Hours Between Shifts

**greekgod1820** · 11-21-2008, 09:57 AM

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Illinois

I work as a part-time hourly retail employee. I am scheduled till midnight 12am on a Saturday and then scheduled back in at 5am. Accounting for driving home showering and waking up and driving back this gives me 4 hours of sleep. Or 5 hours between when I clock out and have to clock back in. That is if they don't make us stay even later. In the state of Illinois how long must be between my shifts, I need to find it in writing from the I.D.O.L , everyone is telling me 8 hours, including people who work at other locations and different companies.

**cbg** · 11-21-2008, 10:49 AM

There is no law in any state governing the number of hours there must be between shifts. The reason you cannot find anything in writing is that there isn't any law about it.

There are some industry specific exceptions where there is a public safety factor (airline pilot, truck driver, in some states nurses) and some states have an exception for minors, but for general employment there is no law addressing the number of hours between shifts at all.

**greekgod1820** · 11-21-2008, 11:02 AM

So their is nothing that stops a company from scheduling an employee from 12pm to 12am then from 12 am to 12pm? That seams crazy, there should be a law against it.

**aaron** · 11-21-2008, 11:19 AM

There is, actually, a statute that could help in that context - 820 ILCS 145/1.

**cbg** · 11-21-2008, 01:19 PM

I see where that makes 8 hours a work day, but I don't see where it addresses time between shifts. Am I missing something?

If I've been giving out incorrect info, I'd like to know it!

**aaron** · 11-21-2008, 01:25 PM

To find that out, you would have to know how Illinois courts interpret and apply the statue; so far I haven't been able to find any (free) resources detailing that. It doesn't apply to greekgod1820's situation, just (potentially) to the hypothetical back-to-back 12 hour shifts. Actually, even then it might not apply, as for most or all of the year you still probably wouldn't be exceeding 8 daylight hours. And if it does apply, it's hard to say if it would do more than indicate when overtime pay begins for non-exempt employees.