Expert: Shirley McAllister, CPP, PHR - 7/24/2008

Question
Dear Shirley,
I am a part-time paralegal for a midsize law firm. I am a w-2 employee, 100% billable,only work when needed and do not have benefits. On average I work 25 hours a week at $30.00 per hour and the firm bills me out at $90.00.

Recently, they asked me if I would consider taking on a newly formed position of office manager in addition to my paralegal duties.  They said the office manager position would be part-time but salaried with benefits.  They indicated I would wear the office manager hat 2-3 days a week and the remainder of the week I would continue with my taking various paralegal assignments.
Since the creation of this position is still in the early stages, I want to ensure I understand what my option s are for compensation.  I do not want to risk earning less as a paralegal. What are the possible ways this can be structured payroll wise? Is it possible for me to be an hourly employee billing my hours in conjunction with a part-time salaried employee with benfits?
How can I make sure I am properly compensated for taking on both positions.  
Thank you for your time.  I appreciate you guidance in this matter.
Leslie

Answer
Leslie,
You will be working two different positions for the same company.

They would need to either make the Office Manager job hourly or they would need to pay the salary out for both jobs and make it enough to cover the 25 hours X 30.00 an hour plus the two or three days for office manager.

First they need to figure out if it is 2 days or 3 days a week.

Now if they just pay you 30.00 an hour for everything you will be okay.

If they are paying less for one job than the other than it could be a problem.

I wouldn't recommend trying to do both salaried and hourly . Both jobs could be exempt which would mean they are salaried. If they just figured your salary at 30.00 an hour for 40 hours X 52 weeks it would be 62,400 a year. That would mean your weekly salary would be 1200.00 a week.

If they want to pay less than 30.00 an hour for the Office Manager job than they need to do hourly on both jobs and set up a 1st job wage and a 2nd job wage. Than they would have to put the hours worked on the first job in at that rate say Paralegal job 1 at 30.00 X 24 hours = 720.00 Then Office Manager job 2 at 20.00 an hour 20.00X 16 =320.00.  Total wages for the week is 720.00 plus 320.00 for a total of 1040 per week. Taxes and benefits would be figured on the 1040 a week combined total.

Shirley