Single employee's hours in two positions cannot be counted separately for overtime

Q         Our school administration has an employee who works as a paraprofessional 32.5 hours per week and as a bus driver 20 hours per week. Can we separate her job into two positions that would require 40 hours of work for each position before overtime is paid? Currently, we are paying her 15.5 hours of overtime per week as blended pay.

A   No, you would not be able to separate her job into two positions each requiring 40 hours before you would need to pay her overtime. You must pay overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to any nonexempt employee who works more than 40 hours in any workweek.

The key here is that you have a single employee working more than 40 hours for a single employer. It doesn't matter that the two jobs are separate, involve substantially different duties, or may require significantly different skill levels. It doesn't even matter that they could be done by two different people. Both positions are subject to the FLSA's overtime requirements, and neither is typically exempt. As long as you use one employee to perform both jobs, resulting in her working more than 40 hours in a workweek, you must pay her overtime.