Q. My employer sometimes will post a job vacancy within our firm. The job description says a certain amount of overtime is required as a condition of getting the job, but does not say how much is required. I did not think an employer could force an employee to work overtime. What is the legality of such a request?

A. Diane A. Seltzer, a Washington attorney who has represented workers and employers, said there is nothing in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets wage regulations, that prohibits employers from requiring employees to work overtime or even limits the number of working hours beyond the normal 40 a week.
"Mandatory overtime can be and often is a job requirement," she said.
Nonetheless, she added that at some workplaces, a union might negotiate a limit on the number of overtime hours required in a seven-day period. Moreover, she said the company's overtime demands could "interfere with [some employees'] religious observances and the workers could ask for a religious accommodation" that would allow them to attend services even if they also are working overtime hours the same day. She said that while companies can require overtime work, they must pay time and a half on the employee's regular wage for any hours beyond 40 in a week, unless the employee is exempt from the overtime pay rules. Exempt employees are executives, professionals and administrators, who generally have managerial duties of one sort or another.

Copyright The Washington Post Company, December 19, 2004