I dont know how well i am doing at this job

There are a few things going on here. First, overtime isn't a right. If she only wants you to work the 38 hours, well do the work you can in 38 hours, and be honest about it. If you believe that you can't do the work assigned in 38 hours tell her. If she doesn't want to give you the overtime, the work you can't do just can't be done. If she is a real professional she will do the right thing and either allow you more time, or cut the work load. If she doesn't then maybe the best thing for you to do is find a better situation, you wouldn't want to continue in an environment that bleeds you for work without the appreciation you deserve.

Why not take the initiative and ask to set up a quick meeting with her? Say you would like to spend 15 - 30 minutes to discuss your career. As a manager this is part of your job requirements same as any other functions of your job. Come prepared to the meeting so as not to waste your boss's time. Have a list of questions and possibly a list of your accomplishments. You can also address issues like your OT by asking her specifically what her expectations of you are in your current position.

This would be an excellent opportunity for you to spell out your concerns about meeting certain requirements of the job, i.e. you cannot sufficiently get the job done without OT. Also, this may give her the opportunity to explain why OT is unacceptable. Maybe there is something going on at a higher level where budget cut backs happened. Perhaps OT is cut and that is beyond her control. In any case, you can plead your case and can hear her explanation. As long as you remain professional and keep to facts and she is a reasonable person, there should be no issues.

If you cannot meet with her prior to your review, then I would take the initiative and put together a list of your accomplishments. Many times managers do not keep track and end up writing up their reviews based on only the most recent activity. Also depending on the job, a manager may not have day to day contact and are unaware of all that you are doing. Most managers appreciate this initiative and it makes their job easier in preparing a review. I had one employee do this for me and it made my life so much easier and also made me aware of some extra things I was not even aware of. On the other side, I did this for a couple of my bosses previously and one of the basically cut and pasted what I wrote onto the review.

Others have given you some good ideas so I'm just going to add on that a big part of the OT issue may be that you are there as a temp. Rightly or wrongly, a lot of managers will limit OT to temps in favor of giving it to perm workers. - Just something to consider as a possibility in the whole scheme of things.

Fishin is absolutely right regarding OT and temporary employees. We have a couple of temps working for us right now. And under no circumstance are we allowed to let them work OT. It is way too expensive. When you pay for a temp, not only are you paying their salary, but a large amount over that per hour goes to the temp agency. So as a temp, you may only be getting time and a half, but as the employer, you are paying time and half of the rate the temp agency charges which is significantly higher.

I think I would deal with the issues at the review, lilly. If it doesn't work out your way, be prepared to move on, if that's an option.

Good advice all around. Here in the US, temp wages tends to be about 2/3 - 3/4 of the amount paid to an agency. So, if you get (for sake of argument) $40/hr, the firm would be paying $53 - 60/hr. If OT is paid at a rate of time and a half, then every hour of OT is costing the firm $75 - $90 (given the figures I'm using)! No wonder you aren't being given OT.

Law firms are inherently busy places and schedules can often be chaotic. As a PA, I take it you are more of what's called a legal secretary here, rather than a paralegal (I got my info from here: http://www.tpas.company.org.uk/ if I'm mistaken, please let me know). If that's the case, then a lot of what you do is probably rush jobs and rescheduling of appearances and depositions. If these tasks cannot be performed, the clients suffer - while you don't want to specifically say that to your boss, that's the gist of what can happen if the work is not performed. If a complaint isn't answered on time, clients can lose some of their rights in a lawsuit. So it's a big deal if work is not accomplished on time.

Hence, if you are able to plead your case with her, either in a personal meeting or at the review itself, you may want to approach it that way, as an issue of client service, rather than "this is how you did it in the past" or "all the other PAs get OT". By the way, it's possible that not all the other PAs get overtime - this wouldn't be the first time that a fellow employee tried to screw with someone's head. So be aware, the info you're getting from your peers may not be accurate.

Thanks guys, your opinions helped me alot, just gave me some idea on how to work this situation.

With my company all the PA's, legal secretaries, and support staff are all temps and contractors. My organisation has a head count for so many permanent staff and anything beyond that are temps. Thats why my position is a temp position and all the other PA's are too. My position has been here for years but never with a permanent employee.

I think it is merely a financial factor about OT. When she told me not to do it anymore i told her the situation the hours that have always been done by the previous PA as I have all the invoices on record. We have just passed the end of financial year, and we have a new consultant in our team that charges about $990 per day, so i think it was a money issue not a performance issue.

I have worked in other companies and there can be alot of bitchiness and nastiness between PA's and secretaries, i dont mean to be rude but i think its because they are less educated, low paid, and any chance they get to develop a pecking order and a little power trip will be taken. So i think you're right Jespah, it could be another PA screwing with my head.

I am on a leave abscense from my university hence the reason behind me doing temp work. So i dont care about the OT for my pay packet. Jespah hit it right on the head, its a law firm, things need to get done on time, if not it will cause all sorts of trouble.

Thats why i was concerned about broaching the subject with my boss and strategies or negotiation skills that might work in my review, I need atleast 40 hours a week to get things done, i cant just say oh well what doesnt get done doesnt get done and leave it all at the end of my 7.5 hour day...

anyway, i was thinking about leaving it to my review. If i were a permanent on a salary i would just do the extra work and there wouldnt be a problem, by coming in early and staying late to get what needed to be done, done.

My review is also a pay review too. My agency said it would be more money for me too if i am supporting four new lawyers too. So I have just been doing the extra hours that i need to, i wont put it on my time sheet, because on a salary you would do the hours without extra pay and in a couple of weeks in the review this should all come up, even if i do a 38 hour week i should atleast get more per hour...

As an idea lilly - See if you can setup an informal meeting and instead of asking the "How am I doing?" type of question attack it from a "Am I meeting all of your needs?" and let her bring up anything. If she mentions that things aren't getting done and otherwise things are good, you can introduce the issue of not being able to get it all done in a 40 hour work week and see how she reacts.

I'd wait for the review. It isn't too far from now, and at that point your boss would be expecting the discussion. Earlier than that she may be engaged in thinking about other matters and possibly be slightly irritated, since your review is coming up.

If I were going to ask "am I meeting all your needs" (uh, I wouldn't phrase it quite that way), I would have asked it earlier in the three month period.

You probably should put the time on your timesheet, even if you aren't charging for it, as it may be needed for -
* client audits
* law firm tax returns
* billing of clients
* bidding on future jobs (if the firm ever charges for piece work, e. g. by the task, such as to get an answer done or attend a deposition)
* the firm determining if they need to hire another PA

It will also be helpful to you if you ever need to increase your hours further, as it would be proof that you've been putting in X number of added hours and now it's getting overwhelming.

Personally, I wouldn't work the hours for free unless I was an exempt (e. g. salaried and not hourly) employee. Even then, don't go nuts - I did quite a few years of that and received virtually no recognition for it, except for a boss who knew he could call at 6 AM or 6 PM and get a hold of me. You don't want to do that with your life, no matter how much work there is.