What laws are in place in the US surrounding how long an employer can require you to work?

[liberalnarb]

I have an uncle who works for Wells Fargo. They treat their employees like crap. I thought it was illegal for your employer to force you to work more than 6 days in a row under the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), but he is being forced to work 7 day of the week every week and its killing him. Here's how they do it. They set a standard for their employees. Each employee is required to complete 8 appraisals a day, a practically impossible goal that forces the poor guy (who is in his late 50s) to work full overtime, Saturday and Sunday. I read that under the FLSA if an employer forces you to work 15 days in a row (which he has multiple times) they cannot require a 7 day work week the next calendar month. Is what they are doing legal?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. There are also state laws that govern employee work rules.

You might want to check what his state requires.

[MANative]

2. Another question is whether they are setting the same standards for all employees...

or if he's being singled out. It sounds like there's a real possibility of someone playing games with age discrimination. I can't even tell you the number of people I know who've been subjected to similar treatment - every last one of them 55 or older. Trying to force people to quit. I'd contact a labor lawyer. Many states have free services that can at least get you an opinion.

[gwheezie]

3. I'm betting he's salaried

My daughter worked for wells Fargo. Awful place to work. She was constantly pressured to produce more and she quit but 1st warned her clients the bottom was dropping out. This was right before the recession.

[Califonz]

4. Wow, so many appraisals...

Are there plans to dump the "shadow inventory" or just let hedge funds and wealthy foreign investors snap up all those foreclosed homes now that prices have more or less recovered from the financial crash?

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. He does real estate appraisals?

I'm a licensed appraiser (no longer appraising), and I would never have worked directly for a bank. Ouch.

[liberalnarb]

8. Yep, he used to work for Fanny Mae and enjoyed it. He got laid off.

Now he's stuck under the thumb of Wells Fargo.

[madville]

6. Is he hourly or salaried?

Just curious, I loved as many hours as I could get when I was 20 and an hourly employee, used to work 70-80 hour weeks all the time back then and clear $1000 a week (mid-90's).

Now? Screw that. I barely want to be at work the 40 hours I am required to be there now lol.

He needs to research his state laws pertaining to his specific employee status and start documenting everything. Especially if they are playing games with overtime pay or something like that. If he's a contract or 10-99 employee there are less protections of course because that is typically piecemeal-type work.

[liberalnarb]

7. Salaried.

[SheilaT]

9. Since he's salaried my guess is that

different rules apply to him.

He needs to contact the Department of Labor. He needs to inform himself about the FSLA specifically, the Fair Labor Standards Act. If necessary, file suit.

In any case, he needs to be willing to find another job.

Things like this continue only because people like him do not fight back, but just knuckle under to this stuff. It's another example of the kind of thing unions worked with, and why we need strong unions.

[liberalnarb]

11. Good idea.

Only problem is he's afraid to take any action. He realizes that in the eyes of the company, he is a "dime a dozen", in other words disposable (A disgusting concept). He's afraid to fight back because he doesn't want to lose the job altogether. He can't continue on in this cycle or it'll do some serious damage. But, I can't force him to take action if he's afraid to. I'm up against a wall.

[SheilaT]

13. I understand his fear of losing his job,

but he seriously needs to be looking for other work.

Too many people fall into the trap of thinking they will never get other employment, and that's rarely true.

Even if older. Hell, I got hired at least five different times since turning 60, so even age isn't necessarily a factor, depending on the job.

[liberalnarb]

14. Thank you!

Maybe we'll look into other employment oppurtunities for him in advance.

[Bayard]

10. Labor Board

Advise him to go to your state Labor Board. They have a wonderful way of not only investigating his case, but the rest of the employees' situation at that office. They'll go thru all their records. At least in Ohio, my old boss had to pay back pay to the entire staff. Sweet.

[liberalnarb]

12. Thanks, we'll look into it.