Hope you know the answer

would the same OT laws apply to a hairstylist who works for chain salon, or are the exempt?
e.g.
stylist (who is a mgr that is paid an hourly wage + tips & commision) has worked 7 + hrs a day for the past 21 days stright, due to shortage of employees, the owners are only paying for stright time. stating not over 40 hrs a week, therefor not OT Is this legal?

There are a few different issues in play.

What are the duties of the employee in question, and how much time is spent on each?

Assuming you are not exempt, you are entitled to overtime for any time over 8 hours per day OR 40 hours per week. A workweek is defined as:

"Any seven consecutive days, starting with the same calendar day each week beginning at any hour on any day, so long as it is fixed and regularly occurring. "Workweek" is a fixed and regularly recurring period of 168 hours, seven consecutive 24-hour periods. An employer may establish different workweeks for different employees, but once an employee's workweek is established, it remains fixed regardless of his or her working schedule. An employee's workweek may be changed only if the change is intended to be permanent and is not designed to evade the employer's overtime obligation."

So in this case, it does appear you are working more than 40 hours in a week and thus entitled to overtime.

thanks, this is what I thought, but because she is considered a manager I was not sure if this would apply.

thanks, this is what I thought, but because she is considered a manager I was not sure if this would apply.

It applies because she is paid on an hourly basis and therefore is not being treated by the employer as an exempt employee.