I thought that I had a lock on a weekend job, one that sounded like it was going to be absolutely wonderful for me. I submitted my resume with a cover letter (my first ever) and got a call back in just a few hours. Of course, then I was off on a cloud, dreaming my eyes out. So the next morning, bright and early, I returned the call. Only to find out that the agency was rather concerned with the legality of hiring me to work a job that would have me working a full seven days per week.
I’ve never heard anything about this before. In fact, I have personally worked a seven day work week before. So I highly doubt that it can be against the law for them to knowingly engage me. But I couldn’t say for certain… so I’ve been doing some research.
How many hours per day or per week can an employee work?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not limit the number of hours per day or per week that employees aged 16 years and older can be required to work.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/013.htm
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen6.asp
A workweek is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, or seven consecutive 24-hour periods. It may begin on any day of the week and at any hour of the day. An employee’s frequency of pay (e.g., bi-weekly, semi-monthly, monthly) has no impact on this fixed workweek. Each workweek stands alone; averaging hours worked over two or more workweeks is not permitted by the FLSA.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/otcalc/i2.asp
So I am can say with pretty good certainty that it is NOT against the law to be employed to work every day of the week. What is less clear is what happens when my personal work hours per week exceeds 40, while employed by more than one employer. I would like to think that it is obvious that each employer is only responsible for the hours that I put in for them… but I cannot find that clearly stated anywhere.
Whee.
