My Mom lives in a group home with 4 other residence for the past 5 years. Originally there were 4 caregivers working 12 hour shifts. They have now moved a caregiver to another house and now there are three. One of them went on vacation for the month and they never got a substitute and the two caregivers can work a 36 hour shift. Is this legal? Not only that, one of them is leaving because she is burnt out. The one on vacation doesn't come back for two weeks. We pay a lot of money for this home and have been happy up until they started cutting back and having the caregivers work these terribly long hours. Please let me know what is legal. Thanks!
Overtime and allowable shifts can vary from state to state. In addition, extended shifts like what you are describing are allowed in specific industries and professions such as being a firefighter. Home health workers may or may not be covered in your state. Usually, there are require meal and rest periods on long shifts - and some states allow things like 12 hour days if overtime is paid beyond eight hours OR 40 in a week.
Some employers think they can get around this by putting people on salary instead of an hourly wage - but many are doing this illegally as there are specific guidelines as to what a salaried person can be - examples: supervising at least two other employees or spending 30-40% of their shift doing management duties.
But again - this does vary greatly by state. Try googling you States Department of Labor.