How many hours can a non-exempt employee be forced to work in a week?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
How many hours can a non-exempt employee be forced to work in a week?
My fiance recently graduated with his bachelor’s degree in biology. He has worked at a vineyard for several years now, and was just hired on by a competitor who promised to teach about the trade and wine making. After just a few months, he is pulling upwards of 110 hours a week, physical labor. There have been several instances where he has been given just a couple of hours notice that he will be leaving for another property 6 hours away for an undetermined amount of time (so far, 11 days has been the shortest time). This past Sunday was his first scheduled day off in over a month.
Asked on September 19, 2011 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Does your boyfriend have an employment contract or union agreement that prohibits such scheduling? Is there a company policy prohibiting this? Is he being singled out to work such hours due to some form of actionable discrimination? If not, then I'm afraid that there is no limit to the number of hours that he can be required to work. This is true whether or not he is an exempt or non-exempt employee. However, if he is truly non-exempt, then any hours he works over 40 in 1 week must be paid to him as overtime. That is at time and a half (1 1/2 his hourly rate of pay). If he is not receiving this pay, then he can contact your state's department of labor and file a complaint.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.