How Many Hours Can You Legally Work in a Week

Your employer could discriminate against you if they try to get you to work overtime, and you can`t because: If you have a disability or long-term health condition, your employer may be required to make „reasonable adjustments.” This may include changes to your working hours. Find out if your employer needs to make adjustments for you. A non-exempt worker is a person who is entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay. There are only a limited number of exceptions to this legal protection. While many employees fall into one of these exceptions, not all do. You might suggest that you could work more efficiently if your employer: An employee`s hourly work week depends on their industry and level of responsibility. The Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) governs how employers pay their employees, but there is no set standard for the number of hours employees can work. Employers are free to set this figure for each employee. In making this decision, employers should consider both their needs and their employees. An example of an industry that regulates one-day hours of work is the trucking industry. Truckers can only drive up to 11 hours in any 14-hour period. At the end of the 14-hour period, truck drivers must take 10 hours off.1 If your employer continues to force you to work excessive hours, you may be able to resign and seek de facto dismissal in labour tribunal. They should argue that they could breach the contract on the implied terms of trust.

If you think your employer has unreasonable expectations about how much work you should do, you can ask them to reduce your workload. Trips that take an employee away from home overnight are trips away from home. Traveling away from home is clearly working time if it cuts off the employee`s workday. These are not only the hours worked on normal working days during normal working hours, but also the corresponding hours on non-working days. As an enforcement policy, the Department will not consider time spent outside normal working hours as a passenger on an airplane, train, boat, bus or car while travelling from home as working time. Problems arise when employers do not recognize and count certain hours worked as compensable hours. For example, an employee who stays at his desk for lunch and regularly answers the phone and transfers callers. This time must be counted and paid as compensable hours worked, as the employee has not been fully relieved of his duties. Although the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires employers to pay overtime to their non-exempt employees if they work too many hours, it does not set a cap on the number of hours an employee can work in a single day. Your contract or statement could state that you have to work in addition to your regular hours of work – this is called overtime. You should only work overtime if your contract provides for it.

Your contract can set out how much overtime you can do in a month. Employees can be administratively exempted by accepting a fixed salary for a job that requires longer hours. For a list of commonly used exceptions, visit the U.S. Department of Labor`s Fair Labor Standards Advisor website. Overtime pay is one and a half (1.5) times the employee`s regular hourly rate. Currently, there is no OSHA standard to regulate longer and unusual shifts in the workplace. A working time of eight consecutive hours over five days with at least eight hours of rest between shifts defines a standard shift. Any postponement exceeding this standard is considered prolonged or unusual. You can legally refuse to work on the seventh day without being punished, and you are not required to work overtime if you operate heavy machinery or if you have laborious and physically demanding work. Employers have the right to quit your job if you refuse to work overtime, and since there is no legal limit, it`s up to them. More than 40 hours a week is rare, and employers who abuse employees and force them to work obscene hours will likely struggle to find new employees, and their business can suffer.

Even if your contract doesn`t mention overtime, your employer may still ask you to work overtime. There is no legal limit on your working hours, and employers can ask you to work as many hours a day as they want. Most employers won`t let you work more than 48 hours a week because they`re the ones paying for you. Overall, it`s up to your employer to decide how often you work, and it`s up to you to discuss it with your employer. There are things you can do if you are abused at work that violate the FLSA. Workers aged 15 or younger are limited in the number of hours they can work in a single day. Under federal law, these restrictions depend on whether the school is in operation or not. Employees in this age group can only take up to: 30-minute meal breaks are required if an employee works more than 5 hours a day. Workers who work more than 10 hours a day are entitled to a second meal break.12 However, there are several exceptions that allow a 14- or 15-year-old to work 8 hours a day during school hours.