Why can't I add a second assignment for a worker at a client with a different workweek?
Last updated: October 6, 2026
Applies to: staffing Partners who want the same worker on live assignments with two different clients at the same time. If each of your workers only ever has one live assignment, you will not run into this.
Summary: All of a worker’s live assignments have to use the same workweek, meaning the same day on which the work week begins. Each client has its own workweek start day. If the new client’s week starts on a different day from the client your worker is already live with, the platform will not let you add the second assignment while the first one is live. If the work does not overlap, run the assignments one after the other. If the worker genuinely needs to work for both clients in the same weeks, the two clients need to share a workweek start day, so talk to us before changing anything.
What you will see
When you try to add the new assignment, you get a message saying the worker is already on another assignment with a different work week, and you cannot move the new assignment forward. Nothing is wrong with the worker’s record. The platform is stopping two assignments that count hours on different weeks from being live at the same time.
Why the workweeks have to match
A client’s workweek start day decides how hours are grouped into weeks for timesheets, invoices and overtime. For a non-exempt employee, overtime is based on the worker’s total hours in the workweek across all of their assignments, not counted separately for each client. See What do I do if I have a contractor that works at multiple clients?.
When two clients start their weeks on different days, there is no single week to add the hours up against, so the overtime position cannot be worked out reliably. Keeping a worker’s live assignments on one workweek is what keeps that overtime calculation correct. Overtime thresholds themselves vary by work location; see How US employee overtime and double-time pay work.
If the work does not overlap: run the assignments one after the other
This is the common case, for example a worker covering a few days at one client before starting a longer assignment at another. You do not need both assignments live at once, so you can sequence them:
Make sure any hours already worked on the current assignment are entered and approved.
End the current assignment. See How do I end an assignment?. Tell us it is a temporary switch and that the worker is still available, because an assignment ending and employment ending are not the same thing.
Add the new assignment with start and end dates that match the work at the other client.
When that assignment ends, restart the original one. See How do I reactivate assignments?. Restarting keeps the worker’s existing record, so they are not sent back through onboarding from scratch.
If you would rather we handle the sequencing, email support@ascen.com with the worker’s full name, both clients, and the dates the worker will be at each, and we can end and restart the assignments for you.
If the worker needs to work for both clients in the same weeks
The only way to run both assignments at once is for the two clients to use the same workweek start day. Changing a client’s workweek start day is not a small setting: it moves the billing periods and the overtime calculation for every worker at that client, not just this one. Please do not change it just to fit one worker. Email support@ascen.com first, tell us which clients share the worker, and we will tell you what a change would affect before anything is touched.
A note on separation notices
In some states a separation notice is sent when a worker’s employment ends. Whether ending one assignment sends one can depend on the work location and on whether the worker still has another live assignment there. If you are worried that a temporary end will send your worker a notice, ask us before you end the assignment. If a notice does arrive while the worker is still working, point them to You received a separation notice but you are still working.
Who to contact
Setting up, ending or restarting the assignments, or a question about a client’s workweek: email support@ascen.com.
The worker’s schedule at each client stays with you as the staffing Partner.