I work for a manufacturer in Wisconsin. We are currently reviewing our staffing levels to check for labor law compliance. Is there a federal or state law requiring non-collectively bargained employees a workday off after 13 or so? We are currently running two 12 hour shifts 7 days a week, so our employees get lots of hours.

Thanks in advance for your input.

There is no Federal law. Federal law only concerns itself with how an employee is paid, and is not in any way concerned with how many hours are worked.

Although there are a handful of states that require an employee to have one day off out of every seven (which would mean they could work as many as 12 days in succession), Wisconsin does not appear to be one of them.

Beth should be able to say for sure.

without getting into the moral aspect of working such long hours, you may want to consider offering off time for liability reasons. I don't know how the employees are working, or whether it is a dangerous position, but if an employee gets hurt they may raise as an issue the lenghty and continued work days as a reason for their injury. this is unlikely to succeed in any manner where workers comp laws generally insulate an employer, but think about it nevertheless under the exception to comp where the employer knowingly placed employees at risk. much studies have been done recently about sleep depravation and exhaustion in driving, the military and the workplace. This *might* give a very creative plaintiff's attorney ammunition to concoct some claim.

Also, the same may be true for a non-worker, for example if a "civillian" was injured as a result of a worker's carelessness due to exhaustion, etc. Also, of course, there do exist federal regs on CDL drivers, with max "on time" and "off time" requirements based on hours of service. not sure if you have any delivery drivers or etc. there, but something to think about.

All of this is not to say you're in trouble, but just to ruminate about possible outcomes in the search for any exposure to the company. Otherwise, it looks like you're clear --- with the caveat that I am not familiar with specific Wisconsin laws.

curt j.

Thanks for the input. A little more information: I'm the chair of a newly formed safety committee and we're trying to institute shorter workdays/workweeks because we're a textile factory where the shop is very, very hot and the committee believes that extended workdays/workweeks are causing a safety issue due to employee fatigue. The company is reluctant to change and I was trying to use a violation of a labor law as the catalyst. We'll just have to push on............

Curt makes an excellent point. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

Edited to include: We were posting at the same time. Thanks for the explanation.