What if I work 2 different jobs at different pay rates?

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, when an employee (in a single workweek) performs 2 or more different types of work with different straight-time rates, the regular rate for that week is the weighted average of the pay rates. That is, the earnings from all hourly rates are added together and the total is then divided by the total number of hours worked at all jobs. In addition, the FLSA allows, under certain conditions, the computation of overtime pay based on one and one-half times the hourly rate in effect when the overtime work is performed.

What this means is that employers must pay overtime to nonexempt employees for all hours worked over 40 in a single workweek, even if the employee is working two separate jobs at the same company.

Examples of how overtime may be calculated:

Weighted average of the different rates. The regular rate of an employee who works 35 hours per week at $15 per hour as a machine operator ($525), and works 10 hours that same week at $7 per hour cutting the grass outside the plant ($70), is $595 divided by 45 hours, or $13.22 per hour. Thus, the overtime rate for this employee is one and one-half times $13.22, or $19.83 per hour, regardless of which job the employee performs during the extra hours.

Alternatively, if employer and employee agree, before the work is performed, that the overtime rate will be based on the regular rate that applies to the type of work performed during the hours in excess of forty. Therefore, if an employee spends 35 hours in a week working as a machine operator at $15 per hour, and five hours a week cutting the grass at $7 per hour, the overtime rate for any additional hours spent cutting the grass is $10.50 per hour. Conversely, the overtime rate for any additional hours spent working as a machine operator is $22.50.