The Federal and State Laws are silent on the matter of maximum hours allowed to work in a day, except for the employees who are aged 15 or below. 

While there are no restrictive conditions on the daily working limits, the law says that if an employee is working for more than 40 hours a week, the excess hours will be considered as overtime.

Before getting into certain queries regarding the working hours, let us help you know about what the law says in detail.

The Federal Laws

The governing policies for the majority of workers have been included in the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act 1938. After going through the act, the U.S. Department of Labor has found that there is no clause limiting the number of working hours in a day or the number of days in a week an employee shall work provided the worker is more than 15 years of age. 

However, there has been a limit placed on the number of normal working hours beyond which the hours worked will be considered as overtime. As per FLSA any working hours above 40 hours will be considered as overtime and employers will have to pay their employees a minimum of time and a half for the excess hours worked by them.  

State Laws

Though there are certain rules in the states that govern the duration of working hours, they are not stated in absolute terms. Such weak drafting of law has made adoption of such rules quite limited. The state laws in California say that an employee cannot be fired in case he refuses to work more than 72 hours a week. Similarly, labor laws in New York require employers to pay their workers an extra hour of pay for working more than 10 hours on any given day. 

Laws for Younger Workers

The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act mentions that any worker under the age of 16 cannot work over 8 hours in a day. However, on school days the maximum hours allowed to work in a day is three. There are also some states where these limits have been made somewhat less restrictive. Say in Idaho, workers under 16 can work for nine working hours. Also, there is no provision for any reduction in the number of working hours during school days.   

Exempt Workers

Provisions of FLSA exempt certain categories of workers from its applicability. These workers are governed by other laws, and the limitations mentioned in respective laws are applicable to them. While unionized workers are protected by labor agreements with the employers, there are others like physicians, truck drivers, airline pilots, and miners who are covered under the safety regulations. 

Clarifications

Is there any breach of the law if an employee works 16 hours a day?

As the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 does not limit the number of working hours in a day or a week, even if the workers work for 16 hours there is no breach of provision. However, as there is a limit of normal working hours in a week, any excess work done by the employee shall be compensated at the overtime rate, i.e. one, and half the normal rate.  

Can the employer force you to stay past the normal shift?

As the law does not restrict the employer to ask their employees to work for more than the normal working hours, there isn’t anything illegal even if an employee works past the normal shift. Though there are provisions regarding the overtime and those must be adhered to in case of nonexempt employees.

Who are the exempt employees?

Employees who are not covered under FLSA fall under the category of exempt employees. The provisions of labor law work hours do not apply to these employees. That means they are also not eligible for the overtime rates as prescribed under the FLSA. However, the special acts governing these employees may prescribe separate rules for them.  

We hope you had a good read!