Question: How do you turn a $100,000 per year job into one earning $80,000? 

Answer:  …by working harder and longer.

At least that’s the message today for attorneys working at the Department of Justice (DOJ).  For years these high-powered, intellectual types were “expected,” presumably as salaried sorts, to work more than the average bear.  Thus, 40-hour workweeks were unknown.  More was better.

For years, DOJ lawyers have been petitioning for proper recompense.  As noted in Stephen Barr’s article today, a federal circuit court said:  Nope, no overtime (OT) for the overworked barristers.

Why not?  OT was neither requested nor approved in writing.  This is another example of the classic oral agreement not being worth the paper it’s written on. 

Even though OT was culturally expected in this organization, it was not official, at least not per the standing rules of the road.  Thus, these well-educated folks, many of whom may still be paying off college loans for their high-powered legal degrees, are out of luck. 

Rather than being high-flying, elites in the organization, they have been financially demoted and now probably earn very close to what some lower-grade fellow employees are paid. 

How does this happen?

It’s the new “Pay” math.  If you work 50 hours a week – a mere pittance for attorney types – but are salaried based on 40 hours, your effective hourly rate is only 80% of the stated amount.  By extension, your annual salary is 20% lower, too.

Of course, if you wish to get really into this, and consider the financial impact of your average workaholic, then someone who’s working 60 hours a week for a position worth $100,000 annually effectively makes $66,666.67.  An eager eighty-hour a week worker pulls down a numbing $50,000 annually. 

So, make sure you understand this “new” math.  The more you work, the less you earn.  It’s simple.  Anyone can do it.  It’s up to you.

Fred Apelquist

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