Hourly employees working overtime on consecutive days are protected by the labor laws of the state in which they work. The National Fair Labor Standards Act defines overtime as any work performed beyond a legally established limit or threshold. The act defines a week as a seven-day period and a workweek as one that consists of 40 hours worked within the prescribed time frame.
Each state has its own labor department, each with its own definition regarding what constitutes a consecutive workday and regarding the number of hours worked each day to qualify as a complete workday. Most follow the lead of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Hourly employees are paid on the basis of a 40-hour workweek, which assumes that most will work a five-day consecutive period of eight hours per day. When employees work 10- or 12-hour alternative schedules for less days per week, they are compensated regular pay up to the first 40 hours of work.
Employees who work the full 40-hour workweek on consecutive days are entitled to receive overtime pay for any additional hours beyond those. In most states, employees are compensated at a rate of 1.5 times their normally hourly rate of pay. In some states, such as California, hourly employees who work beyond eight hours in the workday are entitled to 1.5 times their regularly hourly rate and twice the rate for any hours worked beyond 12 in one day. If the employee works in excess of eight hours on the seventh consecutive day of the workweek, he is entitled to double the rate of pay.
Generally speaking, there are no limits on the number of consecutive days that an hourly employee can work, so long as that employee is properly compensated according to the laws of the state in which he is employed. Hourly employees who work unauthorized overtime hours are entitled to receive overtime compensation at the rate determine by their state's law, even if the employer did not specifically ask the employee to work those hours. This is true regarding consecutive days and any hours worked beyond eight hours in the workday.
The only real exceptions to the rule regarding the lack of limits on consecutive workdays only applies to certain groups of workers. These workers are not typically paid an hourly rate of pay, however, and generally include workers in certain professions where it could be dangerous to work large amounts of overtime. For instance, pilots are limited in the number of hours and consecutive days they can work, whereas a grocery store clerk is not.
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