How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave? Forum

(On Campus Interviews, Summer Associate positions, Firm Reviews, Tips, ...)
Forum rules
Anonymous Posting

Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are revealing sensitive employment related information about a firm, job, etc. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.

Failure to follow these rules will get you outed, warned, or banned.
sener212

New
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:51 am

How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave?

Post by sener212 » Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:40 pm

Hey people,

I took approved fmla leave for medical issues at my biglaw firm this year. My understanding is I am “credited” in some way for 8 hours of work for each day of fmla leave. I want to inquire with my firm as to how this affects my bonus (I am aware of no clear policy), but before I do I want to have an idea of what other firms do.

For similar leaves of absence (e.g. paternity/maternity leave) do your firms actually move your hours target down proportional to the time you took off? Do you get a prorated bonus based on time taken off by hitting the prorated hours target, or is it a full bonus if you hit the proportionally reduced hourly number? Or no bonus at all without hitting standard number?

shock259

Gold
Posts: 1932
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:30 am

Re: How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave?

Post by shock259 » Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:00 pm

My firm pro-rates down your hourly requirement based on your leave, and then pro-rates down your bonus accordingly. So, an easy example would be if you are gone for 1 month, you have a 1/12th lower billable requirement for the year. If you hit that target, you get your foll bonus, minus the 1/12th.

Mine also has a true up. So if your full billable target (2000) even though you were out for 1/12th of the year, you will get the full bonus.

Not sure how other firms operate, though.

sener212

New
Posts: 46
Joined: Sun Mar 24, 2013 12:51 am

Re: How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave?

Post by sener212 » Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:08 pm

Bump. Any other examples? Seems like a relatively important benefit (particularly for this having kids) that we don’t have much info on.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428117
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave?

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:41 pm

I think my firm may pay full bonus if you make a prorated hours requirement, but haven't encountered this myself.

worklifewhat

New
Posts: 90
Joined: Wed Jun 06, 2018 2:25 pm

Re: How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave?

Post by worklifewhat » Fri Oct 19, 2018 8:01 pm

shock259 wrote:My firm pro-rates down your hourly requirement based on your leave, and then pro-rates down your bonus accordingly. So, an easy example would be if you are gone for 1 month, you have a 1/12th lower billable requirement for the year. If you hit that target, you get your foll bonus, minus the 1/12th.

Mine also has a true up. So if your full billable target (2000) even though you were out for 1/12th of the year, you will get the full bonus.

Not sure how other firms operate, though.
Same at my firm.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428117
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: How are bonuses affected by FMLA leave?

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Oct 20, 2018 8:22 am

My firm prorates your hours target for purposes of "hitting your hours", but there's no written policy on whether your bonus is correspondingly prorated. My suspicion is that it's not prorated for paid leave, but if you take unpaid leave, it might be. But I dunno, bump this in December and I and others might have a clearer understanding!

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


Post Reply Post Anonymous Reply  

Return to “Legal Employment”