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

[Anonymous]

I work at a big international law firm. I took maternity leave in 2020 and was awarded a bonus of 15k for the year. I had expected a bonus of more than double this because I met my billable hours requirement. (For reference, I am a 2015 law school graduate.) Apparently, my firm applies "pro rating" for attorneys who take maternity leave--so if you were out for 4 of 12 months, your bonus is reduced by 1/3. Is this typical???

[Anonymous]

Yes in my experience that is typical - depending on what you mean. If you mean that the usual billable requirement is 2000 hours and you worked 1333 hours, then you would expect to get a bonus that is 2/3 the usual bonus. But if your billable requirement was dropped to 1333 because of mat leave but you actually still worked 2000, which often happens in my experience, and they still want to give you the 2/3 bonus because officially you were only working at 0.66 FTE, then you should argue for the full bonus plus even some extra if your firm is in the habit of giving additional bonuses for substantially exceeding the requirement.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I'm a big fan of generous maternity policies, but of course if you only worked 2/3 of the year, and your revenue target was adjusted downward by 1/3, then your bonus will also be 1/3 less. It is ridiculous to expect otherwise, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I'm a big fan of generous maternity policies, but of course if you only worked 2/3 of the year, and your revenue target was adjusted downward by 1/3, then your bonus will also be 1/3 less. It is ridiculous to expect otherwise, sorry.

Meant to add - echo what the PP said. If you actually mean you hit 2000 hours, then yeah, you should absolutely get the full bonus.

But if your target was reduced by 1/3, and your only reached this lower target (not 2000 hours), then absolutely your bonus should be too. Otherwise it would be an absurd windfall for people who take leave.

[Anonymous]

Anecdotal, but Morgan pays full bonus the year of maternity leave.

[Anonymous]

This is NOT typical at my spouse’s big law firm. They have taken two full parental leaves for both our kids, and while the billing requirement was prorated, the bonus was not (still got 100% both years) because they still met the billing requirement for the prorated hours. Otherwise, it seems like you’re being penalized for having a child and taking leave (yes, I realize while you are on leave that you aren’t making money for the firm).

[Anonymous]

How much maternity leave did you take? Of course this is firm dependent, but the full bonus for 2015 grad should be north of 50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is NOT typical at my spouse’s big law firm. They have taken two full parental leaves for both our kids, and while the billing requirement was prorated, the bonus was not (still got 100% both years) because they still met the billing requirement for the prorated hours. Otherwise, it seems like you’re being penalized for having a child and taking leave (yes, I realize while you are on leave that you aren’t making money for the firm).

You are being peanalized for only getting a prorated bonus, while you otherwise got full pay and benefits during parental leave?

[Anonymous]

This happened to my DH during the year he took paternity leave. It was prorated (as is the policy), but he had nevertheless more than exceeded the hour minimum in the time he DID work. He pointed it out and was given the entire bonus.

Clearly did not hurt him because a couple years later he made partner.

I'd say something to someone, if you have a higher-up colleague you are friendly with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is NOT typical at my spouse’s big law firm. They have taken two full parental leaves for both our kids, and while the billing requirement was prorated, the bonus was not (still got 100% both years) because they still met the billing requirement for the prorated hours. Otherwise, it seems like you’re being penalized for having a child and taking leave (yes, I realize while you are on leave that you aren’t making money for the firm).

You are being peanalized for only getting a prorated bonus, while you otherwise got full pay and benefits during parental leave?

It drives me nuts when people make comments like this that are along the line of “But aren’t you already getting enough?!” If another employer is offering better compensation and benefits, that is because of market forces. Lawyers should know about comparative compensation in the market in order to demand the compensation their work is worth.

[Anonymous]

Chances are someone in payroll just applied the leave formula. They don't know or care about associates hours. Talk to your partner and get it fixed.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

Ahhhh....

I'm the PP who replied that my DH had the same thing happen to him. But no, he didn't - because he had hit well over 2000 hours in the 9 months he worked (yes he took 12 weeks leave).

If you hit the reduced target, you get the prorated bonus. That's standard. I think the only unfortunate thing is that it wasn't made more clear to you before you took the leave.