How much is full time: How Many Hours Is Considered Full Time: Everything to Know

Опубликовано: April 24, 2023 в 8:41 pm

Автор: alexxlab

Категории: Miscellaneous

How Many Hours Is Considered Full Time: Everything to Know

How many hours is considered full time is a question that plagues many workers if they feel like they’re being unfairly worked by their employer.4 min read

Updated July 8, 2020:

How Many Hours Is Considered Full Time?

How many hours is considered full time is a question that plagues many workers if they feel like they’re being unfairly worked by their employer; many employees may think there must be a law surrounding how much they can work in a week. In truth, there is no legal definition of full-time employment; this depends on your employer and company policy. The only exception is that which falls under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for health coverage purposes.

In general, your company sets a specific number of hours for your work schedule. If the company is following best practices, this will be in the employee handbook, which may specify 9 a. m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or may simply specify required hours per week.

In general, employers tend to regard full-time employment as anywhere between 30 and 50 hours per week, with 40 hours being the standard. Those companies that have 50-hour work weeks usually apply it to salaried (exempt) employees only.

In the case of a startup, however, you may work 80 or more hours per week — you’ll put in however many hours you have to in order to get things done. There may not be a standardized schedule or a set number of hours per week expected of employees, and informal staff expectations can greatly vary from the technical minimum hours for full-time classification.

Determining Full-Time Hours: The Interview

If you’re going through an interview process and the interviewer has not clarified what your work schedule will be, you should never be afraid to ask what the expectations are of employees in terms of weekly work schedule and lifestyle balance. While you may be justifiably concerned about asking such questions at an interview, certainly ask the question when a job offer is made and before you accept it.

Since there are no laws regulating what constitutes full-time employment in terms of compensation and benefits, it’s vital to get this information up front. This will protect you in the future. Even the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn’t prescribe legal guidelines regarding full-time employment.

IRS and the Affordable Care Act

The IRS and the ACA, or Obamacare, both prescribe guidelines for full-time employment. According to the IRS, an employee is considered full-time if they:

Work 130 hours in a month -OR-

Average a minimum of 30 hours per week

The ACA has the same designation — employees who work over 30 hours a week are considered full-time.

Employers can choose any 3- to 12-month period during which an employee averages 30 hours a week or more to assign them full-time status for these purposes. Once designated full-time, an employer must maintain the employee’s status as such for a minimum of six months.

The Standard Workweek

In the United States, the “standard workweek” is generally considered to be 40 hours, with employees working five days a week, for eight hours per day. Some employers consider 37.5 hours to be full time, giving 30-minute unpaid lunch breaks each day, while others give an hour and consider 35 hours to be full-time.

However, many businesses may require longer shifts, which can extend the regular workweek. Some of these businesses may include:

Restaurants

Hotels

Casinos

Another popular modification is the 4/10 workweek, wherein employees work four 10-hour days.

Certain industries, like trucking and health care, limit the maximum hours per week that a staff member can work. This is to avoid accidents resulting from exhaustion.

An Example of Full-Time Hours: Texas

Some states may set regulations on full-time hours. As an example, Texas defines anyone who works 32 hours a week as a full-time worker if that employee’s schedule is comparable to other workers in the same company or other workers in the area who are designated as full-time. As such, if you work 32 hours per week in Texas, you’re legally considered full-time.

This is important because courts tend to favor whatever law is more favorable to the employee when making rulings. That means that, while Texas law is different from federal law, if an employment conflict based on hours goes before courts, the more advantageous state law would be considered valid.

This also applies to minimum wage; if a state sets minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage, employers must abide by state law.

Schedule Changes and Corporate Regulations

Federal employment law allows an employer to change the schedule of an employee without giving any notice or without obtaining the employee’s consent. The only exception to this is for employees who are under 16 years old.

Because of these confusing regulations regarding full-time hours, many companies are beginning to set policies about handling schedule changes to avoid complaints and grievances. Usually, as soon as an employee begins working fewer hours than the employer designates as full time, they are considered part-time, which by the U. S. Department of Labor constitutes working up to 34 hours per week.

The DOL, however, doesn’t differentiate between full- and part-time status.

Why Classification Matters

Even though laws are loose and nebulous, misclassification of workers can cause many legal problems for employers. This particularly arises in terms of eligibility for benefits. Companies that offer things like paid-time off, health care, and pension must be careful to be consistent in how they dole out these benefits to avoid accusations of discrimination or unfair labor practices. Employers who deliberately misclassify workers can be subject to many thousands of dollars in penalties and fines, which can include back wages and employment taxes and can be levied by both the IRS and the DOL.

If you need help with determining how many hours is considered full time, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel’s marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.

What Is Considered Full Time in NC?

When considering what constitutes full-time work in North Carolina, it’s important to understand that this is an at-will employment state. What does that mean? According to the NC Department of Labor, employment at-will means employers can treat employees pretty much however they want. They can assign demeaning tasks and fire you for virtually any reason (or no reason at all) as long as it is not for an impermissible, retaliatory, or discriminatory reason. Basically, employers have most of the leverage and power.

And that power largely extends to determining what qualifies as full-time hours.

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How Many Hours Is Full Time in NC?

Under North Carolina law, your employer gets to decide how many hours qualifies you as a full-time employee. As long as the hours are laid out and applied consistently, the definition of full-time is almost entirely at your employer’s discretion.

Did You Know? While many people think of full-time as 40 hours a week, things are not defined that way under NC law. Full-time in NC is generally whatever your employer says it is.

It can be an odd concept to wrap your brain around. How many hours per day do you need to work before you’re considered full time? Your employer decides. How many hours per week before you earn the designation of full-time employee? Your employer decides. What additional responsibilities do you need to fulfill to be considered a full-time employee? Your employer decides.

Tip: While employers get to decide the definition of full time, the number “40” does carry some weight. Under federal and state law, non-exempt workers must be paid overtime for hours worked over 40 in a span of seven days.

Does the 2020 NC Overtime Law Change Help Me or Hurt Me?

It helps you if you are an overworked but underpaid salaried employee. Under the 2020 NC overtime law change, being a salaried employee does not necessarily exclude you from overtime pay requirements. If you are a salaried employee who worked in excess of 40 hours for a workweek, you may be entitled to overtime pay unless you are exempt.

To be exempt, a salaried employee — typically executives, supervisors, administrators, and certain professionals — must be guaranteed a salary of at least $684 per workweek and either have real managerial duties, make policy decisions, or be part of certain professions. If you are salaried, do not have those duties, make less than that per week, and are required to work overtime, you are likely entitled to time and a half for all hours over 40.

What About for Insurance Under the Affordable Care Act?

If a company has 50 or more full time employees, they are required under federal law to provide certain health insurance benefits to each of their full time employees. For these purposes, federal law is paramount, and you are considered full time at 30 hours a week or more. Employers who misclassify employees in order to avoid providing benefits are subject to serious penalties. Outside of this consideration and a few others, state employment law sets the rules.

Do you feel you are being taken advantage of, or do you need help interpreting the complicated legalese of your employment agreement? See if we can help with a free case evaluation.

Am I Entitled to Benefits as a Full-time Employee in North Carolina?

Under North Carolina law, working full time doesn’t entitle you to anything except what your employer says it entitles you to. For example, your employer does not need to provide a raise once you achieve full-time status. Remember that federal law imposes a mandate regarding health benefits specifically once you reach full-time under the rules of the Affordable Care Act (30+ hours).

Your employer may offer benefits to part-time employees, full-time employees, both, or neither, so long as it is all decided in advance, applies to all people who are categorized that way equally, and the employer abides by whatever was decided. Now, most commonly, you may see employers going the traditional route of a 40-hour schedule and benefits for full-time employees. But this would be an “incentive” by the employer to lure in the best candidates, not a requirement under North Carolina law.

How Many Hours Is Part Time in NC?

An employer can set up nearly any part-time vs. full-time structure they like, so long as they clearly communicate and abide by this policy. Indeed, the distinction has such little meaning under North Carolina law that your employer can switch you from full to part time at will — without informing you — so long as you keep everything you earned until the switch. If you don’t like it, the theory goes, you are free to quit at will.

If you are non-exempt, there is no minimum number of hours for which you must be paid and no minimum number of hours for which you must be scheduled.

If a part-time non-exempt employee comes in or is called in for a shift but then is sent home, the employer is only responsible for the time the employee was doing work or waiting to do work. If you are paid hourly and are non-exempt, you’re not entitled to any payment for the time and inconvenience of travel, even if it’s for a short shift, or infrequent shift, or unexpected shift.

In fact, even if you travel a long way on your employer’s request and show up for work, but your employer meets you at the door to the business and tells you to go back home, you are not entitled to anything. However, if your employer provides minimum payments or hours as part of written company policy or your specific employment agreement, then they are bound by those terms. Additionally, if you are salaried and categorized as exempt, your employer cannot dock your pay for not having work for you to do, or for sending you home. If this is happening to you, you may be misclassified as exempt.

What Happens if a Part-time Employee Works Full-time Hours?

Part time in North Carolina does not mean there is a cap on hours. In addition, your employer can:

Adjust your hours at will, even after they’re scheduled
Make you work days, nights, or weekends as a condition of employment
Have you work an unlimited number of days in a row, as long as they pay you overtime
Assign you a shift of however many hours they choose, and as many of that type of shift as they choose
Call you in on your day off
Make you work overtime with no advance notice
Assign you a shift that interferes with a critical event in your personal life

Am I Powerless at Work?

Outside of any employment contract, you have two main wage protections under federal and state law. These protections apply to both salaried and hourly employees:

You are entitled to at least minimum wage. The minimum wage is currently $7.25.
You are entitled to overtime (time and a half) for hours worked over 40 in the week if you are a non-exempt employee.

Even tipped employees must be paid minimum wage, but their employer may combine their hourly wage with tips to reach this number. If you have questions, contact an employment law lawyer.

What Happens to ACA-Mandated Medical Benefits When a Full Time Employee Is Not Working Full Time Hours?

What happens if an employee is classified as full-time but only works part-time hours for several weeks? Do they risk losing their benefits?

Here’s how it works: Employees are measured by their employers periodically to determine their average hours. Following the measurement period is an enrollment period. The enrollment stage is followed by a stability period, where changes can only be made to coverage in extreme circumstances.

If you are determined to be full-time under the ACA during a particular measurement period, you can register for benefits. If you enroll in a coverage plan, this plan will apply for the entire stability period (often a calendar year) even if you drop to part-time during that time. If, at the next measurement period, your overall hours for the period do not average at least 30 per week, then your employer may drop you from coverage for the next stability period.

What Is the Minimum Number of Hours for Full Time? The Maximum?

There is no minimum or maximum number of hours for full-time employees under NC labor laws. If your employer says you are full time, you are full time. Your employment agreement or company policies may have rules specific to your workplace or position.

Employer Leverage Is Not Unlimited

While at-will employment can leave a North Carolina worker vulnerable, you still have rights. If your employer offers male employees full-time benefits but keeps all the women at part time with no benefits, for example, you can still fight back. And you should.

If you have questions about your particular situation, request a free case evaluation by calling 1-866-900-7078 or chatting with someone 24/7/365. An attorney can help you level the playing field.

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How long should a working day be by law?

Labor Code of the Russian Federation: article 91, part 2, and article 108, part 1 clearly states that the working day is 8 hours, thus 40 working hours are accumulated during the week.

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How long is the working day required by law

As we said earlier, the Labor Code of our country determines that the length of the working day is at least 8 hours. It should also be mentioned that, according to the Labor Code, time must be allocated for a lunch break:

A break can last from 30 minutes to two hours;
Lunch break is not included in working hours;
Lunch break not paid;
It is impossible to refuse a lunch break in favor of a shorter working day.

Please note that in many companies it is forbidden to leave the workplace during breaks. In this case, the lunch break must be included in working hours and must certainly be paid. All features of the lunch break are mandatory prescribed in the employment contract.

Thus, the legislation defines all the features of the working day. Among other things, the need to provide employees with a lunch break is determined. If there is a processing of labor hours, then there should be appropriate compensation. It should immediately be said that the Labor Code defines the features of work on various schedules, including daily work.

Juvenile Employment Law

The law specifies that workers under the age of 18 receive the benefits of reduced hours. Article 91 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation states that the total duration of the working week is 40 hours. Article 92 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation states that if an employee is under 16 years old, then his working time is no more than 24 hours. If the employee’s age is from 16 to 18 years, then his working week is 36 hours. If employees under the age of 16 additionally visit some educational institutions, then a working week of no more than 18 hours is set for them.

In 94 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation it is indicated that norms for daily shifts are established for minor workers. So, if the employee has not reached the age of sixteen, then his working day should be no more than five hours, from 16 to 18 years old can work no more than seven hours during the day.

In general, as you can see, the legislation is very attentive and reverent towards employees who have not reached the age of majority. At the same time, it is determined that an employment contract is also signed with such employees. Moreover, it is mandatory to obtain permission from guardians or parents. Employees must also receive a lunch break. And wages should not depend on age. If the interests of an employee are regularly violated, he can file an application with the labor inspectorate, as well as apply to the court, to protect his legal rights.

Normal hours of work | Modern businessman

Normal working time is the maximum amount of time established by the legislator during which an employee can perform his job duties. What is the norm of working time, how it is calculated, how much you can work part-time – look for answers to these and other questions in our article.

What is the normal working time per week?

The Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes specific figures only within the framework of a week.

According to article 91 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the normal working time per week cannot be more than 40 hours.

This figure is set subject to certain conditions:

the employee performs his job duties full time;
he has not been assigned a reduced work shift;
employee does not belong to the category of part-time workers.

Related article:
Shortened working hours for pregnant women

Part-time work for a pregnant woman is regulated by Part 2 of Article 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. This article will consider: from what period of pregnancy a reduction in the working day is allowed; how many hours is it permissible for a pregnant employee to work; how to arrange part-time work for such an employee.

In addition to the fact that the legislator establishes a 40-hour work week, the duration of uninterrupted rest during the week is also regulated. It is equal to 42 hours and is prescribed by article 110 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In practice, this means that every 7 days a person must have a rest of at least the specified number of hours, therefore, it is impossible to go to work 7 days a week, regardless of how long the shift is.

How is the normal working time per month calculated

Since the legislator stipulates the rules only for working hours within one week, and the accounting of working hours is mainly monthly, the question arises: what is the normal length of working time per month?

This figure will depend on the number of working days in a given month. That is, it will be set separately for each month, and in different years this value for the same month may not be the same.

A five-day working week with two days of rest is taken as the starting point for calculating the required norm.

The production calendar, which is approved annually, acts as a legislative act in which the relevant norms are prescribed for all months of the calendar year.

We recommend the production calendar for 2023 from “ConsultantPlus” for a five-day working week and for a six-day working week. If you don’t have access to the system yet, you can get it for 2 days for free. Or order the current price list to purchase permanent access.

Working hours according to the Labor Code

The Labor Code does not say anything about how long the working day should be. Therefore, the answer to the question: a full-time job is how many hours will depend on the schedule set for a particular position.

Based on the content of article 100 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, companies can have different work schedules:

A five-day work week and two days of rest. In this case, a full working day will be equal to 8 hours.
Six day work week with one rest day. In this case, the duration of the working day will be equal to 7 hours on ordinary days, and decrease to 5 hours per day, after which the day off comes.
Return to work according to the schedule. In this case, the duration of the shift is not regulated, that is, it can even be a day, but the norm of 40 hours per week should not be exceeded.

Working hours for part-time work

When the work performed is not the main one, the normal working hours cannot exceed the regulated values:

Four hours a day if the person is engaged in the main job;
Full shift on the day when he rests from his main job;
More than half of the monthly norm of working hours.

These values are provided for by Article 284 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

That is, a part-time worker cannot be issued for more than 0.5 rates, regardless of whether it is external or internal.

Please note! If the part-time worker is issued less than half the rate, then the rate of hours worked per month should be reduced. For example, if a person works at 0.25 wages, then for him the normal working time is not half, but only a quarter of the maximum value approved by the production calendar.

Average working day: formula

The average working day is determined in accounting and economic calculations of the rational use of the working time fund. Most often, it is calculated in the following cases:

For a working week that lasts six days;
For posts that have an irregular schedule;
For people who are often called upon to work overtime;
For positions that have a shift work schedule.

Related materials

Irregular working hours: Labor Code of the Russian Federation

What kind of work is considered overtime

Shift work schedule: Labor Code

The average working day is calculated by the formula:

Pay attention! If a person works a five-day week, with a regular working day, then it does not make sense to calculate the average value, since it will be equal to the actual working shift, that is, 8 hours.