Biglaw - Should Bonus Be the Same the Year of Maternity Leave?

[Anonymous]

Are there really big law firms that give the full bonus if you only hit your prorated hours? I have heard of you make the non-prorated amount they’ll give the full bonus, but ya if you worked 1300 instead of 2000 you get a prorated bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, was the target you hit the same target you would have had in a typical year, or was the target reduced because of maternity leave?

I hit the reduced target of 1300 and change, instead of 2000. But even given this, I don’t understand why my bonus is so low.

You expected more than double, but worked less than half your target hours. So the prorated 15k seems right on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, was the target you hit the same target you would have had in a typical year, or was the target reduced because of maternity leave?

I hit the reduced target of 1300 and change, instead of 2000. But even given this, I don’t understand why my bonus is so low.

You expected more than double, but worked less than half your target hours. So the prorated 15k seems right on.

Shouldn’t she have gotten like a 70% bonus? 13/20 = more than half

[Anonymous]

OP, did your peers receive their full bonus? And where did the 50k expectation come from? Is that a set amount based on your year of hire?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, was the target you hit the same target you would have had in a typical year, or was the target reduced because of maternity leave?

I hit the reduced target of 1300 and change, instead of 2000. But even given this, I don’t understand why my bonus is so low.

You expected more than double, but worked less than half your target hours. So the prorated 15k seems right on.

Shouldn’t she have gotten like a 70% bonus? 13/20 = more than half

65%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the OP. This was not a payroll department mistake. I received this bonus as part of the lengthy annual review process that includes individual meetings and a written evaluation. Both were good. My base salary is getting a bump commensurate with moving up in seniority.

As you can probably gather from the fact that I am posting, I am unhappy to received such a small bonus. I am working hard for paying clients. The firm had a great year. ML or not, I am not being fairly rewarded.

When I took ML at my old firm 6-7 years ago, my understanding was my bonus was NOT pro-rated (our bonus process was less than transparent, but based on the amount, I don’t think it was 2/3rd of what I would have gotten had I worked the whole year) and it was mentioned that I was the only one who was on maternity leave who made the pro-rated hours. Big law, btw, but bonuses weren’t really lockstep depending on your practice area.

A few years ago, they changed the policy, and were clear about it, that bonuses would now be pro-rated based on family leave. There was an uproar — no idea if it was reversed, but I doubt it.

I am of two mindsets — is a bonus just deferred comp (in which case it shouldn’t be prorated), or is it truly a bonus that reflects your contribution to the firm (in which case it makes sense)?

What does suck is that they weren’t clear to you what they were doing before hand. I assume you wouldn’t have not taken ML even if you knew this, but still.

[Anonymous]

OP again. It’s true that I still would have taken maternity leave knowing I was going to get a 2/3 bonus. But I would not have worked so much to hit the pro rated hours requirement. I would have just done the minimum to have a respectable year and been fine getting no bonus.

Issue 2 is that I still don’t understand why I got such a low bonus. Even pro rated, my bonus should be about 40k. Not 15k.

[Anonymous]

So you got full pay for 6 months, a raise and a pro-rated bonus and you are pissed? Did you also get a fall bonus while you were on leave like some firms have paid this year? And did you really “meet” your hours with billable work or are you including client development and other (non-pro bono) firm hours which associates at most firms can now tack on to meet their minimum hours? Honestly, as a female partner in a big law firm who took my last maternity leave over 10 years ago I find the sense of entitlement of younger attorneys astounding. Get over yourself and move on OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. It’s true that I still would have taken maternity leave knowing I was going to get a 2/3 bonus. But I would not have worked so much to hit the pro rated hours requirement. I would have just done the minimum to have a respectable year and been fine getting no bonus.

Issue 2 is that I still don’t understand why I got such a low bonus. Even pro rated, my bonus should be about 40k. Not 15k.

Issue 1 is something you should have found out for yourself before going on maternity leave. Issue 2 does sound odd - that isn’t anything to do with pro rating then, and you should raise that with the partners and find out why. We dont know what the bonus requirements are at your firm but in most if you hit the hours you get the bonus, pro rated or not, so that is weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you got full pay for 6 months, a raise and a pro-rated bonus and you are pissed? Did you also get a fall bonus while you were on leave like some firms have paid this year? And did you really “meet” your hours with billable work or are you including client development and other (non-pro bono) firm hours which associates at most firms can now tack on to meet their minimum hours? Honestly, as a female partner in a big law firm who took my last maternity leave over 10 years ago I find the sense of entitlement of younger attorneys astounding. Get over yourself and move on OP.

I’m not OP but you sound horrible. Most firms have found out that pro bono and some other non-billable work adds value and is important and reward associates appropriately for doing some of it while also doing billable work (the amount of which is often outside the control of junior associates). I agree that a pro rated bonus for pro rated work is fair but sounds like OP didn’t even get that. I hope you’re more supportive to the junior lawyers at your firm than you sound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you got full pay for 6 months, a raise and a pro-rated bonus and you are pissed? Did you also get a fall bonus while you were on leave like some firms have paid this year? And did you really “meet” your hours with billable work or are you including client development and other (non-pro bono) firm hours which associates at most firms can now tack on to meet their minimum hours? Honestly, as a female partner in a big law firm who took my last maternity leave over 10 years ago I find the sense of entitlement of younger attorneys astounding. Get over yourself and move on OP.

I am OP: People like this are why I am posting anonymously on a message board rather than asking about my firm’s bonus policy. There is a written policy and it specifies pro rating for people who join the firm mid-year or take an “approved leave of absence.” Elsewhere in the HR handbook, “approved leave of absence” is defined as “unpaid leave from the firm.” Since the most common kind of leave is ML/PL, the bonus policy should just say “pro rating applies for mid-year laterals and those who take any leave, to include ML/PL.”

I lateraled from the government in 2018 and no one at the firm explained the bonus policy to me or that apparently there is discretion to award less to associates for seemingly no reason.

I received a number of job offers when I left government for the private sector. If I had realized my total compensation would be what it was for 2020, I would have taken a different job offer. My firm offers 14 weeks ML. I think this is fine. Given that Fed employees now get 12 weeks, this is far from generous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you got full pay for 6 months, a raise and a pro-rated bonus and you are pissed? Did you also get a fall bonus while you were on leave like some firms have paid this year? And did you really “meet” your hours with billable work or are you including client development and other (non-pro bono) firm hours which associates at most firms can now tack on to meet their minimum hours? Honestly, as a female partner in a big law firm who took my last maternity leave over 10 years ago I find the sense of entitlement of younger attorneys astounding. Get over yourself and move on OP.

I’m not OP but you sound horrible. Most firms have found out that pro bono and some other non-billable work adds value and is important and reward associates appropriately for doing some of it while also doing billable work (the amount of which is often outside the control of junior associates). I agree that a pro rated bonus for pro rated work is fair but sounds like OP didn’t even get that. I hope you’re more supportive to the junior lawyers at your firm than you sound.

I am absolutely supportive of junior lawyers, particularly women who are trying to figure out how balance work and their families. And I specifically excluded pro bono from my statement above because of course that should and does count. And if OP got less than the prorated amount she should obviously raise that with her firm - not with DCUM. But OPs post was questioning why she didn’t get the full bonus even though she only worked for part of the year which to me shows the sense of entitlement I’m seeing a lot these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you got full pay for 6 months, a raise and a pro-rated bonus and you are pissed? Did you also get a fall bonus while you were on leave like some firms have paid this year? And did you really “meet” your hours with billable work or are you including client development and other (non-pro bono) firm hours which associates at most firms can now tack on to meet their minimum hours? Honestly, as a female partner in a big law firm who took my last maternity leave over 10 years ago I find the sense of entitlement of younger attorneys astounding. Get over yourself and move on OP.

I am OP: People like this are why I am posting anonymously on a message board rather than asking about my firm’s bonus policy. There is a written policy and it specifies pro rating for people who join the firm mid-year or take an “approved leave of absence.” Elsewhere in the HR handbook, “approved leave of absence” is defined as “unpaid leave from the firm.” Since the most common kind of leave is ML/PL, the bonus policy should just say “pro rating applies for mid-year laterals and those who take any leave, to include ML/PL.”

I lateraled from the government in 2018 and no one at the firm explained the bonus policy to me or that apparently there is discretion to award less to associates for seemingly no reason.

I received a number of job offers when I left government for the private sector. If I had realized my total compensation would be what it was for 2020, I would have taken a different job offer. My firm offers 14 weeks ML. I think this is fine. Given that Fed employees now get 12 weeks, this is far from generous.

You are making the same as when you were in the government?! That sucks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there really big law firms that give the full bonus if you only hit your prorated hours? I have heard of you make the non-prorated amount they’ll give the full bonus, but ya if you worked 1300 instead of 2000 you get a prorated bonus.

Yes. DH is at a big law firm in DC, and for both his paternity leaves he hit his prorated hours target but not the regular target, and he received his full bonus for his respective graduation year. That being said, maybe this year, because of the pandemic, OP’s firm is looking for ways to trim the fat. Yes, I know there were special bonuses this year and firms did well overall, but I think firms often try to save money on things that they think aren’t public and can’t easily be compared...i.e., they’ll do it with something like this where it looks like a case-by-case basis and not on something like a pandemic special bonus, where all their associates will put them on ATL and they’ll look collectively cheap.

I’m sorry to OP though, that really stinks.

[Anonymous]

So the rule is men get full bonuses and moms do not?