le or nothing to do on one day, is really
compensated for the extra hours of work she has been compelled to give
on other days. A saleswoman who on certain days has no customers or only
a few, is just as much "on duty" as if her work filled all her time, and
it is the same with a domestic employee. Indeed it is generally conceded
to be more irksome to remain idle at one's post than to be actively
engaged in work.

But on the other hand, there are many housewives who feel that they
ought to give their employees more pay for extra work especially when it
is connected with the entertaining of friends, and the following ways of
rewarding them have been tried with more or less success.

One plan that gained favor with several families was to give ten cents
to the cook and ten cents to the waitress every time a guest was invited
to a meal: ten cents for each guest. At the end of a month the ten cent
pieces had amounted to quite a sum of money.

Another plan that was tried in a small family was to give fifty cents to
the cook and fifty cents to each of the two waitresses for every dinner
party that took place, regardless of the number of guests. Still another
plan was to give at the end of the month, a two dollar, five dollar, or
ten dollar bill to an employee who had given many extra hours of
satisfactory work to her employer.

All these plans are good in a certain sense, inasmuch as they show
that women are awakening to the realization that some compensation is
due to household employees for the extra long hours of work frequently
unavoidable in family life. But unfortunately these plans lack
stability, for they depend altogether upon the generosity and kindness
of different employers, instead of upon a just and firmly established
business principle.

And now comes the question: What method of payment for overtime will
produce a permanently satisfactory result?

The only one that appears just and is applicable to all cases is to pay
each employee one and a half times as much per hour for extra work as
for regular work. In this way each employee is paid for overtime in just
proportion to the value of her regular services. For instance, when a
household employee receives $20, $30, or $40 per month, that is to say
$5, $7.50, or $10 per week, for working eight hours a day and six days
a week, she is receiving approximately 10, 15, or 20 cents per hour for
her regular work. By giving her one and one half times as much for e