Is it legal to schedule someone to work 72 hours straight with unpaid sleep time?
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Is it legal to schedule someone to work 72 hours straight with unpaid sleep time?
I work for an agency for developmentally disabled clients. I work in a 24 hour home where the schedule is 2 pm to 2 pm. We are not paid from 10 pm to 6 am for sleep time when we
Asked on March 4, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
No it does not appear to be legal. All time that you are, at the employer's request, confined to the workplace is work time and must be paid. It would be different if you were free to leave, even if, as a practical matter, there were times you chose voluntarily to stay over (e.g. it's snowing heavily and you think it's safer or easier to stay over); if you stay of your own choice after your work is done, you don't have to be paid for that. But when the employer tells you to stay or schedules you to stay and you can't leave work, that time is generally considered work time. A salaried employee would not need to be paid for it (since salaried employees can be made to work any amount of time without additional pay), but hourly employees need to be paid for all hours worked, including overtime as appropriate.
d on what you write, you may have a wage and hour claim; you may wish to speak to your state department of labor about the situation.
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