No federal law sets a minimum number of hours between shifts for most adult workers. How many hours between shifts are required by law depends on where you live, what industry you work in, and whether a contract or union agreement covers you. The Fair Labor Standards Act, the main federal wage-and-hour statute, governs overtime pay but places no ceiling on how tightly an employer can schedule back-to-back shifts. That gap is wider than most people expect, so the useful question is not “what does federal law require” but “which of the narrower protections actually cover me.”
The Federal Default: No Minimum Rest Period
The FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt workers at least one and a half times their regular rate for hours beyond 40 in a workweek. It says nothing about how those hours are distributed. The Department of Labor states plainly that the FLSA “does not limit the number of hours in a day or days in a week an employee may be required or scheduled to work, including overtime hours, if the employee is at least 16 years old.”1U.S. Department of Labor. Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act
In practice, an employer can legally schedule you to close a store at 11 p.m. and open it again at 6 a.m., a pattern known as “clopening,” as long as every hour worked is properly paid. Federal law treats the spacing of shifts as something between the employer and the employee.
Exempt employees, meaning workers classified under executive, administrative, or professional exemptions who receive no overtime,2U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17A – Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act have even less federal protection. No federal statute limits their daily hours, weekly hours, or time between shifts at all. Any rest they get is a matter of state law, contract, or company policy.
OSHA’s Fatigue Guidance Is Not Enforceable
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration considers a normal work shift to be no more than eight consecutive hours a day, five days a week, with at least an eight-hour rest period. OSHA warns that longer shifts “will generally result in reduced productivity and alertness.”3Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Extended/Unusual Work Shifts Guide The document is expressly “intended solely as a guide,” and no OSHA standard makes any of it binding. The agency’s General Duty Clause requires employers to keep workplaces free of recognized hazards that cause serious harm,4Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSH Act of 1970 – SEC. 5. Duties but OSHA has not used that authority to regulate shift spacing in any systematic way. Treat the eight-hour figure as a reference point when talking to an employer, not as a right you can enforce.
State and Local Scheduling Laws
Because federal law leaves a gap, a growing number of states and cities have filled it. Two categories matter most for daily rest.
Predictive Scheduling Laws
One state has enacted a statewide predictive scheduling law, and more than a dozen cities have their own versions. These laws typically cover retail, food service, and hospitality workers at larger employers, and they usually require 10 to 11 hours of rest between the end of one shift and the start of the next. If you agree to work inside that rest window, or the employer schedules you inside it, the employer generally owes a premium, often one and a quarter to one and a half times your regular hourly rate for the affected shift. Some jurisdictions ban the practice outright unless you consent in writing.
Coverage details vary. Some laws apply only to fast food employers above a set number of locations; others target retailers above a set headcount. The premium may attach only to hours inside the rest window or to the entire shift. If you work in retail, food service, or hospitality, checking your city and state labor department’s site for a predictive scheduling ordinance is the single most useful step you can take.
One Day of Rest in Seven
Roughly a third of states require employers to provide at least 24 consecutive hours of rest in every seven-day period. These laws don’t set daily rest between shifts, but they do prevent an employer from scheduling you for an unbroken run of seven or more workdays without a full day off. Exemptions and covered industries vary by state.
Industries With Mandatory Federal Rest Rules
In fields where fatigue endangers the public, federal agencies impose binding rest periods that go well beyond anything the FLSA offers.
Commercial Truck Drivers
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires drivers of commercial motor vehicles to take at least 10 consecutive hours off duty before starting a new driving period. Once on duty, a driver may drive a maximum of 11 hours and may not drive past the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty.5Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations
Airline Flight Crews
A flight crew member must receive at least 10 consecutive hours of rest immediately before any flight duty or reserve period, and that rest must include a minimum of 8 uninterrupted hours of sleep opportunity. If a crew member believes the rest period won’t actually provide 8 hours of sleep opportunity, the crew member must notify the airline and cannot report for duty until the requirement is met. Every crew member must also receive at least 30 consecutive hours free from all duty within every 168-hour period.6eCFR. 14 CFR 117.25 – Rest Period
Railroad Workers
Federal law caps train employee duty at 12 consecutive hours, after which the employee must receive at least 10 consecutive hours off before returning to work. Even before hitting 12 hours, a train employee may not go on duty unless they’ve had at least 10 consecutive hours off within the prior 24 hours. After six consecutive days of initiating on-duty periods, the employee must receive at least 48 consecutive hours off at their home terminal.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 USC 21103 – Limitations on Duty Hours of Train Employees
Merchant Mariners
Crew members assigned to navigational or engineering watches on vessels operating beyond the boundary line must receive at least 10 hours of rest in any 24-hour period, plus a total of 77 hours of rest in any 7-day period. The 10 daily hours can be split into no more than two blocks, one of which must be at least 6 hours, and the gap between rest periods cannot exceed 14 hours.8eCFR. 46 CFR 15.1111 – Work Hours and Rest Periods
Nurses
At least 18 states have passed laws restricting mandatory overtime for nurses. These laws generally prevent a hospital from requiring a nurse to work beyond a scheduled shift, with exceptions for genuine emergencies, catastrophic events, and patient procedures already in progress. Several states also set maximum shift lengths, commonly 12 hours in a 24-hour period, and require a minimum rest period, often 8 to 10 consecutive hours, after an extended shift. Because these protections are state-level, coverage varies significantly.
Workers Under 18
Federal child labor rules create indirect rest periods for the youngest workers by restricting when and how long they can work. For 14- and 15-year-olds, work is only allowed between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., extended to 9:00 p.m. from June 1 through Labor Day, with a limit of 3 hours on a school day and 18 hours in a school week.9U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 43 – Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act for Nonagricultural Occupations On non-school days, the limit rises to 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week.10U.S. Department of Labor. Non-Agricultural Jobs – 14-15 A 15-year-old who finishes at 7:00 p.m. during the school year cannot start again until 7:00 a.m., a built-in 12-hour break even though no statute labels it that. Federal law does not restrict hours for 16- and 17-year-olds, though many states do.
Contracts and Union Agreements
Where statutes fall short, a contract can fill the space. Collective bargaining agreements often include detailed scheduling terms: minimum rest between shifts, limits on mandatory overtime, advance-notice requirements, and premium pay for last-minute changes. These provisions are legally binding, and an employer that violates them can face a grievance, arbitration, or a lawsuit.
Individual employment contracts work the same way. If your offer letter or employment agreement guarantees a minimum number of hours between shifts, that guarantee is enforceable whether or not your state has a scheduling law. Get it in writing. Verbal assurances about scheduling are hard to prove and easy to walk back.
On-Call Time Can Eat Into Your Rest
A gap between shifts on paper doesn’t mean actual rest if you’re on call. Under the FLSA, whether on-call time counts as compensable hours worked depends on how restricted you are. If you must remain on your employer’s premises, that time is work. If you can go home and simply leave a number where you can be reached, you’re generally not working, though “additional constraints on the employee’s freedom could require this time to be compensated.”11U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 22 – Hours Worked Under the Fair Labor Standards Act If your employer schedules a 10-hour break but requires you to stay within 15 minutes of the workplace and answer immediately, that “rest period” may legally be work time and pay may be owed.
If Your Rest Rights Are Being Violated
The right agency depends on which rule is being broken. For federal wage issues, such as unpaid overtime on a clopening shift, contact the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243.12U.S. Department of Labor. How to File a Complaint For violations of state predictive scheduling, day-of-rest, or nurse overtime laws, file a complaint with your state’s department of labor. If your protection comes from a union contract, start with a grievance through your union representative rather than a government agency.
Whatever the source of your protection, documenting your actual schedule matters more than anything else. Save posted schedules, screenshot scheduling apps, and note the times you clocked in and out. Investigators see legitimate cases fall apart because the worker had a real violation but no records to prove the pattern.