Legal Standards for Work Weeks
Federal and state laws do allow employers to require employees to work seven days a week. As with all entities, however, the company must be in compliance with federal and state labor and employment laws and rules. Several agencies govern wage and hour laws; the principal federal agency is the U.S. Department of Labor, and the principal Pennsylvania state agency is the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. These departments may have different requirements, but, as a general rule, most employers in the private sector do not have to give employees time off on Sundays.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employers must pay employees for all hours worked. Federal law does not limit the number of days or hours in a week employees can work. There are exceptions , including for the following industries:
Employers generally may not permit certain employees under the age of 18 to work more than the following during a day or week:
The FLSA does not dictate when an employer must give employees time off. In complying with federal law, employers must consider each employee’s role at the company. For example, there are no limitations on how many days nurses must work, because they are exempt employees under the FLSA. Generally, exempt employees are those that an employer does not need to track the number of hours worked each week because the position is exempt from the overtime and minimum wage requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Practical considerations may weigh heavily in whether a company requires an employee to work seven days in a row. As noted above, both federal and state laws do not prohibit working seven days straight, so employees should keep in mind the context of the employment relationship with the company when presented with a demand for a different work schedule.
State Labor Laws May Vary
While your employer is generally covered under the FLSA, there may be state laws that set a higher standard for your rest time. Of course, some states have limits on how many hours may be worked in a day and provide for additional pay for overtime worked. But some states also have additional rest time requirements for employees who work on weekends and holidays. So let’s explore a few states that provide additional protections for employees.
California has a law that provides for one day off in seven as the regular day of rest. This means that, an employer is prohibited from employing an employee for seven working days without a day off. The law does provide for exceptions if the employer can show that it’s not practically possible for it not to do so. There are additional daily overtime requirements for certain employees in California, which also goes over the 40-hour workweek requirement for federal overtime. In comparison, New York doesn’t provide for a required day of rest, but does have a long-standing requirement for at least 24 hours of rest between shifts for hotel, restaurant or retail workers.
Pennsylvania does not require a day of rest, but also has daily and weekly overtime provisions that may result in more rest time than provided for under the FLSA for a similar job duties in other states.
Can an Employer Ask You to Work for Seven Days Straight?
While federal and state law doesn’t require employers to provide time off in order to comply with the law, there are circumstances where employers can legally require their employees to work seven days a week. For example, if your employee signed an employment contract or has a union contract, that contract will likely govern the legality of requiring the employee to work seven days per week. Additionally, for industries like hospitality where employees often don’t see the whole week’s schedules at once, business needs or customer demands may dictate the need for employees to work seven days in a row.
Another exception to the law is the agricultural industry. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including the Agriculture Amendments, employees in the Agriculture Industry are not required to receive a day off every seven days. Thus, in the agricultural context, employers may require their employees to work seven days in a row, if that work is within the scope of agricultural activities.
What Are Your Rights as an Employee?
Employees have several rights and protections as far as working for seven consecutive days. In California, there are overtime pay laws in effect which means that certain employees can get paid time and a half or double time their regular pay rate if they work more than eight hours in a day. This is internal and has to do with the hours you work in a single day, not how many days you work. And this is internal and has to do with the hours you work in a single day, not how many days you work.
The rest day laws come into play if you’ve been working for your employer for six days already that week and your employer expects you to work the seventh (and final) day in order to receive your full pay.
The rest day law requires that employees working six consecutive days in a workweek must receive one day of rest in each workweek. California also allows the employee to choose the single day as long as it is regularly timed and scheduled , i.e. not subject to change. Employers may not change the employer-designated day of rest or the employee designated day of rest without consent from the employee.
If an employee works on their one day of rest, California law requires that the employer must pay the employee one and a half times an employee’s regular rate of pay for the first eight hours worked. If the employee works more than eight hours on his or her day of rest, that employee’s pay is doubled. If you are a non-exempt employee and you are being forced to work seven days in a row, then you have a right to be paid time and a half or double time on the first day (and second, if necessary) you are forced to work.
Speak to an employment attorney about your rights and what to do if your employer violates them.
Effects on the Health and Wellbeing of Employees
Impact on the health and wellbeing of the worker
According to the Health and Safety Executive, an excess of working hours can have an impact on workers’ health. The symptoms of overworking include tiredness and fatigue, stress and anxiety, and poor concentration and motivation.
It is recognised that when overworking occurs, whether as a result of out-of-hours work or multiple shifts, risk and error increase. This ultimately leads to work-related accidents. A 30-year study of just under 80,000 employees conducted by the Journal of American Health found that those who worked 11 or more hours per day were 67% more likely to experience a work-related injury than those who worked only seven to eight hours a day.
The near-constant stress from working seven days a week not only causes mental fatigue, it can also lead to the loss of sleep, which subsequently further impacts physical health. Studies have shown that high stress levels can contribute to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease to name a few.
It has also been found that long periods of overworking like this are detrimental to people’s mental wellbeing. Some studies show that many people need one day a week for purpose, another for friendship and leisure, and one day a week for their own personal time away from work and family. Three clear days of rest and recuperation each week.
While some people may enjoy a level of comfort in the regularity of work, they may be at higher risk of suffering from burn out, where the strain of working more hours than usual begins to affect their performance. Symptoms of burning out include degraded performance, emotional exhaustion and cynicism.
Considerations When You’re Asked to Work for a Long Stretch
As an employee, it’s important to voice the need for a rest period if your employer is taking advantage of your willingness to work. Approach your superior about your discomfort with working long hours or excessive hours within a certain period of time/day. This initial discussion may not bring about any satisfaction but once it’s initiated and logged, there’s a record of your first appeal to reasonable hours. The employer may listen and offer you a different arrangement, but will also likely tell you it’s in your and the business’ best interest to put in long hours at this time. You can then respond that you still don’t wish to agree to working those hours. You’ll need to weigh your options and determine whether you can agree to the scheduling your boss may determine is reasonable or if you’ll have to look at making a move.
The next step would be to follow company policy and put your statement of need for proper work hours in writing , such as an email to your manager. For example, "I don’t want to be rude but I am unable to work the extended hours this week because [I have young children, I have a side job, I have something important I need to get done, etc]." Again, this leads to a physical written record of your need for a reduced schedule.
If you are unable to get your basic right to a decent schedule from your employer, you don’t have much other recourse but to seek support from legal counsel. It’s certainly difficult to ask a lawyer to get involved, but the need to protect your health, mental capacity, social life and family will drive you to needing and wanting to do what is right and legally required of your employer.