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Contractors on Salary?
An anonymous reader asks: "I recently got a new job (yes I am one of the lucky few) as a contract programmer. In part of the contract negotiations, the company would not allow me to work on an hourly rate, but instead placed me on salary. I have run into problems in the past where I have had to work an absurd number of hours as a programmer, and am curious where to draw the line. Obviously it is not ok to just leave at the end of an 8 hour shift if there is still lots to be done, but what if the poor project management is not your fault, and heavy deadlines are coming up? Can the company legally make you work 10-16 hour days? I would consider myself new to the industry but not unexperienced. At the company I used to work at, I worked crazy hours and didn't know it was OK to say that the hours are too much. What do you all think?"
reading and submitting articles to /. -- maybe that's why they don't want to pay you hourly. BTW, FP!
You haven't even started working yet. Why are you concerned about working too many hours? You have no idea if your boss is a poor manager or not, and you have not yet been forced to work more than eight hours at this company.
No, no one will force you to work twelve hours a day. They can easily find someone else who will *willingly* do so, to feed their family and pay their debts.
...
For contract work, I would guess it would be a bit different. You probably should negotiate both the expected number of hours and the expected calendar time for the project, because otherwise, they will work you as much as they can, and will claim contract breach if you don't work what they want.
And, don't trust HR. They are not on your side. Get everything in writing, and assume any nonwritten verbal agreement to not go in your favor if it comes down to it.
Being educated is 1000 times better than being in a union. This is your livelihood, so you have to take control of it and not let yourself get jerked around. Most employers are not "evil" and aren't out to screw you, but the will operate to their advantage (and why shouldn't they?), so be smart, informed and careful.
http://www.naildrivin5.com/davec
If you are being paid a salary, I don't think you are a contractor, at least according to the Feds. Are they going to take taxes out? If they treat you like an employee and pay you like one, then you are an employee.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
It doesn't sound to me like you're really doing contract work. Do you have a contract with the company saying they're going to pay you X dollars a month for unlimited work? It sounds like the company has hired you as an employee but is pretending you're a contractor to avoid paying you benefits. The IRS may consider you an employee for tax purposes, I'd check into this with a tax accountant if I were you.
It appears in the USA an employer can fire employees at will, while in Europe firing people to avoid direct bankrubsy is impossible. THis is - of course - an exchageration, but it would make sense to specify a topograpic region...
1) Why won't they hire you on an hourly basis? Or, at least, why did they claim that salary was their preference? (Maybe they want to exploit; maybe they don't want you doing one hour of work, seven of minesweeper and then billing for all eight.)
2) If you are signing a *contract*, why don't you put an hours-per-week clause?
Joe
Joe
http://www.joegrossberg.com
US, Europe, somewhere else?
In Europe we have regulations to prevent this - stipulation on maximum working week etc. However, in the way the regulations were implemented in the UK, it's standard practice for everyone to sign a contract that allows overtime working with no fixed maximum.
So, if it did get too much, you would have to quit and probably work your termination period. There would probably be little to gain trying to argue the contract in court at that point.
I suspect that, even if there is a similar law in the US (or elsewhere), it would always have been implemented in an "optional" way to appease the large corporates.
As a former IT Director I am somewhat familiar with federal labor laws. It all depends on your salary range here is an exerpt from a labor site online:
" The federal salary level for professional employees remains at $170 per week, exclusive of board, lodging or other facilities; and the short test for professionals also uses a salary of just $250 per week. Computer professionals are treated somewhat differently, however. In 1990 the U.S. Congress passed legislation specifically to address the computer field. The exemption is applied only to "highly-skilled employees who have achieved a level of proficiency in the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly-specialized knowledge in computer systems analysis, programming, and software engineering." These computer professionals must receive a salary of at least $1,105 per week, which breaks down to an hourly wage of $27.35 for a 40-hour workweek; and is an annual salary of $57,460 - a far higher salary than most bona fide exempt EAPemployees receive in the human services field."
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
Like everyone else has said, it sounds like they hired you as an employee, as contractors usually are paid for the completion of work, not by the hour or salary. At any rate, any company over a certain size (I think it's over 50 employees here in PA) MUST pay overtime of one and a half times salary (1.5x) for all hours over 40 in a week. The company is probably trying to get around this by calling it's employees "contractors" (my company used to do the same). You already have a contract so don't be afraid to be pushy about it. Don't let yourself get screwed.
oops here is the link
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
Of course it's okay say that you're working too much. Some employers will say 'oh I didn't realize, take some time off', others will just think you're trying to slack off. See how your manager handles other cases and act off of that. It may not be 'right' for them to force you to work extra hours, but sometimes keeping your job is more important that what right.
You are their employee. An IT contractor has to jump through countless hoops to retain his independent status [Google on "Employee or Independent Contractor?"]. In this instance, you are no longer a contractor by any sense of IRS regulations, common law, or statutory law.
On the other hand, if you were a conniving little twerp, you could get these people in a hell of a lot of trouble with e.g. the Labor Department [not to mention the IRS] were you to so choose. Of course, to leverage that to your advantage, you'd have to commit blackmail...
It doesn't sound like you're a contractor at all, but an employee. I've never heard of a "salary" being paid to a contractor, though per diem (aka per day) rates are common.
At any rate, I've found that setting expectations early is critical. Make it clear to your client what they are paying for. This does not mean you have to be inflexible. You both want the project to be successful in the end. If excessive hours are required, don't bother fighting. Simply make it clear that more work is more expensive, but that you will be happy to see to it that the client's needs are met. If your client has a problem with this, consider your relationship with them carefully. Make it clear that you understand their concerns and that you want to do whatever you can to help them, without getting screwed yourself. Your client is probably motivated by the memory of runaway projects. Make it clear that you have their best interests in mind. Remember, the client is motivated by both excitement and fear. If you can harness those emotions, you can usually turn the negotiations in a helpful direction for both of you.
Finally, it never hurts to show off your professionalism. Dress one notch more formally than those in your workplace. Be friendly and helpful at all times, but refrain from getting involved with office politics. Think about the mannerisms of your lawyer or doctor. You are a highly paid expert in your field. Act like it and your client will come to understand what they are paying for.
BRENT ROCKWOOD, EST'd 1975
Play hardball.
Specify that perdiem (ie per day) rates are $xxx/day. A normal day is 7 or 8 hours and does not start before 6:30AM or after 7 PM. A maximum of xx extra hours may be worked per week, with reasonable notice.
After-hours rates are $xx/hr and oncall rates are $xx/hr. Payment terms are Net 30 with a 2% discount if paid within 14 days. There will be a 5% fee for invoices not paid within 60 days, and a 1.5% fee per 30 days thereafter.
If they do not agree to a contract like that, they are looking for someone to exploit, and will probaly be slow in producing money.
My advice is to go out and find another place to work.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
A: Yes. Well, technically no, but you are not an employee so yes. You see, an employee has to be given a total of 30 minutes rest for 8 hours of work, and while I can demand that the employee stay over 8hrs/day -or- 40hrs/wk, The state law makes sure that I compensate them with breaks, food, sometimes lodging. It gets to expensive for me to hold my employees longer than normal. I once figured the breaking point is at 9.5 to 10 hours a day. If I require my people to stay 9.5hr/day, I'm not really losing anything. However, at 10hr/day, I lose my butt. On the other hand, my lawyers have written our contracts such that when I hire a developer to work on a contract, they agree:
- Work in the office on business days (M-F): This means that the contactor can't work from home or decide to work tue, wed, thu. (of course they each have a set number of sick days, and vaca, etc...
- Work at the "corporate" pace: This is requirement very arbitrary. It's purpose is two fold. One, it allows me to get out of the contract with poor performers, and two, it allows me to squeeze late nights out of any contractor. It states that the contractor(s) must perform his/her/their tasks at such a pace as to not delay the development of the companies staff.
I know that it doesn't seem fair, but my view point on it is like this. If you hire a mechanic to fix your car, and they say that for $300 they can get it done in 4 days. If it take seven days, the total cost to you is greater than the price your agreed on for the service that you got. So in effect the mechanic broke your contract. I pay my contactors for end results, not time spent creating results. The Company that I hire contractors for, expects that for $300 they can get their car fixed, and if that doesn't happen it looses money.So yes, a company can require the entity that it contracts with to what ever it takes to provide the end product on time and with a certain level of quality. And my company also requires that all work done... be done inside the confines of our building. But no, it can get really expensive the keep regular employees.
You have 2 choices, work what they want you to work or don't work for them.
If you do what they want and it doesn't coincide with what you want then you can try to negotiate however this will probably not work. You'll end up pissing them off and they will get rid of you one way or another if they don't get what they want from you.
The simple fact is that if your unwilling to put up with their bullshit, someone else will. If this is the only good job you can come up with, then your stuck with their terms. If you have several opportunities then you can negotiate or even laugh in their face.
As for the next time, there is no problem with asking a perspective employer how many hours a week you will be expected to work. It's also ok to ask to speak to a current employee of the company about the working conditions.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
- You bid a job for a firm fixed price/firm fixed time. e.g. you promised to do something by a given date for a given amount of money, and you signed a contract saying so. This is a great way to do contract work if you're experienced and can price your jobs competitively and deliver. But since you're asking newbie questions I don't think this is what you've got.
- You're a contractor and will get a form 1099
at the end of the tax year. This is possible, but again doesn't sound like what you described.
- You're working for a company that does contract work, but will get a W-2 (e.g. you're an employee of a contractor, but not a contractor yourself). In which case you certainly can be salaried, and maybe you've bitten off more than you can chew, but one would hope that the company that's you're working for is a decent one.
So what is it?It sounds as if you're in the same situation my wife has been in (and is about to be in again). You're an employee of a contract house; your employer turns around and bills the company you'll be doing the work for (the "client").
... and keep looking for something even better. The best time to look for a job is when you have a job. Don't jump ship at the first sight of something shiny, but do keep an eye out for great opportunities.
As others have said, you're an "exempt employee"; the belief is that your hours are somewhat flexible, and that you are not guaranteed overtime no matter how many (or which) hours you work. (But you should be able to take a couple of hours off for a doctor's appointment without a lot of fuss.)
On the other hand, it's very likely that your contract house will bill the client for the number of hours you work. So you could be in a weird situation: the client could ask you to work 60 hours a week, your contract house makes 50% more than they'd expected, and you don't make an extra penny.
If everyone's reasonable, things will work out fine. The situation's ripe for potential abuse, though no more so than any other exempt employee situation.
My advice? Take the job, get what you can in writing, set expectations verbally when you can (and then take notes of what was said), don't talk about "40 hours per week" as if it's an entitlement
P.S.: My wife was offered a choice of salary or hourly. She took hourly (and will bill 40 hours per week but work whatever hours are required), at a rate corresponding to two paid weeks off. That way, if she wants to take more time off (without pay), she's able to do so. She got the position with the client (her old employer) first, and then shopped contract houses. It was great to find a supportive and flexible one.
Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
Here are the IRS guidelines used to determine whether or not an independent contractor truly is an: Employee or Contractor? Workers are generally considered employees if they:
Why are you bellyaching about too many hours already? That's all you'll get out there. Drop programming already. The field is SATURATED.
Of course, no one will ever put the blame on the universities for enticing too many people and graduating them, no, let's blame the economy, the evil capitalists, etc...
Here is how I do it: I make an agreement with the company that they will make a loan to me for the desired amount per month. I then offer to repay the loan using labor at a set rate per hour. If I do not work the requisite number of hours, then the loan either rolls over, or charges off against the next month.
The proceeds of a loan are not income, therefore, these proceeds are not taxable.
The downside to the company is that they cannot charge off the labor as taxable, either. However, the offset in paperwork and administrative costs is significant, so it works for both of us.
In the above scenario, where the guy has contracted for un unspecified number of hours, I would base the amount of the loan and the repayment upon the desired deliverable and an expected delivery date. A clause in the loan would state that if they are responsible for any delays in the deliverable over and above a "normal" set of hours per week, that they are to make me a "bridge" loan at a premium, to be repaid at an increased rate.
Liberty is not a concept... Liberty is a way of life!!!
At a previous job I was almost converted from a hourly w2 contractor to a *salaried* contractor. He's what it meant in my situation.
current: 50/hr no bennies/health ins/vacation/sick time
proposed: 1920 week (48/hr), 2 weeks vacation, health ins, sick days
in the current, if I worked a 41st hour I would get $50; in the second I would make $48. So I guess it was salary with overtime pay. From my understanding, this is a common practice.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
My son has been given the opportunity to get some Oracle training in return for taking a two-year contract with a major cable network company. The contract is through a contract company which is providing the training, and taking a cut of his pay. Supposedly, the contract includes benefits, such as health insurance. Does this seem right? With this kind of deal can one quit anytime without liability?
So for example, he's switching out the clutch on my '85 Subaru hatchback. He looks up the job and discovers that it should take 4.6 hours (yes, I made that up). He quotes me the price for parts + 4.6 hours of shop labor. I agree to pay this price. Because he kicks ass, he actually gets it done in 3.5 hours. I still pay the shop the full cost, and the shop still pays him for 4.6 hours of labor. However, if he screws the pooch and takes 7 hours, he is STILL only getting paid for 4.6. Efficient mechanics are rewarded for their skill, and nobody gets screwed over.
A good pay period can have him earning 55 hours of wages for 40 hours of work. Of course, what actually happens is that I leach off him and he does the labor for free, but my wife babysits his kid and I fix his PC, so it works out in the end.
Unless I am badly mistaken, you are quite wrong: the forgiveness of a loan is considered to be income by the IRS, and you do have to pay taxes on it. I doubt that it makes any difference why the loan was forgiven (or declared "bad"), so don't complain if auditors come knocking on your door soon.
Scientists restrict study to entire physical universe; creationist
all my life (until now) I was 'fulltime'. I got to participate in stock options, profit sharing, receive company tee shirts (oh boy!) and all that stuff. I had to stay as late as the other fulltimers (much more than 8 hrs/day) and the job was to get goals done regardless of the hours it took (more or less).
recently I took a contract job. not going direct but thru a contract house (as many large companies insist on, today). I was sometimes given the option of going '1099' or 'w2' (as they say). but usually the contract houses want you to go w2 since it makes things easier for them and also (more importantly) less liability. I don't know why, but it became clear that they take less risk if you go w2.
btw, I found some useful numbers in my research. if you found the job yourself and was told to go to a 'body shop' to front-end you, you are really bringing the business to the body shop and you should know that the body shop should take about 23% of your income. if, otoh, you went to the body shop and they found YOU the job, they deserve a bit higher of a cut, which in the silicon valley seems to be about 33%. I found those numbers by poking and prying - technically I wasn't supposed to know those numbers.. but knowlege IS power.
anyway, your contract should be very clear about overtime. if you are not getting benefits from the company you are working at (where you report to each day), then I would work a straight 8 hours and that should be that. why should you work more than what you are paid for? you're not being compensated for the success of the company - you are being paid for your hours (quality hours, of course).
the client (where you work) may try to pressure you into staying beyond the normal work day but don't succumb. even though the guys you sit next to don't leave at 5 or 6pm, they also are getting some other compensation you are NOT getting.
make sure that if the body shop you work for bills for extra hours, you also see extra pay.
and read the contract carefully. its not wrong to negotiate on some of the paragraphs. I saw lots of non-compete clauses that were crazy! saying that I wasn't able to work for anyone that the client employed during the last 5 years or so! nuts!! if you are bringing the business to the bodyshop, you should NOT sign any non-compete more than, say, 3 to 6 months. certainly not a year and not 2 or 5 years! but if the body shop found you the job, they have a right to ask for a more aggressive non-compete from you.
and don't sign away your rights! don't allow 'arbitration'. use whatever legal avenues you have if you should run into problems later on. one contract I was presented said that I was giving up my legal rights in favor of THEIR arbitration and that I acknowledge that my arb. rights are LESS THAN those normally given to me by law. yeah, right - I'd really like to sign my rights away. when I called them on it, they did agree to strike that paragraph. see - you CAN talk with them and call them on their BS and get them to remove offending paragraphs - IF you shop around and see what is normal for your area/field.
last thought - work is hard to find. in a good market, you can show more moxy than in a weak market. try to negotiate but realize that working at all is better than holding out for a job that may be months in coming.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
If not then work your forty. It is gonna be VERY hard for anyone to fire you because you *only* worked 40 hours a week.
WHere the crap are you anyway, Indonesia? Here in America it's damn hard to fire someone (course you could easily make the next round of layoffs).
I had a boss that used to say "There's 24 hours in a day!" And I would yell back at him "Yeah but You only pay me for 8!"
Jerry Bernstein. If you ever run into the fat bastard run.
Good luck. The times they are a changin'. Read Michal Moores new book "Stupid White Men".
Bill
bamph
Of course it's ok... you have a family, don't you? Or was that YOU on that carton of milk?
--jdp Maintainer of VisEmacs
Of course, whether such a contractual clause has any legal validity at all is a different matter; see the DTI information on working time regulations.
The thing that always amazes me is that incompetent managers continue to equate longer hours with higher productivity. The UK has the longest hours and lowest statutory minimum holiday entitlement of any EU member state, yet it also has almost the lowest productivity by any major benchmark.
The population of the US seems prepared to put up with any amount of abuse from the big corporate employers and such, and when someone from elsewhere with three times the annual holiday allowance suggests that demanding a reasonable limit on their working hours is entirely appropriate, I've seen US citizens here on /. rant at them about how they don't know how good they've got it. They just don't realise how abusive their employers are compared to the rest of the western world... <sigh>
By the way, I work in the UK, and I'm paid a salary rather than an hourly rate (and no over-time). My contract specifies a minimum 37.5 hour week, and I work pretty close to that. The company makes a genuine effort to treat its employees well, so most of us are prepared to cut them some slack when deadlines come up, but ultimately it's a two-way business relationship, and there are always limits to what would be acceptable by either side.
In contrast, at the last place I worked, the management was so worried about their financial state that they actually started asking people to defer taking their holiday entitlement, because we couldn't bill the clients for days when people were on leave and cash flow was that bad. Needless to say, everyone started taking their holiday immediately to make sure they got it at all, and many of the good people started looking for alternative employment around that point. Go figure...
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
I had a boss who used to say: "If I can't do my job in 40 hours a week, they'll need to hire more people".
Obviously, it doesn't hurt to be a little flexible when it's crunch time, but basically you're paid for 40 hours a week, so that should be your normal working hours. Working 12-16 hours a day may please some managers, but in the long run it's very counterproductive. You'll spend the first 4 hours of tomorrow fixing the mistakes you made in the last 4 hours of today.
I read a study some years ago that showed that after 9 hours of work, productivity and accuracy decreased dramatically in most workers. And this was an assembly line in a car factory.
Another point: "leaving after 8 hours when there's lots of things to do". Unless your project deadline is tomorrow and you really are very nearly done, there's always lots more things to do on a software project, so that doesn't hold water.
As for advice: since it is a new job, you could try to work a little more in the beginning. Look at what other people are doing: are you the only one working after hours? Is everybody doing it? Are they doing it because they feel like part of a team and want to accomplish something? Or are they doing it because they are intimidated by management? If it's the latter, you probably should start looking for yet another job (I know, I know, it's hard these days).
Just my 2 cents though...
MSN 8: Now Microsoft even has bugs in their ad campaigns.
Weird situation indeed.
I'm a salaried "exempt" employee of a contract house that bills the client hourly. The company says that I am "hourly exempt," which is a contradiction in terms and most likely illegal. I can't work over 40 hours without prior authorization (cool by me); I can't work under 40 hours without using paid time off or taking unpaid leave.
As far as I can tell, the only real difference between me and an hourly employee is that I can only take unpaid time in full-day increments--which sucks, since I only get 2 weeks paid vacation and no sick pay. Unpaid leave is a certainty, and I wish I had more flexibility with it.
But I like the job and the people, and in this job market, I'm not about to quibble.
And it beats being "really" exempt. I don't work overtime--if I did, the contract specifies that they pay me straight time. I love how they make a lack of protection by labor laws sound like a good thing: hey, I'm exempt!
You are brazenly contradicting your own description of your company's standard contractual obligations. You said,
That's perfectly clear. You specify a minimum number of working hours per day. You also said your contractors must,
That's clear too. Not only must your contractors work your specified minimum number of hours per day but they must also work at your office every weekday.
So, what you are saying now is that you have another term, which you omitted to mention in your first comment, in your company's contracts which specifies a deliverable and a due date for that deliverable.
A more accurate description of what you pay for is to say you pay your contractors for fulfilment of all their contractual obligations. You do not pay them for end product alone. That difference is important.
In my opinion, you are not managing your contractors effectively. Find other managers who are using "time-less" contracts to see how they work. If you set up your contracts to require your contractors to complete deliverables by specified dates to agreed standards with as many intermediate milestones as you consider necessary for feedback purposes but without specifying minimum hours of work and arbitrary attendance for attendance's sake, you would still get the contracted deliverables but because you are offering a more attractive package you would be able to attract better contractors to fill your vacancies, improve staff motivation, suffer lower staff turnover, and get better results.
Why oil price increase equals economic trouble (Score: Interesti
1. If you're receiving a salary, you're an employee.
2. Nobody can make you work more hours than you want to. If your employer thinks you aren't doing enough work to justify your salary, they may fire you. But I have to say that in my 30 years in the IT industry, about half of it in the USA and about half in Europe, I have never come across a case of somebody being fired for refusing to work more than 40 hours per week.
3. A lot of young people seem to be very susceptible to peer-group pressure. You see a bunch of people working long hours, and you feel you can't just walk out of the office at 5pm, leaving them all beavering away. When you grow up, you'll realise that you can. Nothing bad will happen to you. You'll just get into the habit of wasting less time during the working day. And you may develop some independence of thought, which will be good for you.
You are correct. I do pay for fulfilment of all their contractual obligations. Your right... that is important.
I'd bet you if you changed to use "time-less" contracts, you'd get higher productivity from your contractors for the same pay. Your company's lawyer should be able to write a really watertight time-less contract.
On the other hand, maybe you're a bear not a bull in the contract stakes, and would rather run away from trying any new contracts.
Why oil price increase equals economic trouble (Score: Interesti
Well, I like to think of my self more as a dolphin, or a club foot baby seal... regardless... If you follow Dilbert, I'm not supposed to make good choices like "time-less" contracts. Besides, it sounds like there isn't any time involved with those contracts. hugmmmph.
No really... you beat me down. You win. I posted the comment because it was a slow comment day. I'm not even a manager, nor have I ever worked as or with a contractor. I realize that if you use I timeless contract you get better quality, but the comment generated more activity posted as it was... and don't you feel better after venting? I know I do...
Have a nice day.
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2. The second rule of Slashdot is: Never feed trolls!
3. IANAT (who's kidding whom?!).
Happy New Year!
Why oil price increase equals economic trouble (Score: Interesti
I understand that in New Zealand there is a different work ethic -- more balanced toward family being of importance rather than job.
Are there any New Zealanders that can shed some light on the attitudes of employees and employers?
I worked at a large banking company and insurance company as a contractor in New York. And I had to explain to these people, many times, that I was only an effective programmer for about 40 hours a week (Actually, I am only effective for about 32 hours a week, but there was enough administrative tasks and other things to break it up, to call it 40.) And I told them this.
I find if I work more than a certian amount of time, the bugs I write in the system move me backwards and not fowards. I would encourage you to try and figure out what is a reasonable amount of time for you to writes software, and just set boundries around this. I suppose I might of lost the contract over it, but it never came to that, and I always met my dead lines. I found working 40 hours a week, I met my deadlines more, and the software had fewer defects!
(Check out Extream Programming)
Every state in the US has laws on what constitutes overtime, and who is exempt.
I started looking into this a few weks ago, and was surprised to find out how many salary position I have had that I should have gotten overtime.
so, Take the salary, and if it turns out your duties do NOT make you exempt from overtime, innocently ask where you OT is, when they say your salary, through the law at them. If the fire you, sue them. Odds are, they won't fire you because you'll raise a stink, and they will become liable for back OT for every employee who has EVER qualified.
But first, read up on your states laws, and talk to a Lawyer who specialty is employment issue.
To start a lot of staes have this info online.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If you are getting paid a salary for contracted work, you can bet that who ever you work for is going to charge out for you on a hourly basis.
This puts the extra money in their pocket, not yours. I would restrict myself to a 40 hour workweek, unles they offer something in return.