Each time The Stone Company hires a new employee, it must wait for some period of time before the employee can meet production standards. New employees are paid $150 per hour. Management is unsure of the learning curve in its operation, but it knows the first job by a new employee takes 40 hours and the second and third job take 32 and 28 hours respectively. Assume all jobs to be equal in size. Assuming the company uses the cumulative average-time method, how much will the company pay new employees for completing 16 jobs? Round your final answer to the nearest dollar. 

a. $91,200 

b. $69,984 

c. $62,986 

d. $39,322