Legal work underpaid, survey says

Long hours and frequent overtime are pushing lawyers and legal workers under the minimum wage, a new survey suggests.

Half of all respondents working at large New Zealand law firms told the survey, conducted by the Aotearoa Legal Workers Union, that they either knew or thought they had worked for less than minimum wage.

At smaller firms – those with five or fewer partners – 42 per cent of respondents reported working for an average of less than the minimum wage, or thought they had. The online survey asked lawyers and other workers to divide their fortnightly salary by the number of hours they worked, including overtime. On that basis, half of the 212 respondents said long hours meant their pay often fell under $17.70 per hour – the legal minimum wage.

Almost all respondents said they ‘‘consistently’’ worked overtime. The Minimum Wage Act 1983, and an updated Minimum Wage Order from 2019, require workers to be paid at least minimum wage for every hour they work. In a normal 80-hour fortnight an employer must pay at least $1416, and hours over that must be paid at a rate of at least $17.70 per hour.

The self-selecting survey was conducted by the union as its first data collection effort since forming in June. The union represents about 650 mainly junior lawyers and legal support staff.

It garnered 212 responses and was not intended to be a representative sample, union president Morgan Evans said.