Working Multiple Jobs Can Create Overtime Headaches

A client of mine recently had an issue with an employee who was working two different jobs (at different rates), and was facing a dispute over how overtime should be calculated. Lucky for them, their handbook had the language required by the Department of Labor to use the more "employer friendly" method of calcualation – the rate in effect at the time the overtime was worked.

Imagine a situation where an employee making $25.00 per hour wants to help out with a cleanup on the weekend. You agree to pay him or her a reduced rate of $10.00 per hour for the work, which is the same rate you pay everyone who helps with the extra work (which is overtime assuming the employee has already worked 40 hours during the week). Is the employee's overtime rate $15 dollars (time and one half the $10.00 rate) or do you look at the weighted average for the entire week to get the employee's regular rate, and then multiply that number by time and one half? If you don't have a clear