To fund their lives, most people have to work. However, there are a lot of them who think that they are overworked by their employers. If you also think that you are overworked by your employer because you work, for example, 16 hours a day, you may want to know if it is legal. So, is it legal to work 16 hours a day?
Technically, it is legal to work 16 hours a day because the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA of 1938 does not limit the number of hours per day or per week, including overtime hours, as long as the employee is at least 16 years old. However, the average work hour in the US is 40 hours a week. So, if you work more than 40 hours a week, it is counted as overtime. Apparently, a standard shift is anything between 6 and 8 hours. If it is more than that, it is considered as an extended or unusual shift and you should get paid more by the employer, which is an extra third of your hourly wage.
For those who work in a new business or in a business that is in transition, it is normal for you to work overtime. It means the needs of the business determine whether you should work overtime or not. Aside from that, this kind of thing is also normal in some other sectors, such as the medical and food sectors, as well as in public agencies, police officers and firefighters.
As stated before, the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not limit the number of hours in a day or days in a week an employee must work as long as the employee is at least 16 years old. It means those who are 15 years old or younger are limited in the amount of work they can work in a day. Under the law applied in federal law, those limitations on whether school is in session. There are only two possibilities for those in this age group. The first one is 8 hours on any day when school is not in session and the second one is 3 hours on any day when school is in session, including Fridays. Bear in mind that these hours must be outside of school hours. Not only that, they also have to be between 7 AM and 7 PM or 7 AM and 9 PM if the date is between June 1 and Labor Day.
However, it is also possible for those who are still 15 years old or below to work 8 hours a day while school is in session in some circumstances, such as if they have graduated from high school; have completed the 8th grade and have been excused from compulsory school attendance and their job complies with school attendance law; have a child to support and the appropriate state officers have waived school attendance requirements for them; are subject to a state or federal court order that prohibits them from attending school; or have been expelled from school and there is no way for them to attend another one.
That is the federal law. Then, what about the state laws? Apparently, there are some rules in some states that limit the hours most employees work. However, no one of them is absolute. It includes states with laws that treat the issue. In these states, the limits on hours worked are indirect and weak. For instance, in California, there is no way for an employee to be fired or disciplined for refusing to work more than 72 hours in a given week. In New York, employees ask their employers to pay them who work more than 10 hours a day one extra hour or pay, at the minimum legal wage. If they refuse their wish, no one will be able to work more than 168 hours per week because their physics prevents it.
Usually, employers will never force their employees to work for a crazy amount of hours in a day due to the fair labor standards act and due to the fact that they have to pay for their overtime pay. If you are asked to work longer than you should but you don’t want it, you can refuse it. Your action is legal and you will not get penalized. However, you should be careful because your employer might terminate your job if you refuse to work overtime and they have the right to do that, since there is no legal limit and everything is up to them.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
