Consultant's salary

[neha101]

I started working as an IT consultant (Web Programmar) in NJ and my company didn't count hours for a public holiday. I think this is not fair and all the public holidays should be covered. Is thats how consultant's get paid (0 hrs for public holidays). Please let me know.....thanks

[eSPiYa]

I think you must refer to your Country's/States' Law about labor.

[RobDog888]

Thats how it is in California too. Consultants and Contractors dont get any paid holidays or benefits of any kind. They are considered as self employed and hired on a contractural basis and not an employment contract. But that just means you need to include in your hourly rate, these fees. Something like tripling your employee hourly rate should cover basic hourly wages, medical beneifts and taxes. So if the equilivalent job is paying $25 an hour then you should be charging $75 an hour at a minimum.

[Al42]

So if the equilivalent job is paying $25 an hour then you should be charging $75 an hour at a minimum.

What's that in Californis dollars, Rob? Or can't posts get long enough to cover that number?

[RhinoBull]

I started working as an IT consultant (Web Programmar) in NJ and my company didn't count hours for a public holiday. I think this is not fair and all the public holidays should be covered. Is thats how consultant's get paid (0 hrs for public holidays). Please let me know.....thanks

That is driven by common sense really - you're consulting some business so you are not part of their full time staff so mostly they could care less about your times off - you're only getting paid (big bucks or at least much more than the full timer) for the hours you actually worked.
That's the beauty of being a consultant - love it or hate it.

[sevenhalo]

I must be the odd one out. At my current contract, they are willing to pay me for holidays they observe.

[RobDog888]

What's that in Californis dollars, Rob? Or can't posts get long enough to cover that number?

In CA dollar's it would be cents instead since the cost of living is so high. You need a dual income family making over $160,000 a year to be able to afford an average home these days.

Just a general rule of thumb that you triple the employee wage for your same job in order to cover the expenses of contract work.

[RhinoBull]

I must be the odd one out. At my current contract, they are willing to pay me for holidays they observe.

Some companies do that and some would even pay for your sick and/or vacation days but it is not a common thing.

[szlamany]

In my 25 years of consulting - both through my own business and associations with job agencies, I've never been paid for holidays or time off - that's extremely rare from what I see...

Software consultants are like lawyers in that they get paid for hours worked...

and also don't get paid for hours worked...

it's all supposed to even out in the end.