don't have kids or they work at big firms. 

Thanks for the rec on the "of counsel" idea.

sadie+w

It sounds like your boss is a huge jerk, so I am sorry for that. I would lay out clearly for him how you are working 80 of what you previously worked for 45 of the pay. I would ask to be paid by the billable hour. I would also ask why you received such a smaller bonus is that just how it is since you're PT? It sounds like he did that to just be an a. FWIW, I am a corporate employee. I get a bonus that is 20 of my salary, and still get it being part time.