Hours worked - Wisconsin

Summary of differences between federal and state regulations

The federal law does not spell out actual hours that must be worked in a work day.  Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the hours worked ordinarily include all the time during which an employee is required or permitted to work. Wisconsin follows these same requirements, and has adopted most of the federal regulations into state law.

The state does, however, have more extensive examples and requirements for excluding sleeping time when employees are otherwise on duty for periods of 24 hours or more.

In addition, the state did not adopt the federal policy to exclude travel time when the employee is a passenger during travel that keeps the employee away from home overnight. All travel time is counted as working time.

State

Contact

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Division of Labor—Equal Rights Division Labor Standards Bureau

Regulations

Chapter DWD 274, Hours of Work and Overtime

Chapter DWD 272, §272.12 Interpretation of hours worked

Chapter DWD 275, One Day of Rest in Seven

Federal

Contact

The Department of Labor is the federal agency that monitors hours worked.

Regulations

U.S. labor regulations for hours worked can be found in CFR 29:

• Part 785 Hours Worked
• Part 778 Overtime Compensation