The Act takes a single workweek as its standard and does not permit
averaging of hours over 2 or more weeks. Thus, if an employee works 30
hours one week and 50 hours the next, he must receive overtime
compensation for the overtime hours worked beyond the applicable maximum
in the second week, even though the average number of hours worked in
the 2 weeks is 40. This is true regardless of whether the employee works
on a standard or swing-shift schedule and regardless of whether he is
paid on a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly or other basis. The rule is
also applicable to pieceworkers and employees paid on a commission
basis. It is therefore necessary to determine the hours worked and the
compensation earned by pieceworkers and
commission employees on a weekly basis.
