Business & Work

The following question was originally submitted to John Roska, a lawyer Someone who represents clients in courts or who gives legal advice and writer for the weekly column "The Law Q&A" in the Champaign News Gazette. The article has been updated to include changes in the law and additional information.

Question

My employer sometimes schedules me to work as many as 10 days in a row. Is that legal? Aren’t I entitled to a day off every week?

Answer

It depends. If you’re part-time (legally defined as working 20 or fewer hours per calendar week), you don’t get a mandatory day off. If you’re more than what the law calls part-time, you get a weekly day off.

The Illinois law that applies is called the “One Day Rest in Seven Act” (or, “ODRISA”). In addition to requiring one day off for every consecutive seven-day period, the Act also requires a minimum 20-minute meal break if you work at least 7.5 hours a day (which has to be given within the first 5 hours of the shift). If you work more than 7.5 hours, you must be given another 20-minute break for each additional 4.5 hour period worked continuously.

ODRISA also gives Cook County hotel room attendants who work at least 7 hours a day two paid 15-minute breaks, and one 30-minute meal break. 

The law requiring one day of rest in seven applies to nearly all employers. It does not, however, apply to all employees. In particular, it does not apply to part-time employees.

Additionally, the Act does not cover farm workers, coal miners, security guards, and those who are classified by Federal law as “executive, administrative, or professional.” There are a few other exceptions as well.

If you work more than 20 hours per week for someone, that employer must give you “at least twenty-four consecutive hours of rest in every consecutive seven-day period.”

By law, a day of rest must be “in addition to the regular period of rest allowed at the close of each working day.” An employer who made you work until noon one day, for example, and then report back at noon the next day, could not call that 24 hours off a day of rest.

The law presumes that Sunday will be the one rest day in seven. If an employee must work Sundays, the employer needs to tell them that in advance. The employer must also tell them what their rest day during the week will be. The specific language is: “every employer shall post in a conspicuous place on the premises a schedule containing a list of his employees who are required or allowed to work on Sunday and designating the day of rest for each.”

Employers can get permission from the Director of the Illinois Department of Labor to work their employees 7 days a week, but they can only do that a maximum of 8 weeks a year. See the complete rules here.

Starting March 21, 2025, Illinois law says employers are not allowed to punish workers for using their rights under ODRISA. This means your employer cannot take action against you, like firing you, cutting your hours, or treating you unfairly, if you:

• Take your guaranteed day off,
• Complain to your boss or the Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) about not getting your rest day or meal breaks,
• Take part in a complaint or investigation about ODRISA, or
• Say you plan to testify To answer questions under oath or help with an investigation.

If an employer breaks this rule, IDOL can take action against them.

The Department of Labor enforces the law on behalf of employees. Their “One Day Rest in Seven Act” number is (312) 793-2804, and their email is [email protected]. There is also a complaint form available on the Illinois Department of Labor’s website.